James Talarico

My life has shown me always bet on the underdog, whether it was a single mom from Laredo who fought for her baby boy, whether it was students on the west side of San Antonio who overcame poverty and injustice to succeed.

whether it's the bills I've been able to pass in the legislature as a Democrat in a Republican-dominated body to actually help working people, to help the underdogs in the state of Texas, my life has shown me that it's a good bet to bet on the underdog.

And I think in Texas, over the last 15, 20 years, we have seen statewide election results getting more competitive and more competitive.

Texas is rapidly becoming a purple state, and the data proves that.

I think people are sick and tired of one-party rule in Texas, and people are ready for a change.

This year in particular, there is a growing backlash to the extremism and the corruption in our government.

It's gonna be Democrats, independents, and Republicans.

It's gonna be black, white, brown.

It's gonna be old and young.

It's gonna be rural, urban, suburban.

It's going to be working people coming together across all these divisions to take power back for ourselves.

And I know we're the underdogs in this fight, but I feel it.

I feel it in my bones that we're going to win this race and we're going to shock the world in the process.

I do.

I believe we're going to win.

Favorite few books.

Well, I actually, there was a whole court case involving my favorite book.

They were trying to ban books in Texas and I used my favorite book to prove a point in a committee hearing.

And that ended up being used by a judge, a federal judge to strike down the law.

And that favorite book is Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry.