James Talarico

I think we've been missing that inspiration and that vision that really only young candidates can provide.

So I'm very flattered by any of those comparisons.

I do think it reveals something a little deeper, which is that folks are ready for the next generation to step up.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I mean, it was just me and her right after I was born.

She was a preacher's daughter from South Texas, from Laredo, right there on our southern border.

And she left home at 19.

She, like me, has a rebellious streak.

She has a problem with authority sometimes and has no problem speaking truth to power.

And so when she was 19, she, I think, was ready to leave Laredo behind and strike out on her own and build her own life.

And

So she moved up to Austin, Texas, the big city.

And that was where she met my birth father, who was a 21-year-old high school dropout.

He had a drinking problem, and he sometimes would become abusive.

And after I was born, he one night got physical again.

And that night, I think my...

mother's rebellious streak, and her love for me came together at just the right moment, and she decided to leave.

She packed all our stuff into her little Ford Escort.

She drove me to the hotel where she worked.