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James Talarico may be causing Texas residents to experience a little déjà vu. Once again, the rising star Democrat has become a media idol. And again, the usual headlines about a red state possibly going Democratic are popping up.
Talarico, a 36-year-old state representative, defeated Rep. Jasmine Crockett in last week’s Democratic Senate primary and will try to become the first Democrat since 1988 to win a Senate election in Texas. Talarico has emerged as the latest Democrat to be framed by the media as gunning to “turn Texas blue” or spark a “blue success,” as some have suggested he could make Texas a real battleground.
But Texas Democrats have dreamed big up front and not everything is falling flat, at both the presidential and state election levels.
Wendy Davis, who became a feminist champion for her filibuster in favor of abortion rights, used her fame to land her the Democratic nomination in the 2014 Texas gubernatorial race. The mainstream media quickly caught on, with ABC News calling him an “overnight Democratic celebrity,” TIME writing that “his sudden surge is raising hopes that he could be the one to end a 14-year Republican hold on statewide office,” CBS News calling him a “rising star” and Davis being called an “overnight sensation” on NBC News.
James Talarico, Wendy Davis and Beto O’Rourke. (Jordan Vonderhaar/Bloomberg via Getty Images; Gary Miller/Getty Images; Aaron E. Martinez/Austin American-Statesman via Getty Images)
The pink Mizuno Wave Rider 16 running shoes that Davis wore in a marathon when she was a state senator were even praised by many outlets, such as BuzzFeed, which published the story, “Amazon’s 11 best reviews for Wendy Davis’ filibuster sneakers.”
Despite the glowing coverage, the news about Davis’ background was ultimately questionable, and he was easily defeated by Greg Abbott in 2014, a Republican wave election year. Davis has lost by 20 points in a gubernatorial race in Texas since 1998.
It took only four years for the media to find their new darling in the Lone Star State, though: Beto O’Rourke, a three-term congressman from El Paso, who decided to challenge Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas.
O’Rourke was promoted as a cross between a rock star and John F. Kennedy, who would miraculously become the first Democrat to win statewide office in Texas since 1994. The press loved O’Rourke so much that it seems every mainstream paper in America published a glowing feature.
Headlines included Vanity Fair’s “Meet the Kennedyesque Democrat trying to Beat Ted Cruz,” Rolling Stone’s “Beto O’Rourke: Ted Cruz’s Punk-Rock Problem” and Esquire’s “Who Is Beto O’Rourke? Meet The Man Democrats Hope Is The Next Obama.”
Town and Country called him “the epitome of Kennedy in red,” said TIME, “older voters sometimes say he reminds them of John F. Kennedy” and BuzzFeed insisted, “Beto O’Rourke could be the Texas Democrat he’s been waiting for.”
CBS News ran the headline, “O’Rourke can say blue wave beats red in Texas in Senate race,” MSNBC continued O’Rourke’s path to victory and TIME asked, “Can Beto O’Rourke Turn Texas Blue?”
In a strong state for the Democrats – 2018 saw the party win the House in the first term of President Donald Trump – O’Rourke set a record for votes cast for a Democrat in Texas by more than four million. However, it was not enough to defeat Cruz, who won by 2.6 points to win re-election.
‘GOD IS NOT NUMBERS’: TEXAS DEM CHOICE TALARICO’S FIRST WORDS ON ABORTION, RACE AND SEX
Beto O’Rourke announced his 2020 presidential run with the infamous Vanity Fair story. (Vanity Fair)
The loss, however, cheered O’Rourke and convinced him to join the crowded 2020 Democratic presidential field. In the infamous Vanity Fair cover story photographed by the famous Annie Leibovitz, O’Rourke said he was “born into it,” which angered even liberals who found his language presumptuous.
On the national stage, O’Rourke never recaptured the magic in Texas. He suspended his presidential campaign before the Iowa caucuses. In 2022, he lost the governor’s race to Abbott, and has not sought office since, though he is credited with helping lower-ticket Democrats in the state with his fundraising and activism.
The media did not read after the disappointment of Davis and O’Rourke, as Hillary Clinton and Kamala Harris were taken seriously when they expressed their desire to win Texas from Donald Trump in their presidential election.
In 2016, headlines were published such as NPR’s “Why Texas Is Closer to Going Green Than It Has Been in Decades.” and The Atlantic’s “Can Hillary Clinton Win Texas?” Less than a month before the election, MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” had a discussion about whether Clinton would win the state, as one analyst predicted she would take more than 400 electoral votes in November.
Clinton lost Texas by nine points, better than Barack Obama’s showing in 2012, but a big loss nonetheless since Trump also won the election.
MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” wondered if Hillary Clinton could win Texas during the 2016 election.
While some headlines wondered if Texas could turn blue by 2024, the news generally acknowledged that it was a long shot. One article in The Hill, titled, “What if Texas turns blue?” spoke optimistically about the state’s tilt toward Democrats in the recent presidential election, but Trump dashed those hopes with a landslide 14-point victory over Harris.
Now that Trump is back in office and facing a potentially tough midterm season for Republicans, history may be repeating itself with Talarico, who has been called a “rising star” in the media. Texas is still undecided about the Republican candidate, and Sen. John Cornyn and Attorney General Ken Paxton are headed to the May contest.
Heritage Foundation media partner Tim Young, based in Fort Worth, doesn’t believe the media will change its tune anytime soon.
“It’s been clear from the beginning that the media has been promoting Talarico, even at the expense of Jasmine Crockett. They believe they can force a milquetoast-looking White person with strong views into Texas and win because ultimately they think Texans are stupid,” Young told Fox News Digital.
“The legacy media will never learn their lesson,” Young continued. “This is the same media that believes they are superior and wiser than the average person, so no, they will never learn.”
TALARICO REPORTEDLY KNEW COLBERT’S INTERVIEW WOULD NOT BE SHOWN ON TV BEFORE HE LEFT TO TAKE IT OUT.
Rep. James Talarico and Stephen Colbert on CBS’ “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” in February. (Scott Kowalchyk/CBS via Getty Images)
Young’s sentiments echo those of an FCC insider who once told Fox News Digital that they believe CBS host Stephen Colbert tried to put his thumb on Talarico’s scale because he was more popular in the general election than Crockett.
Colbert helped garner much attention for Talarico by insisting that he could not air his interview with the Democratic state representative last month because CBS was constrained by FCC guidelines. CBS and the FCC disputed the idea that he was actively prevented from airing the interview, and The New York Times reported that Talarico knew his interview would not air on cable TV ahead of time.
Talarico will continue to see good news before Election Day, but it remains to be seen whether he can become the first Democrat in nearly four decades to win a Texas Senate race.
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Hannah Panreck of Fox News Digital contributed to this report.
