By Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
More than 100 people crowded into Memo’s Restaurant along the San Felipe Creek Monday afternoon to welcome U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico to Del Rio.
Talarico, who has served four terms as the District 50 representative in the Texas House of Representatives, is the Democratic Party nominee for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by John Cornyn. He will face the Republican Party nominee, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, in the November General Election.
Talarico was introduced by Val Verde County Attorney David Martinez, who said, “James has been in the Texas House, and he has championed some great causes, some that are near and dear to me and my family. My daughter is a Type 1 diabetic, as is James, and he fought to make insulin affordable for so many of us.”
Talarico thanked everyone for the warm welcome, and said he is on his “Frontera Tour,” a road trip from El Paso to the Rio Grande Valley.
As the cheers and clapping died down, Talarico said, “So many politicians show up at the border to demonize and weaponize and make people afraid. We’re doing the opposite. We are showing the beauty of our border communities.”
Talarico, center, standing, the Democratic Party nominee for U.S. Senate. (Photo by Karen
Gleason)
Talarico said his mother grew up in Laredo, Texas and added, “So I know the border. The border means a lot to me, and that’s why we’re trying to show off all that’s possible in these communities, and how much these communities have to offer the entire state of Texas and the entire country.”
The candidate said, “There is something happening in the state of Texas. There’s something in the air. We had 1,000 people in El Paso at our town hall. We had a packed house in Marfa, and now look at this room in Del Rio.”
Talarico said, “We have traveled every corner of Texas, from El Paso to Beaumont, from Amarillo to Brownsville and everywhere in between, big cities, small towns, red areas, blue areas, and we have had thousands of people showing up to rally with us, and I can’t tell you the number of people who come up to me at the end of these events, and whisper, ‘I’m not a Democrat,’ like they’re in the witness protection program.
“I can’t tell you the number of young people who’ve been showing up at our events, saying it’s the first political event they’ve ever attended, and we have recruited more than 59,000 volunteers who are doing the organizing work in communities across the state, and we have shattered grassroots fundraising records, all without taking a dime from corporate PACs (political action committees). This is a people-powered campaign,” Talarico added.
Talarico continued, “I think on Nov. 3rd, we are going to do something extraordinary. We are going to end 30 years of one-party rule in this state and elect a senator who is going to serve us, not billionaire megadonors.”
Talarico added, “We forget that’s the purpose of politics. It’s supposed to be about service. Elected officials are not supposed to serve themselves or their megadonors. They’re supposed to serve us.”
Talarico said he first learned the meaning of service from his great-grandfather, a barber in Port O’Connor Texas, who also served in World War II.
Senate candidate James Talarico, center, standing, to a crowd of around 100 persons who
gathered at Memo’s Restaurant on East Losoya Street to hear him speak. (Photo by Karen Gleason)
Talarico said his great-grandfather lived a life of service “whether he was cutting his neighbors’ hair or fighting fascism on the other side of the world.”
Talarico said it was his great-grandfather’s example that inspired him to serve, first as a public schoolteacher, then as an elected member of the Texas House.
The candidate said while serving in the Texas House, he worked with representatives on both sides of the aisle “to pass 60 bipartisan bills, bills that lower property taxes, that lower the cost of housing and childcare and prescription drugs, including insulin.”
Talarico said while he seeks elected office to serve, he labeled his opponent, Paxton, “as the most corrupt politician in America.”
Talarico said the only way for Texans to change government is by working together.
He said, “We have to bring Texans together across all the divides in our state, partisan divides, racial divides, cultural divides, religious divides. We’ve got to bring everyone together on one team, to take on this broken, corrupt system.”
Talarico pledged the first bill he will file as a U.S. senator is “an anti-corruption agenda” to “get big money out of politics… banning corporate PACs and super-PACs… and banning members of Congress from trading stocks and enriching themselves.”
Talarico said he would also work to enact term limits, to overhaul the U.S. Supreme Court and to pass a national ban to end gerrymandering.
He said, “Once we transform this broken, corrupt system, then we can start unrigging this economy. We can start raising our pay, cutting our taxes, lowering our costs. We can finally start to get ahead. We can stop our government from spending billions of our tax dollars on a useless border wall through Big Bend, where it is doing so much damage to our natural environment and to our local businesses, and we can stop cutting the people who are responsible for preventing the spread of New World Screwworm, which is infecting livestock right here in Val Verde County.
“This is what’s at stake in this election. I think if we bring people together, if we do the work, I really do think we’re going to win this election in November and elect a senator who is going to serve and not be served,” Talarico finished.
Talarico and his team then spent time meeting with local voters one-to-one and taking photos with them.
The writer can be reached at delriomagnoliafan@gmail.com.
