The 51st vote

James Talarico and Texas can save America

It’s some powerful poetic justice that Texas — for decades written off by national Democrats and taken for granted by national Republicans — might tip the balance of power in this country at it’s most critical moment of truth.

James Talarico won a commanding victory last night, generating outsized enthusiasm across the state. From the Rio Grande Valley to the Panhandle, El Paso to Austin, he not only won county after county, but he helped generate turnout numbers that we haven’t seen in decades.

And it wasn’t easy. Jasmine Crockett is one of the most exciting Democrats Texas has produced, a real fighter who made a name for herself standing up to Trump and representing a fierce independence that also helped drive record turnout throughout the state.

What about Republicans? Though John Cornyn edged ahead of Ken Paxton in last night’s Republican primary, they are now both headed for a costly runoff. They’ve already spent more than $90 million tearing each other apart, and it will only get more expensive and nastier heading into the May 26th runoff election.

After conceding to Talarico today, Crockett has asked her supporters to rally behind him and all Democrats on the ballot. That means we have the two strongest Democrats in the state on the same team, working together at time that Republicans are fighting, fractured and months away from a nominee.

In addition, Democrats now have a nominee for every Congressional seat, every State House seat and every State Senate seat for the first time since 1974. That means that behind James are nearly 200 strong, local candidates who are pulling in new voters from across the 254 counties of Texas.

These dynamics play out as Trump grows more unpopular. His policies of kicking people off Medicaid, hurting farmers and ranchers through tariffs, raiding communities and separating families with ICE agents and putting military families in harm’s way through another war of choice in the Middle East will all stick to Republican nominees, including whoever emerges from the Senate primary runoff.

Though we are still awaiting full election-day data, the results from early voting show record-shattering turnout across the state, eclipsing peak presidential election year numbers. And most gratifying, young voter turnout is way up. These are the voters I spend my time with, volunteering alongside other Powered by People volunteers to reach, register and stay in touch with 18-29 year olds to dramatically increase the likelihood that they’ll vote.

That means that the special election results in Tarrant County in January — where a Democrat won a Trump +17 district — were not an anomaly but instead a harbinger of what was revealed last night, and what we can expect to see in November if we put in the work and keep up the fight.

These results are not lost on Trump. He understands that if he loses Texas, he loses his presidency. His cronies and corrupt friends lose the effective immunity with which they’ve operated this criminal operation out of the White House. They lose protection from subpoena, they lose the ability to defy the Constitution, defraud the American people. They lose the ability to destroy this democracy and deliver Trump or his chosen successor a third term in 2028.

He will do everything in his power to steal November’s election in Texas before the first votes are cast. He will attempt to cancel mail-in voting, purge voters from the rolls, “nationalize” our elections.

We must be ready for the fight — doing everything we can, with what we have, where we are.

That means registering young voters and staying in touch with them, to help them navigate the voter suppression that already exists in Texas and anticipating new forms of suppression that are sure to come. Powered by People — the organization I lead — is doing this work every single day in Texas. Today we’ll be helping students at Texas A&M get registered and ready to vote in November, tomorrow we’ll be at University of Houston. Join us as a volunteer, there are options for those who want to do the work in person or remotely from home or another state: poweredxpeople.org

It also means getting behind James Talarico and our other Democratic nominees with all we’ve got. Donate to James’ campaign here

If we meet this moment with what it takes, if Democrats show this same fight across the country — winning Senate races in Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina and Maine — James Talarico will be the 51st vote in the U.S. Senate.

Let’s make it happen.