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Read our takeaways here from CNN and Jubilee’s town hall with Texas Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico here.
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(78)Texas town hall highlights
• CNN and Jubliee town hall: Senate candidate James Talarico said he wants to return to “OG capitalism” and that billionaires were destroying the country. The Democrat also discussed abortion with a voter who disagreed with him and defended his stance on gender-affirming surgeries.
• Threading the needle: Talarico stressed his independence, vowing to “stand up to my own party” and “the other party” on energy policy and criticizing “extremism” in both parties on immigration. He also addressed conspiracy theories that spread after his absence on the campaign trail due to the flu, calling them an example of “the rage economy.”
• No clear leader: Talarico’s race against Republican Ken Paxton is one of the most-watched contests on the map, and two new polls find no clear leader even as ad spending has surpassed half a billion dollars.
Key lines from James Talarico's conversations with Texas voters at tonight's town hall
After James Talarico’s several-day absence from the campaign trail due to a “nasty case of the flu” spawned conspiracy theories, the Texas candidate returned to the spotlight to participate in a CNN and Jubilee Media town hall with voters.
The audience, made up of Democrats, Republicans and Independents, posed questions to Talarico and sat down with him Wednesday evening to debate key issues.
Catch up on the highlights:
- Many voters said the economy was their top issue. In response to a question about the cost of healthcare, Talarico said he believes there needs to be a “robust public option” that can compete with for-profit insurance companies.
- The oil and gas industry is an important sector in Texas, and Talarico said he wants an “all of the above” approach. “I will stand up to my own party if they mess with our oil and gas industry, and I will stand up to the other party if they mess with renewables,” he said.
- Talarico attacked billionaires multiple times. He said he wants to go back to the “OG capitalism” that rewards hard work instead of wealth. He also called for an end to “big money in our politics” and for super PACs and corporate PACs to be banned. And he said he believes the national debt can be paid by “closing the billionaire tax loopholes.”
Texas Senate candidate James Talarico said he is feeling "much better" after having a "nasty case of the flu." The Democrat's absence from the campaign trail in recent days prompted Republicans to speculate about his whereabouts. Talarico acknowledged the conspiracy theories that spread on social media claiming he had spent time at a mental health center, calling them an example of what he billed as "the rage economy." Stream the CNN & Jubilee Town Hall with James Talarico at the link in our bio.
- In a state that is on the border, Talarico called for immigration reform that rejects the extremes of both parties. Undocumented immigrants who commit violent crime should be deported, he said, but there should also be more legal pathways to come to the US. He also said he does not support abolishing ICE.
- On foreign policy, Talarico defended his support for aid to Ukraine and said it is a “cost-saving measure” to stand up to Russian aggression now. He also told a rabbi that he has been “very critical” of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and called for a two-state solution.
- Talarico said he is in favor of “fair voter ID,” but dodged a voter’s question about whether he supports the Save America Act. Republicans’ efforts to redraw the state’s congressional districts, close polling locations and suspend voter registrations is “un-American,” Talarico said.
- He blasted Ken Paxton as “the most corrupt politician in Texas” after largely avoiding mentioning his Republican opponent for much of the evening.
- Talarico said that while he supports some abortion access, he argued the issue should be viewed instead as a “public policy problem.” He also defended his position that he would support a national ban on gender-affirming surgeries for transgender youth under the age of 18.
CNN’s Aditi Sangal, David Wright, Maureen Chowdhury and Tori B. Powell contributed reporting.
How our experts analyzed tonight's town hall with the Texas Democrat
Trump tells Montana rally Pentagon will establish "super range" for testing advanced weapons and tech
President Donald Trump said that the Defense Department is establishing a new “super range” in Montana for testing advanced weapons and technologies including “potential autonomous weapons, space and electronic warfare technology, supersonics and hypersonics.”
Joking about the persistence of Republican lawmakers, like Montana Sen. Tim Sheehy, who pressed him to move this range forward, Trump said, “You’re getting it, everybody. Will you please leave me alone? Leave me alone, Tim.”
CNN has reached out to the Pentagon for further information.
"I'm a border security Democrat," Talarico says on immigration
James Talarico is advocating for a solution to immigration enforcement that rejects “the extremism on this issue in both parties.”
James Talarico is advocating for a solution to immigration enforcement that rejects "the extremism on this issue in both parties." Talarico said, "Joe Biden failed us during his administration." And now, under the Trump administration, Talarico said there is a "different kind of extremism" in enforcement.
Stream the CNN & Jubilee Town Hall with James Talarico at the link in our bio.
Voter who disagreed with Talarico on abortion says she walked away "impressed"
James Talarico and Jodi Hunt, a professor and an orthodox Catholic, did not ultimately agree on the issue of abortion at tonight’s town hall. But she walked away “impressed” by the Senate candidate.
Hunt expressed that she is typically a single-issue voter on abortion and did not agree with Talarico about the fundamental issue of what constitutes the commandment of “thou shalt not kill,” she said.
Hunt said she found Talarico to be “a more balanced politician” and was “surprised at how centrist he was on many of the issues.” She added she walked away with more respect for the candidate because he didn’t sidestep the issue.
Another voter, Paul Wuller, who sat down with Talarico to discuss foreign aid, said he wishes he would have pushed more. Wuller said he is not sure the Senate candidate convinced him that it is more important to send money to other countries, like Ukraine, rather than spending it on domestic issues.
While they disagree on foreign policy, Wuller said he agrees with Talarico on many other issues and plans to vote for him.
Senate candidate calls for Wall Street to be banned from Texas' housing market
Senate candidate James Talarico agreed tonight with an undecided Texas voter who complained about the cost of housing in the state.
The Democrat told public relations director Jasmyn Carter that first-time homebuyers in the state need “substantial assistance,” and he accused Wall Street of standing in the way.
Talarico turns to Paxton in final question of town hall
After fielding the last question of tonight’s town hall, James Talarico blasted Ken Paxton as “the most corrupt politician in Texas” after largely avoiding mentioning his Republican opponent for much of the evening.
“The last thing I will say is that we are running against the most corrupt politician in Texas, and this is not an exaggeration,” Talarico said of the Texas attorney general, whose ethics controversies have fueled criticism from his opponents.
“We cannot afford Ken Paxton’s corruption,” he continued. “We have an opportunity in this race not just to defeat the most corrupt politician in Texas. We have an opportunity to defeat this entire corrupt system.”
Talarico backs two-state solution while addressing concerns about antisemitism and Israel
James Talarico, the Democratic candidate for Texas’ Senate seat, addressed the nuances of a voter’s question about rising antisemitism and his stance on Israel.
“I have deep love and respect for the Jewish people, for the Jewish scriptures,” Talarico said, noting that he learned about them from a local rabbi and not from a Christian perspective.
Later, when Talarico was asked by the voter, a rabbi, about his stance on Israel in relation to antisemitism, he said, “I’m always careful when I talk about this, to make sure that my criticisms are directed toward (Israeli) Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and not the Israeli people.”
Talarico acknowledged that he has been “very critical” of Netanyahu, and said that as a former teacher “seeing the death and the destruction in Gaza, seeing what’s happening to children, in particular, makes me sick to my stomach.”
He added that he also recognizes that October 7, 2023 “was the deadliest day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust. And I believe that Israel, like any nation, has a right to defend its people. But I don’t believe that Benjamin Netanyahu has a right to wage war against civilians or use collective punishment or restrict aid to civilians. And so that’s what I’ve spoken out against.”
Talarico later said he hopes “we can all come together to fight for a two-state solution where we have security for Israel and we have freedom and self-determination for Palestinians.”
Talarico details plan to "crack down" on AI data centers
Texas Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico outlined his plan to confront the increase of artificial intelligence data centers in Texas during tonight’s town hall with CNN and Jubilee Media.
He also said he would require companies to “get the consent of the people who live in these communities before they start building” a data center.
The Senate candidate accused “corrupt politicians” of buying data center companies who then allegedly provide “sweetheart tax deals” for them. He said this is part of “a corruption crisis” that he would fix if elected.
“We can change that in this year, in this state, in this race,” Talarico said.
Talarico says he's for "fair voter ID" but dodges question about the Save America Act
Texas Senate candidate James Talarico said he is in favor of “fair voter ID,” but dodged a voter’s question about whether he supports the Save America Act.
The bill would overhaul US elections in ways many conservatives want, including by requiring people registering to vote to provide proof of US citizenship.
“But from what I understand, the bill is about our elections,” Talarico said. “So, I’ll tell you what I am for. I am for fair voter ID, and I say fair because here in Texas, I think that a lot of our voter ID policies are discriminatory.”
He described how some types of identification, like a concealed handgun license, are allowed to be used for voting purposes while others, such as a student ID, are not.
“I think that hurts some kind of voters and helps other kind of voters,” Talarico said. “What I want to see is voter ID that is consistent across the board.”
The voter pushed for an answer on whether he can retain this policy while working with senators from other states, like New York or California.
“Well, I am not running for the US Senate to represent New York or California. I’m not running for the US Senate to represent the Democratic party. I am running for Senate to represent all 31 million Texans, and I will always do what’s best for Texas, even if that means standing up to my own party,” Talarico told the voter.
James Talarico defends his stance on gender-affirming surgeries for transgender youth
James Talarico defended his position that he would support a national ban on gender-affirming surgeries for transgender youth under the age of 18.
The Texas Senate candidate said he wants to balance the protection of children and a parent’s right to make their own decisions on how to raise their kids.
Talarico pointed out how he did not support a ban on all kinds of gender-affirming care, saying he felt like that “disrupted the balance” and started to infringe on the rights of parents.
Stacy Vasquez, a Texas professor, pushed back against the Senate candidate, arguing that government should have no role in decision making when it comes to people’s health. It should be a discussion between people and their doctors, he said, and cases where people de-transition or regret their decisions are outliers.
“Let me tell you where I think we agree,” Talarico answered. “Powerful people are using small minorities in our community to distract from their corruption.”
Talarico’s opponent, Republican Ken Paxton, has seized on Talarico’s past comments about gender and religion, such as his remark during a 2021 legislative debate that “God is nonbinary.”
Talarico has since admitted that some of his comments “missed the mark” and has sought to moderate his views on transgender issues.
CNN’s Jeff Zeleny and Patrick Svitek contributed this report.
Talarico pressed on mixing of faith and politics
James Talarico was pressed about his mixing of religious and political rhetoric on the campaign trail and faced pointed questions from a voter about his faith at tonight’s town hall.
“I believe where we differ is really our interpretations of the Bible,” the voter, Sarah, a Republican from Round Rock, Texas, began.
Talarico, a seminary student, was specifically asked about comments that have been replayed thousands of times in attack ads, when he remarked that “God is non-binary” during a 2021 floor debate over transgender policy in the House legislature, in addition to his support for abortion rights.
Referring specifically to his “God is non-binary” remarks, Talarico conceded that he “was being provocative” and “maybe in an annoying way.”
And he talked about his aspirations to one day become a minister, saying that “preachers often will say something shocking in a sermon to get your attention, and that’s something I’m still learning how to do in a responsible way.”
Talarico responds to voter concern about national debt, calling it a "moral emergency"
Responding to a voter concerned about the national debt, Texas Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico called it a “moral emergency”
“I’m so glad that you brought it tonight, because it rarely gets talked about in forums like this … it’s not just an economic and political emergency. It is a moral emergency because we are stealing from future generations. It is intergenerational theft,” Talarico said.
The US national debt has topped $40 trillion in August.
Talarico said that currently billionaires can write off their “mega yacht as a business expense. That is ridiculous. And that is exploding the deficit.”
He went on to criticize President Donald Trump’s “Big, Beautiful, Bill,” which Talarico said gave a sizable tax cut to the “top 1%. People who don’t need it.”
Talarico calls Ukraine aid a "cost-saving measure"
Texas Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico referenced the lessons learned from World War II when pressed by a voter on his support for sending aid to Ukraine amid its war with Russia.
“When we fail to stand up to an aggressor in Europe, that comes back to haunt us,” Talarico said. “And we need to strengthen Ukraine. We need to strengthen our NATO allies as they stand up to Russian aggression so we don’t have to.”
He called providing aid to Ukraine a “cost-saving measure.”
“If we can stop this aggression, if we can stop Vladimir Putin in Ukraine, then we’re not going to have to stop him elsewhere,” Talarico said.
Talarico argues that abortion should be viewed through public policy lens
James Talarico worked to find common ground with one Texas voter who said she votes exclusively on the issue of abortion.
Jodi Hunt, a professor, said she is an orthodox Catholic and asked Talarico how she and other voters like her could trust him to “protect the most innocent among us.”
Talarico said that while he supports some abortion access, he argued that his and Hunt’s goals are the same. He said he wants to see fewer unplanned pregnancies and fewer abortions overall, and that the issue should be viewed instead as a “public policy problem.”
“We may have different, moral conclusions when it comes to this particular ethical question, but we actually have the same public policy goal,” he said, proposing more sex education, access to contraception and access to health care.
“If I believed that abortion was murder, that it violated the Ten Commandments, then I wouldn’t support it,” Talarico said. “It’s okay that you and I come to different conclusions about that.”
The Senate candidate also argued that Texas’ ban on abortions in almost all cases is too extreme and that women are dying from not having access to the care they need.
Voter suppression is "un-American," Talarico says
Texas Senate candidate James Talarico said Republicans in power in the state have redrawn the districts, closed polling locations and suspended voter registrations in hopes of lowering the voter turnout rate.
A Texan woman present at the CNN and Jubilee Media town hall with Talarico expressed frustration at the difficulty of finding the correct voting location in her area.
The Democratic nominee, agreeing with the voter, said Republicans are trying to “do everything they can to hold on to power.”
These measures will make a significant impact on voters’ ability to cast their ballots on Election Day, Talarico claimed.
“It’s going to mean longer commutes to get to your polling location. It’s going to mean longer wait times to be able to vote. And they’re hoping it’s going to mean lower voter turnout in some neighborhoods,” he added.
Talarico said he wants to fight for all Texans’ right to vote even if they aren’t voting for him.
Talarico nods to former Texan president Lyndon B. Johnson while talking education policy
James Talarico recalled his own experience as a middle school teacher while fielding a question about education policy, decrying the conditions facing public educators.
Talarico remembered seeing cuts to public school funding firsthand, which he said resulted in not having enough desks for students.
“I threw my hat in the ring because I believe that educators should be sitting at the decision-making table when it comes to making decisions about education policy,” Talarico said about how being a teacher ultimately led him to politics.
The Texas Democrat criticized pressures facing teachers, saying that “we are nickel-and-diming the most important professionals in our communities.”
Drawing on a historical analogy, the Texas Democrat noted that “this is LBJ’s Senate seat that I’m running for,” referring to former President Lyndon Baines Johnson, who served as US Senator from Texas before being tapped as former President John F. Kennedy’s Vice President.
Talarico calls for an end to "big money" involvement in politics
Texas Democratic Senate nominee James Talarico called for an end to super PACs and corporate PACs during tonight’s town hall with CNN and Jubilee Media.
“There’s way too much big money in our politics,” he told a voter who asked about mudslinging in politics. “Right now the richest man in the world is dumping hundreds of millions of dollars into this state to try to defame me, to try to defeat this movement that we’re building.”
Although Talarico didn’t name him, Elon Musk has emerged as the top known donor to the Republican Party. The majority of the SpaceX founder’s donations since this summer have gone to the top Republican super PAC in Senate races, which is spending heavily in Texas
Later in the night when answering a question from a different voter on how he would prevent corruption and protect fair elections, Talarico referenced Musk’s spending again.
“I’m running to ban super PACs and corporate PACs so billionaires aren’t spending unlimited secret money on our political campaigns,” he told medical student Emma X. Biggs tonight. “And I don’t care if they’re Democratic super PACs or Republican super PACs. I think we got to ban them all because there’s way too much influence from big money in our politics.”
CNN’s Chris Isidore contributed reporting.
Talarico says he does not support abolishing ICE
Texas Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico said he does not support abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
He added, “We need immigration and customs enforcement in this country. But that’s not what we’re seeing. What we’ve seen over the last year is a secret police force. And that’s what we don’t want in this country. We don’t want masked men in unmarked vehicles coming through and terrorizing our communities. We don’t want federal agents murdering our neighbors before our very eyes.”
