If the current situation in the Texas U.S. Senate race seems like deja vu, maybe it is. With James Talarico's victory over Jasmine Crockett in the Democratic primary this week, Talarico is getting the same media treatment as Beto O'Rourke in 2018: young, fresh-faced, moderate Democrat that has cross-party appeal and threatens the GOP's longtime hold on the state. Within hours of Talarico's win, media reports were already touting him as a "rising star" and the next big hope for Democrats to flip Texas. Other pundits called him a "nightmare candidate" for Republicans.
All of this fawning comes after the Hollywood and Democrat establishments got fully behind Talarico in the primary. Left-wing late night host Stephen Colbert and Talarico pushed a hoax that their interview had been "banned" from the airwaves, causing it to blow up with millions of views on YouTube. Talarico was also a guest on the liberal daytime chatfest "The View." Indeed, the entire Hollywood/legacy media machine seems to be all in on Talarico, which sets up a long eight months between now and the general election.
But there is one glaring problem with this narrative: it is false. "(Talarico's) record in the state legislature is replete with positions that are far and away much more radical than 75% of Texans," says Luke Macias, Texas political analyst. "But ultimately, the legacy media are going to do their best to try to paint him as some moderate, bridge-builder."
"I think we are going to very much see that Beto treatment of 2018, where the media is just going to fawn over James Talarico," he continues.
President Trump has signaled he will soon make an endorsement in the Republican runoff between John Cornyn and Ken Paxton, and he wants the candidate he doesn't endorse to drop out of the race, so Republicans can focus all of their attention on defeating Talarico this fall. Trump wrote on Truth Social, "We have an easy to beat, Radical Left Opponent, and we have to TOTALLY FOCUS on putting him away, quickly and decisively!"
Whomever ends up as the Republican nominee, they will have to challenge the media narrative on Talarico. "It's going to be incumbent upon conservative media outlets and incumbent upon all Republicans to make sure that our fellow neighbors know just how radical James Talarico is," says Macias. "He is a very far-left, radical progressive."
Photo: Getty Images North America