James Talarico bounded onto the stage of a packed Houston nightclub Wednesday night to the rapturous cheers of hundreds of Democrats desperate for his U.S. Senate run to finally be the one.
“Are y’all ready to take back Texas?” Mr. Talarico asked. “Are y’all ready to beat Ken Paxton?”
The boisterous, standing-room-only rally was taking place less than 24 hours after Republicans had finally settled their bitter primary runoff Tuesday, selecting Attorney General Ken Paxton as the party’s nominee by a lopsided margin over Senator John Cornyn.
Even before the final votes were counted in that contest, the general election began on Wednesday in what was already shaping up to be a rancorous and deeply personal fight.
The candidates, along with their supporters, spent the first full day of campaigning in a furious back-and-forth over who was more unacceptable, outside the mainstream and just not right for Texas.
Mr. Talarico attacked Mr. Paxton over his long history of legal entanglements and corruption allegations, which led to a criminal indictment on securities fraud charges (he settled the case) and an impeachment by Republicans in the Texas House (he was acquitted in a trial by Republicans in the Texas Senate).
Mr. Paxton responded with his own barrage of attacks against Mr. Talarico, accusing him of being a vegan (he eats meat and cheese) and highlighting his past comment, during a legislative hearing in 2021, that there “are many more than two biological sexes — in fact, there are six” (he has since said he was talking about “abnormalities.”)
In his victory speech on Tuesday, Mr. Paxton looked to label Mr. Talarico as an outsider, someone unlike average Texans.
“I’ve even heard some people call him James Talafreako,” he said. (Mr. Paxton held no public events on Wednesday.)
By the time Mr. Talarico arrived for the Houston rally, his campaign had already embraced the nickname, selling “I’m a Talafreako” shirts on their website. All around the venue, people held signs that read “The People v. Ken Paxton” — a nod to his history of legal troubles.
In his speech, Mr. Talarico, a 37-year-old state representative from Austin and a Presbyterian seminarian, cited Bible verses to underscore the notion of service. And he used a story about his father to bring up notions of masculinity, responding indirectly to suggestions by Republicans that he is somehow not manly enough for Texas.
“He would go next door and mow our neighbor’s lawn,” he said of his father. “He never talked about it. He just did it. Because that’s what a man does. He serves those around him.”
The rally was reminiscent of those that greeted Beto O’Rourke, the former congressman whose Senate run in 2018 was the high-water mark for Democrats in Texas. Many who came out for Mr. Talarico on Wednesday had been there for that run, and for others by Democrats since. All have ended in disappointment.
“I’m as excited as I was with Beto, maybe a little more so,” said Nathan Simmons, a lawyer who wore a white shirt declaring, “We are all immigrants.”
“He’s about religion, but he’s not forcing people to follow his beliefs,” said Nazareth — “like in the Bible” — Chavez, who attended with her 25-year-old daughter, Bri Guerrero.
Ms. Guerrero said she appreciated Mr. Talarico’s openness and his support for the transgender community. “I want to see his words in action,” she said.
Before the rally, Mr. Talarico spent time walking back some of his past comments, saying in a television interview on CBS News on Wednesday that he regretted past statements that had “missed the mark” or been “cringey.”
“I know there are two sexes, men and women,” Mr. Talarico said. “I also know there is a very small percentage of people who have these chromosomal abnormalities, and I believe they deserve to be treated with dignity and respect.”
The early Republican focus on gender echoed attacks from the last election cycle, in 2024, when the party hammered Democrats over their advocacy for transgender rights, such as participation in youth sports. Some Democratic candidates began distancing themselves. The party’s 2024 nominee for U.S. Senate, Colin Allred, ran an ad in which he explained, “I don’t want boys playing girls’ sports.” He lost to Senator Ted Cruz.
Senior members of the Trump administration joined in the attacks against Mr. Talarico, and Democrats responded, ratcheting up the vitriol in a race that has only just begun, and still has more than five months to go.
Stephen Miller, a top adviser to President Trump, called Mr. Talarico the “first transgender senate candidate” on social media. An account belonging to the Democratic National Committee responded by telling Mr. Miller to “shut up” and calling him “ugly” (in somewhat more colorful language).
The immediate pivot to Mr. Talarico by Republicans had been expected. It was also part of an effort to unite the party after a particularly bruising and expensive primary in which Mr. Cornyn regularly attacked Mr. Paxton as unfit for office, highlighting the allegations of adultery that emerged in the impeachment trial and during his messy divorce.
Most Republicans, including Mr. Cornyn, appeared eager to put the primary behind them and pledged to rally in opposition to Mr. Talarico. But some still had reservations about Mr. Paxton.
“I’ve personally spoken to people since the election who say that they will never vote for Ken Paxton, and they don’t want to vote for the Democrat either,” Jeff Wentworth, a former Republican state senator from San Antonio who supported Mr. Cornyn, said in an interview.
“It’s just an entirely different Republican Party than I joined 60 years ago,” he said.
Mr. Talarico has made a point of reaching out to disaffected Republicans as part of his campaign. At the rally, a campaign worker asked for those new to the Democratic Party to raise their hands. Only a few went up — and were greeted with loud cheers.
Melissa Parks, 62, was among those who raised her hand. She said she found Mr. Talarico to be “sincere” and someone who “wants to make good things happen.”
Ms. Parks described herself as an “old-fashioned Republican” who voted for Mr. Trump in 2016, but then began drifting away from the party. She voted for Mr. O’Rourke in 2018.
J. David Goodman is the Texas bureau chief for The Times, based in Houston.
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