A “blue wave” hit the U.S. last night as the country tallied the votes of its 2026 midterm election, with key states like Ohio and South Carolina flipping from Republican to Democratic control. One of the most anticipated races took place in Texas, where Democrat James Talarico ultimately triumphed over Republican Ken Paxton as the state’s Senator.
The 37-year-old is now the state’s first elected Democratic Senator in nearly four decades—and his unlikely path to Washington began as a public school teacher.
Talarico started his working career teaching sixth grade at Rhodes Middle School, a high-poverty area in San Antonio, when he recognized how state policies were hurting his students.
The then-23-year-old educator witnessed the impacts of massive budget cuts that wiped out critical resources from kids living in an already underserved area; in 2011 the Texas Legislature cut $5.4 billion in public school funding following a budget shortfall. The loss of support hurt the state’s poorest students—and the strife of underpaid and overworked teachers—inspired his pursuit of public office just a few short years later.
“I served my students on the West Side and served their families and really saw the impacts of economic injustice up close and personal,” Talarico told Austin PBS last year. “That experience is what motivated me to then run for office, because I saw students slipping through the cracks, I saw teachers driving Ubers at night to make extra money, I saw teachers selling their own blood plasma to make ends meet. And I knew that was wrong.”
The average middle school teacher in Texas makes $63,400 annually, according to USAFacts, and is ranked in the bottom half of U.S. states when it comes to pay.
Fortune reached out to James Talarico for Texas for comment.
Meet the troubled student who inspired Talarico’s political career
Talarico only taught in Texas’ public school system for two years before taking his ambitions to the non-profits and politics. Yet one student’s story in his teaching career left a lasting mark—and has been a recurring anecdote during his senatorial campaign trail.
The eighth-generation Texan often recounts the story of one struggling sixth-grader named Justin who emboldened him to run for office. The kid had a tough upbringing, was abandoned by his mother, and had just been kicked out of a previous school for bringing a knife and threatening violence against a teacher.
Talarico made an effort to build a connection, and the 11-year-old was making progress, even gifting Talarico a snowflake cup from the Dollar Tree. But then Justin got into another altercation at school—his “third strike.” Talarico remembers him being carried out of school without ever touching the ground; that was the last time he ever saw Justin.
After doing some digging, he found that the school district therapist appointed to Justin had been eliminated amid Texas’ budget cuts. Students who have been exposed to tough upbringings, violence, and trauma suddenly lost their lifelines of support. Talarico described it as a “radicalizing” experience, and set out to pursue a career in public service.
“I promised myself right then that if I ever got a little bit of power or a little bit of influence, that I would do everything I could with every fiber of my being to stop that from happening again,” Talarico said in a 2025 episode of The Joe Rogan Experience podcast.
Talarico’s rise from middle-school teacher to Texas Senator
After his teaching stint, Talarico went on to become the Central Texas executive director of Reasoning Mind: an education nonprofit focused on math instruction and classroom technology.
In 2017, he launched his first-ever political campaign in running for the Texas House. And the following year, at just 29, Talarico won the special election and the regular election for the district, flipping the seat from Republican to Democrat.
There, he implemented school funding reform and introduced his Whole Student Agenda addressing pupil mental health and various school-related issues.
Talarico has since held onto a seat amid switching to District 50 in 2022, and just last year, announced his Senate bid to challenge the Republican nominee in Texas.
Now, he’s the Lone Star State’s first Democratic Senator elected since 1988, and has the potential to earn a U.S. Senator’s average salary of $174,000. Despite becoming a high-profile political force, he still leads with the lessons from his middle-school teaching days.
“Justin and my students are the ones I think about when I’m at the Capitol,” Talarico continued during the podcast. “They are the criteria that I use to evaluate public policy, not if it’s a Democratic bill or Republican bill, not if it’s going to get me ex-lobbyist support.”
The post James Talarico was a 23-year-old middle school teacher when an 11-year-old inspired him to run for office—now he’s making history in Texas as Senator appeared first on Fortune.
