
James Talarico Is The Moment
Talarico speaks for a new Texas. Now it’s time for the rest of us to show up.
Did you catch Representative James Talarico on Brian Tyler Cohen yesterday? If not, it’s worth the watch:
Talarico provides a good update from the frontlines of the redistricting fight and Abbott’s attempt to rig the maps in Trump’s favor. It appears that California Governor Gavin Newsom will proceed with his redistricting plans. Of course, chatter about other states potentially joining the fray is all over social media, including Ohio, Georgia, and Illinois, among others. Has the gerrymandering arms race officially begun?
Talarico calling out Trump for pretending to be anti-elite while kicking his voters off of healthcare and food was a chef’s kiss. Talarico’s takeaway message from this interview was that progress means change, and the status quo isn’t good enough.
All the Texas Republicans are currently crashing out over Talarico’s interview on Joe Rogan. Senator Mayes Middleton (who is running for Attorney General) is running around calling Talarico a fake Christian, saying there is no separation between church and state, and you’re supposed to subjugate women. And Mitch Little even tweeted Rogan, practically begging him to let him on his podcast for a rebuttal. 🤣
The national narrative this weekend has circled Talarico and Texas.
Frankly, I love hearing it. Because a lot of it is what I’ve been screaming from the rooftop for years. Texas is not a red state, but rather a non-voting state, and progressive populism is on the rise, as evident by our new national superstar, James Talarico. However, what the rest of America has yet to discover is that we have dozens more Talaricos up our sleeves, waiting for their turn.
Of course, there’s only one James Talarico, like there’s only one Beto O’Rourke, and only one Jasmine Crockett, and only one Al Green, and only one Greg Casar…. but Texas has long been the frontlines of fascism. We have hundreds of dynamic progressives waiting in the wings to burst through the noise. They only need the right social media strategy, or to meet the right person, or to get the right opportunity.
Perhaps we’re due for another deep dive into Texas data. Democrats have the numbers to flip Texas blue. They have had the numbers for many years.
The biggest problem we face is that Texas Democratic voters tend to pay more attention to national politics than to state-level issues. They see Pelosi, Schumer, and Jeffries. They think, ‘They don’t speak for me. My vote doesn’t count in Texas.’ So they stay home, completely oblivious that most of our Democrats are like James Talarico, Gene Wu, Ana-Maria Ramos, Vikki Goodwin, and John Bryant.
Or they say, “Well, I voted in four straight elections and Texas still didn’t turn blue, so I gave up.”
But that’s the thing. For Democrats in Texas, there have been so many reasons why we’ve had to give up. The registered voters who stayed home last year are the largest voting bloc in Texas. We must convince people to continue voting and participate in every election, never stopping, even when we don’t get our way. That’s our challenge. I believe we can overcome it.
Clarification on hearing locations and dates.
I’m now being told that the redistricting hearings in Austin, DFW, and Houston are tentative. We should know by next week whether they are confirmed or rescheduled. I will keep y’all informed either way.
I’ve had a lot of people reach out to me asking about how this is going to proceed, when it will take place, and where they should show up, as well as questions regarding some maps circulating on social media.
If you’ve seen these maps circulating on social media, please note that they are not an official map and did not originate from the legislators. This map was uploaded to the public portal by Andrew Dugan from Gallup.
Texas Republicans have not yet uploaded any maps, and you should not expect them to do so until the last minute.
What can you expect first?
We’ll get confirmation on these dates and locations for the hearings. They will be public hearings, and we will need EVERYONE to show up to those meetings, bring your entire precinct with you, your whole Democrat club, everyone in your family… seriously, we really need to show up to those.
After those three hearings, we might see maps uploaded to the redistricting portal in conjunction with a bill in the TLO. But no one knows for sure.
I promise to give everyone daily updates.
I’ve been told that the most important thing right now is for as many people as possible to attend those three hearings in the field. There will be more calls to action after that, I’m sure.
So, where are we at/what are we doing?
Wait for confirmed dates.
These will be public hearings.
Show up, bring everyone with you.
Watch for maps + bill uploads after.
And the flood?
The Select Committee on Disaster, Preparedness, and Flooding, a joint committee comprising both Senators and House members, will meet on Wednesday at 9:00 a.m. The testimony is limited to invited witnesses only, and I expect it will be a tough hearing to sit through, especially considering the search and rescue is ongoing.
So, buckle up.
This next month could get absolutely wild. We’re talking last-minute map drops, sham hearings, possibly quorum breaks, Twitter meltdowns, and maybe a constitutional crisis or two. Nothing is off the table. We’re in uncharted territory now, and the stakes couldn’t be higher.
Stay tuned. I’ll keep you updated daily with everything you need to know, when to show up, what to watch for, and which politicians are quietly trying to screw us behind closed doors.
Texas is ground zero. Let’s make some noise.
July 25: First day of special session
August 23: Last day of special session
November 4: Constitutional/TX18/SD09 Election
Click here to find out what Legislative districts you’re in.
LoneStarLeft is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
Follow me on Facebook, TikTok, Threads, YouTube, and Instagram.
The consultant maps violate federal and state law by splitting precincts into two or more congressional districts. And guess who was targeted? And believe me, as the CD 6 National Delegate I take it fucking personally. My precinct, the second largest of 77 precincts in all of Irving, a city of 260,000 people, was split 3 ways! Yup it is that fucking bad. And where did they put ME? In CD 12! You cannot make this up. Just my neighborhood. Everyone else in the precinct is in 24 or 26. But I am in 12, with Parker County. They took the 54 Irving Precincts in CD 6 and split them into 4: CD 33, 12, 24 and 25. Then they took the 4 blue very blue like 98% blue precincts in Johnson County and cut them out of CD 6 and put them in CD 25. They chopped up all the blue that we have build in CD 6 to make sure it wouldn’t get bluer. So yeah, given how vocal I have been, how I called out Jake Ellzey in person for his lies and selling out his constituents, for all the grass roots that Kelly Blackburn and I have done to turn out the vote. How we got Beto and Colin to come to the district, how we defeated Tim Dunn in the municipal run off. Yeah I take this really fucking personally. And believe me, whatever happens in Austin, I am driving down there and am going use my lawyer skills to make sure it is on the fucking record that what they are doing violates federal law by silencing the voices of this minority majority city. They say Hell hath no furry like a woman scorned? You better fucking believe it. Sorry, not cleaning up my language. It is time for Democrats to fucking show some teeth and fight.
Tell Jimmy to come up and talk to some FTW Hispanics that didn't voter
"1.7 million Texans could lose health coverage under expiring tax credits, ACA changes in GOP megabill"- TT