John Lal (11:00)
All right, first up, let's start with what the right is saying. The right sees Cornyn vs. Paxton as a stark choice for GOP voters. Some say the party faces electoral challenges if it nominates Paxton. Others suggest Talarico will be a formidable opponent in the general election. In USA Today, Nicole Russell said Texas voters are not yet convinced of what they want. I'm not surprised to see a runoff, but as a conservative I'm concerned. It's clear that Texans seem to be torn about which direction they want the GOP to go. Cornyn represents the old guard establishment and Paxton the scandal ridden maga, russell wrote. A runoff between Cornyn and Paxton will likely force President Donald Trump to endorse one of the two. My guess is that he'll choose Cornyn to keep the Senate majority because the incumbent has a better chance of beating the Democratic candidate than the attorney general does. I still think either Cornyn or Paxton will ultimately beat Talarico, but it will be a tighter race now. That's not a bad thing for Republicans. They still need to prove to Texans why conservatism is better for them at a local and national level, Russell said a high Democratic turnout in the presidential midterm year should concern Republicans just as much as the fact that the quality of the candidates Democrats have chosen to represent them has also improved. Talarico is a far cry from the abysmal and unqualified former Representative Beto o'. Rourke. In the New York Times, Kevin D. Williamson asked, is Paxton what GOP voters want? Mr. Trump is sui generis, but what about Attorney General Ken Paxton of Texas? Throughout his career and in the Republican Senate primary, he has explored the outer limits of the troll as Tribune model of politics, williamson wrote. So far, it's been working out pretty well for him. Sure, he forced his way into a primary runoff against John Cornyn, a four term incumbent senator who received tens of millions of dollars of support and a lopsided financial advantage in the most expensive Senate primary on record. All that money didn't close the deal. The fact that Mr. Paxton has come so far without explicit support from the White House cannot be seen as anything other than a victory for the Texas attorney general and his brand of politics, Williamson said. The notion that Ken Paxton would take a sudden turn for the serious and the statesmanlike that he is capable of such a thing is implausible. With Americans now in danger and being killed in the Middle east, the taste for Paxton style performative buffoonery could diminish. But it has been a disappointing decade for those who have been waiting for the Republicans to come to their senses. In the Fort Worth Star Telegram, Ryan J. Ressack suggested the Crockett Talarico race came down to electability and a flawed campaign. Here's the thing about electability, it's something of a self fulfilling prophecy. In the 2008 presidential contest, Barack Obama was widely thought to be struggling. Some Democrats openly feared that the country simply wouldn't vote for a black candidate for president. Then he won the first nominating contest in an almost entirely white state, Iowa. Suddenly he was pretty electable, russik wrote. Talarico, to be clear, is not Barack Obama. He's not even 2018 vintage Beto O'. Rourke. But he is young and delivers a crisp message. Democrats such as Crockett are fond of saying that most Texans are with them, but that ours is a non voting state. A non voting state where turnout keeps rising. Weird, right? Russic said. Crockett got in the race a little late, didn't raise enough money and had a poor campaign organization that got distracted by trifling matters such as ejecting a supposedly unfriendly Atlantic reporter from a rally. Voters don't care about or even notice such incidents, but they say something about a campaign's ability to keep its eyes on the prize. Alright, that is it for what the right is saying. Which brings us to what the left is saying. Many on the left bemoan the continued appeal of Republican candidates in Trump's mold. Some praise Talarico's faith based approach to politics. Others say Talarico can win if Republicans nominate Paxton. In Salon, Amanda Marcotte wrote Texas primary shows that MAGA loves a villain if Texas Republican voters wanted an effective, strong leader who has been successful at pushing right wing policy, they could not do better than Cornyn. As it turns out, that is not what the Lone Star State's GOP primary voters wanted. On Tuesday, a slim plurality of Republican voters picked Cornyn as the nominee in November's Senate race, a dismal result that sends the contest into a runoff against MAGA firebrand Ken Paxton, Marcotte said In today's Republican Party, scandal and corruption don't hurt candidates. To the contrary, being the worst has become a selling point to GOP voters who conflate odious behavior with being a fighter on behalf of their increasingly tribalistic interests. On top of the relentless odor of scandal emanating from Paxton, his actions in office would likely alienate swing voters in a general election. He loves wasting taxpayer money on go nowhere lawsuits that excite bigots and conspiracy theorists but that annoy everyone else, marcotte wrote. There's not a shred of evidence that people like Paxton or Trump are actually warriors for any cause outside of their own ambition. The great irony is that Cornyn and others like him has done far more to advance conservative policies than Paxton, with his flashy but groundless lawsuits, ever has. In Ms. Now, Guthrie Graves Fitzsimmons said James Tallrico is living up to the hype by staying true to his faith. James Talarico's victory in the Texas Democratic Senate primary is bigger than state politics, and Talarico has a lot of powerful qualities. But his unapologetic embrace of his Christian faith sets him apart from other rising Democratic stars, and it could maybe even help reshape American politics, graves Fitzsimmons wrote. For decades, Democrats have ceded religious language to Republicans. Republicans claim the mantle of faith, while Democrats too often respond by criticizing the GOP's God Talk and emphasize the separation of church and state. In the process, millions of progressive Americans have become politically voiceless, despite the fact that the majority of Democrats are people of faith themselves. Talarico changes that. Talarico's message is not about moderating progressive commitments to win over religious conservatives. It is about courage. It's about saying plainly that support for LGBTQ equality, reproductive freedom, public education and church and state separation can flow directly from Christian faith. He's openly Christian and firmly pluralistic, graves Fitzsimon said. That does more than close a messaging gap. Tallarico and those like him can change the terrain. When leaders speak about faith with confidence instead of defensiveness, they show that democracy and devotion are not in conflict. In the new Republic, Perry Bacon argued Talarico can win the Texas state Senate. The broader political environment is ideal for Talarico. Trump's poll numbers keep dipping even in Texas. His approval there is now around 45%, while around half of voters disapprove. The Democratic base is very fired up and swing voters are turning away from the gop, which is why Democrats have done very well in virtually every race across the country since the 2024 election, Bacon wrote. Crockett and Talarico differ in Persona, but they are both liberal Democrats who speak frankly about the radicalism of today's Republicans. That's what the Democratic base is demanding both in Texas and in the country. If Paxton defeats Cornyn in the May runoff, Democrats will have one of their best chances in recent memory to win in Texas. The downside is that if Paxton defeats Cornyn, the most likely outcome is that the Senate gets a new member Paxton, who is a bit more conservative than Cornyn and way, way more corrupt and unethical, bacon said. Perhaps Democrats can't even win Texas, but James Talarico in 2026 could be the Democrats breakthrough in the Lone Star State. Alright, let's head over to Isaac for.
