James Talarico is newest Texas Democrat media darling, but dreams of state 'going blue' have long been dashed
James Talarico may be causing Texas residents to experience a bit of déjà vu. Once again, a rising star Democrat has become a media idol. And once again, familiar headlines about the red state possibly going Democratic are surfacing.
Talarico, a 36-year-old state representative, defeated Rep. Jasmine Crockett in last week’s Democratic Senate primary and will try to become the first Democrat since 1988 to win a Senate election in Texas. Talarico has emerged as the latest Democrat to be framed by the media as having a shot to "turn Texas blue" or spark a "blue breakthrough," as some have even suggested he could make Texas a true battleground.
But Texas Democrats have dreamed big before and seen it all fall flat, on both the presidential and state election levels.
Wendy Davis, who became a feminist hero for her filibuster in favor of abortion rights, used her fame to catapult her to the Democratic nomination for the 2014 Texas gubernatorial race. The mainstream media was quickly enamored, as ABC News called her an "overnight national Democratic celebrity," TIME wrote that "her sudden stardom raises hopes that she could be the one to break Republican’s 14-year choke hold on statewide offices," CBS News called her a "rising star" and Davis was referred to as an "overnight sensation" on NBC News.
The pink Mizuno Wave Rider 16 running shoes Davis wore for a marathon filibuster when she was a state senator were even glamorized by multiple outlets, such as BuzzFeed, which published a story, "The 11 best Amazon reviews of Wendy Davis' filibuster sneakers."
Despite the glowing coverage, tidbits of Davis’ origin story eventually came into question, and she was easily defeated by Greg Abbott in 2014, a wave election year for Republicans. Davis lost by 20 points in the most lopsided defeat in a governor's race in Texas since 1998.
It only took four years for the media to find its new darling in the Lone Star State though: Beto O'Rourke, a three-term congressman from El Paso, who decided to challenge Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas.
O’Rourke was propped up as a cross between a rock star and John F. Kennedy, who could miraculously be the first Democrat to win a statewide office in Texas since 1994. The press fawned over O’Rourke so hard that seemingly every mainstream publication in America published a glowing feature.
Headlines included Vanity Fair’s "Meet the Kennedyesque Democrat Trying to Beat Ted Cruz," Rolling Stone’s "Beto O’Rourke: Ted Cruz’s Punk-Rock Problem" and Esquire’s "Who Is Beto O’Rourke? Meet The Man Democrats Hope Is The Next Obama."
Town and Country called him a "Kennedyesque longshot in a roiling red state," Time declared, "Elderly voters sometimes tell him that he reminds them of John F. Kennedy" and BuzzFeed insisted, "Beto O’Rourke could be the Democrat Texas has been waiting for."
CBS News published an article headlined, "O'Rourke could mean blue wave hits deep red Texas in Senate race," MSNBC carried on about O’Rourke’s path to victory and Time asked, "Can Beto O’Rourke Turn Texas Blue?"
In a strong environment nationally for Democrats — 2018 saw the party win back the House in President Donald Trump's first term — O'Rourke set a record for votes cast for a Democrat in Texas with over four million. Yet it wasn't enough to beat Cruz, who won by 2.6 points to clinch re-election.
The loss nevertheless made O'Rourke a sensation and convinced him to join the crowded 2020 Democratic presidential field. In an infamous Vanity Fair cover story that featured photographs taken by the renowned Annie Leibovitz, O'Rourke said he was "born to be in it," which irked even liberals who found his language presumptuous.
On a national stage, O'Rourke didn't recapture the magic in Texas. He suspended his presidential campaign before the Iowa caucuses. In 2022, he lost the governor's race to Abbott, and he hasn't sought office since, although he's been lauded as helping lower-ticket Democrats in the state with his fundraising and activism.
The press didn’t learn after the Davis and O’Rourke letdowns, as Hillary Clinton and Kamala Harris were each taken somewhat seriously when expressing their desire to win Texas from Donald Trump in their respective presidential elections.
In 2016, headlines were published like NPR's "Why Texas Is Closer To Turning Blue Than It Has Been In Decades," and The Atlantic's "Can Hillary Clinton Win Texas?" Less than a month before the election, MSNBC's "Morning Joe" had a discussion over whether Clinton would win the state, as one analyst predicted she'd capture more than 400 electoral votes in November.
Clinton lost Texas by nine points, an improvement over Barack Obama's showing in 2012, but an emphatic loss nonetheless, as Trump won the election as well.
While some headlines wondered whether Texas could turn blue in 2024, stories tended to acknowledge it was a long shot. One article in The Hill, headlined, "What if Texas goes blue?" spoke hopefully about the state's trend toward Democrats in recent presidential elections, but Trump dashed those hopes with a 14-point landslide win over Harris.
Now with Trump in office again and facing a potentially daunting midterm season for Republicans, history could be repeating itself with Talarico, who has been called a "rising star" across the media landscape. Texas still has not settled on a Republican candidate, with Sen. John Cornyn and Attorney General Ken Paxton heading to a May runoff.
Heritage Foundation media fellow Tim Young, who is based in Fort Worth, doesn’t believe the press will change its tune anytime soon.
"It’s been very clear from the start that the media has been propping Talarico up, even at the expense of Jasmine Crockett. They believe they can force a milquetoast-looking White person with radical views on Texas and win because they ultimately think Texans are stupid," Young told Fox News Digital.
"The legacy media will never learn their lesson," Young continued. "This is the same media who believes themselves to be elite and smarter than the average person, so no, they’ll never learn."
TALARICO REPORTEDLY KNEW COLBERT INTERVIEW WOULDN'T AIR ON TV BEFORE HE LEFT TO FILM IT
Young’s feelings echo those of an FCC insider who previously told Fox News Digital they believed CBS host Stephen Colbert attempted to put his thumb on the scale for Talarico because he was more palatable in a general election than Crockett.
Colbert helped stir massive attention for Talarico by insisting he couldn’t air his interview of the Democratic state lawmaker last month because CBS was pressured by FCC guidelines. CBS and the FCC countered the notion that he was actively prevented from airing the interview, and The New York Times reported that Talarico knew his interview wouldn’t air on linear TV well in advance.
Talarico will surely continue to see favorable coverage ahead of Election Day, but whether he can become the first Democrat in nearly four decades to win a Senate election in Texas remains to be seen.
Fox News Digital's Hanna Panreck contributed to this report.