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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
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Dustin Guastella

If Democrats are to win Texas, James Talarico must win blue-collar voters

James Talarico speaks into a microphone at a podium with one hand raised, a flag backdrop behind him
‘Cutting Trump’s tariffs and expanding a few tax breaks is far too timid a program to address the causes of our economic sclerosis.’ Photograph: Danielle Villasana/Getty Images

Texas could become the hottest battleground state in the country, if the results of both Republican and Democratic primaries are anything to go by.

Democrat James Talarico, a progressive Presbyterian seminarian, will face off against Trump’s favored candidate, the scandal-plagued attorney general, Ken Paxton. The matchup has liberals salivating. Paxton, dogged by corruption charges, impeachment hearings and an affair that left his marriage in tatters, is considered by some in his own party as “the worst possible top-of-the-ticket” candidate. Meanwhile, Talarico, a fresh-faced, clean-cut millennial, who quotes scripture to justify his progressive beliefs, seems like the perfect foil, at least according to Democratic party leaders.

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