Get to Know Your Candidates: James Talarico — U.S. Senate

James Talarico began his working life in a San Antonio middle-school classroom, teaching sixth-grade language arts on the city's Westside. Now the four-term Austin state representative — and Presbyterian seminarian — is asking voters across Texas, Milam County included, to send him to the U.S. Senate. His pitch: "The real fight in this country isn't Left vs. Right; it's Top vs. Bottom."

Who he is

Talarico was born in Round Rock in 1989 and raised by a single mother in east Austin. He calls himself an eighth-generation Texan. The grandson of a preacher, he earned a Master of Divinity from Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary while serving in the Legislature.

He earned a bachelor's degree in government from the University of Texas at Austin, then joined Teach for America and taught at Rhodes Middle School in San Antonio. He later earned a master's degree in education policy from Harvard.

Voters first sent him to the Texas House in 2018, when he won a Round Rock–area district that had voted for Donald Trump. After redistricting he represents an Austin district, now in his fourth term. In his Ballotpedia candidate survey, he says he has passed 60 bipartisan bills, including lowering prescription drug costs and expanding child care. Talarico won the Democratic nomination on March 3, defeating U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett with 52.4 percent of the vote.

What he stands for

His first bill as a senator, Talarico says, would be an anti-corruption package: capping campaign contributions, banning dark-money groups and super PACs, and banning partisan gerrymandering. He notes he has never taken corporate PAC money.

On costs, he proposes a cost-of-living tax cut — expanding the Child Tax Credit and the Earned Income Tax Credit, restoring the Affordable Care Act's enhanced premium tax credits, and providing a tariff rebate — paid for, he says, by closing tax loopholes and making the wealthiest Americans and large corporations "pay their fair share." He would cut red tape to build more homes and energy projects, and he backs letting Americans buy into Medicare and lowering prescription drug costs.

Education is personal for the former teacher. He supports universal early-childhood education, including free pre-K for every three- and four-year-old, stronger investment in child care, and recruiting and retaining teachers — and he opposes voucher plans he says would defund public schools. On immigration, he calls for comprehensive reform that secures the border with more agents, judges and technology while creating a path to citizenship for longtime residents. "Our border should be like a front porch," he has said. "It should have a welcome mat out front and a lock on the door."

Texas voters will decide the race on the Nov. 3 general election ballot. Early voting runs Oct. 19–30.