Black Voters Appear To Be Sticking With Talarico For Several Reasons As His Multimillion-Dollar Outreach Pledge Aims To Turn Support Into Turnout
After the March Democratic primary against Jasmine Crockett, James Talarico had a Black voter problem.
Some polling showed him winning less than 10% of Black voters as Crockett dominated among the demographic. Now, just months later, Talarico is approaching Crockett-level support among Black Texans in his general election race against Republican Ken Paxton.
So why exactly did he pledge $25 million to reach voters who increasingly appear to already be with him?
Before Talarico Became a Household Name, There Was The “White Boy” Warning
Remember how the Black electorate got here.
Before Talarico formally entered the Senate race, Crockett was already warning about Democrats’ obsession with “electability.” During a late-2025 appearance on “Urban View,” Crockett said Democrats were already looking ahead and searching for what she described as the “safest white boy.”
Then came the Democratic primary, where electability became one of the biggest underlying discussions — particularly for non-Black voters deciding whether Texas was prepared to elect a Black woman statewide.
Crockett lost the March 3 primary to Talarico, 52.5% to 46.2%, while Black voters overwhelmingly supported her.
Then Came The Unofficial Obama Endorsement
In May, former President Barack Obama showed up at an Austin taco restaurant with Talarico and Democratic gubernatorial nominee Gina Hinojosa.
According to The Associated Press, the appearance was part of Obama’s effort to elevate a younger generation of Democratic politicians ahead of the midterms. Obama stopped short of formally endorsing either candidate, although he introduced Talarico and Hinojosa to diners as Texas’ “next senator and governor.”
And even with Obama essentially giving the new Texas ticket his presidential seal of approval, Black voters still had some things to say.
Still, Talarico’s Black voter support did not come out of nowhere — or solely from Obama. After the primary, he had already been showing up in Black spaces, from speaking at HBCU Paul Quinn College graduates to holding town halls in predominantly Black Houston neighborhoods, releasing policy proposals on issues like Black maternal health, all while saying he was willing to go anywhere and talk to anyone to expand his coalition.
Then Talarico Put $25 Million On The Table
Though questions about his outreach followed.
In June, at the Texas Democratic Party convention, Talarico acknowledged the party’s “troubling history of taking Black voters for granted,” telling Black caucus members that Democrats must actively earn and invest in the Black electorate rather than treat it as a guaranteed voting bloc.
The following month, during a “sometimes-tense” Houston town hall Talarico listened to Black voters’ concerns and pledged $25 million toward reaching them. The announcement came as attendees pushed Talarico on whether he had done enough to earn the support of one of the Democratic Party’s most loyal constituencies.
“I’m committing to you here that we will be putting resources where our mouth is, and we’re going to be reaching out to these voters across the state so that we can win this race in November,” Talarico said.
“You’re going to see paid advertisements directed toward Black voters. You’re going to see organizing, folks showing up at doorsteps, folks showing up at community events, registering voters, speaking to voters, listening to voters.”
University of Houston political scientist Brandon Rottinghaus told the Texas Tribune that the investment was substantially larger than what Texas statewide Democratic campaigns typically spend mobilizing Black voters.
But those frustrations are bigger than Talarico. The complaints that landed in his lap echoed what later polling would find: 77% of recent Black Democratic voters believe the party takes them “for granted.”
The Polls Say He Already Has Black Voter Support
Last week, a Texas Public Opinion Research poll showed Talarico leading Paxton statewide 45% to 40%. Among Black voters, the difference was not even close where 71% backed Talarico and just 8% supported Paxton.
Then came another survey from Texas Southern University’s Barbara Jordan Public Policy Research and Survey Center. That poll found 79% of likely Black voters planned to support Talarico, compared with 12% for Paxton. Only 7% of recent Black voters said Crockett’s primary defeat made them less likely to vote in November.
Another recent Fox News poll put Talarico’s Black support even higher, at 87%.
But buried underneath all those impressive numbers is probably the better explanation for that $25 million pledge.
Eight in 10 also believed Crockett’s race influenced non-Black Democratic primary voters’ decision to support Talarico.
Related: Will Talarico’s Road to the Texas Senate Run Through Black Voters?
Some of that skepticism was specific to Talarico, from questions about whether he had spent enough time in Black communities to lingering resentment over the primary, including allegations that Talarico privately referred to Colin Allred as a ‘mediocre Black man,’ which Talarico denied. But the frustration he faced from voters was also much bigger than one candidate.
Maybe This Isn’t Only About Talarico
After Kamala Harris’ loss in 2024, there was understandable political exhaustion among parts of the Black electorate especially amoungst Black women.
Then Donald Trump’s second term began.
Since then, federal DEI programs have been dismantled, the federal workforce has undergone major cuts, and the Supreme Court has dramatically weakened Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. In April, the Court’s 6-3 decision in Louisiana v. Callais made it substantially harder to challenge voting maps based on racial vote dilution.
For Black Americans, our rights and protections have increasingly looked like they were placed on the rollback clearance aisle. And for Black Texans, this race may no longer be primarily about whether Talarico was their first choice in March, but about having Ken Paxton as the alternative in November.
Talarico, for his part, has said he does not want opposition to Paxton to be the only thing driving voters.
“I don’t want any Texan to vote for me just because they don’t like Ken Paxton. I want people to be excited about what we’re trying to do in this movement,” Talarico said at a town hall.
But in a political climate still dominated by Trump and MAGA, dislike of Paxton may still be part of the calculation, even if Talarico wants enthusiasm for his own campaign to be the bigger reason.
With Talarico running a close Senate race against Paxton and Gina Hinojosa mounting a competitive challenge against Abbott for governor, Texas Democrats have something they have not had in decades: a viable shot at winning one — or even both — of the state’s biggest offices.
Did Talarico Waste $25 Million?
So did Talarico really need to pledge $25 million to win Black voters?
He went from winning less than 10% of Black voters in the primary to approaching Crockett-level support just months later. But whether that shift becomes anything more than a good polling story will not be known until November.
“There is no way to win Texas without Black Texans, and there’s no way to effectively represent this state in the United States Senate without listening to and showing up for Black communities,” Talarico told theGrio.
Either way, come November, Black Texans may help decide whether Talarico, the “safest white boy,” can turn his electability into a statewide Democratic breakthrough.
Until then, good night and good luck.
