Lol this is so weird but I chuckled

He launched a substack and has followed some members of my team on Instagram in recent weeks, but obviously even hearing his name is never ever a pleasant experience

*googles what happened to Chris Cuomo*

“When did pedophilia become a partisan issue,” asks Talarico at #TribFest, when asked about the latest trove of emails re: Jeffrey Epstein and Donald Trump.

“No one, including the president of the United States, should be able to cover up crimes against children.”

“A handful of senate democrats caved” and “got nothing in return” re: shutdown. A deal that kicks Americans off healthcare isn’t a deal, it’s “surrender.” Talarico says democrats are the party of working people — and if they don’t act like it, they shouldn’t wonder why people don’t vote for them

“I’m not going to spend time in this race tearing down by fellow Democrats” when asked why he should get votes instead of Colin Allred. Talarico says he’s “running a positive race in the primary” and commits to maintain it through Election Day. The room erupts into claps

Talarico says he didn’t choose to run for governor because “I really think about these positions as jobs” — and believes his skills in the Texas Legislature feel more “transferable” to US Senate on Day 1

Talarico says he would “relish the opportunity to prosecute the case” of running against either Sen. John Cornyn or AG Ken Paxton in the general election

“It’s going to take a campaign that can use modern tools” to win the election for U.S. Senate. Talarico says he campaigned for Colin Allred and was proud to do it. Used to say Ted Cruz was the worst Senator in America. Now he now wonders if Cornyn “is even more corrupt” than Ken Paxton

Talarico says he’s been shocked by the number of young people showing up for his events who’ve said it’s their first political event — and says he thinks that’s going to be the key to winning

“We need fighters in this moment,” and “what we’ve seen from Senate Democrats” is that they’re “willing to fold,” says Talarico

“I already have a religion, and I already have a sports team, so I have no problem sharing hard truths” about the Democratic Party, Talarico says

It really strikes me how interwoven his presentation of his faith is with his sensibility as a politician — I don’t know the last time I saw a Democrat opening any answer at any political event by quoting scripture — and he advocates a politics rooted in “love for our neighbors”

On why he chose running for US Senate instead of governor — “our government is broken” and “our relationships with each other feel broken”

“My faith teaches me to love my neighbor as myself”

This is the first one I’ve seen Talarico in front of a crowd — he says St David’s is one of his favorite churches. The church hit capacity before it started, and to say people were excited to see him would be a massive understatement based on the noise in the room

Oh yeah I still have some white whales!!! Hit me up!!!!!

may I recommend @thebarbedwire.com :)