Talarico compares race against Paxton to David and Goliath: 'Dallas, you are my slingshot'
DALLAS, Texas — Democratic U.S. Senate nominee James Talarico brought his "Clear Eyes, Full Hearts” tour to Dallas on Thursday evening as he braces for the final campaign stretch ahead of the Nov. 3 general election, seemingly comparing himself to biblical prophet King David.
Speaking to a crowd of about 2,600 at the Kay Bailey Hutchinson Convention Center, the rally featured Gina Hinojosa, Democratic candidate for governor; and Frederick Douglass Haynes III, the senior pastor of Friendship‑West Baptist Church in Dallas and the Democratic nominee for Texas’s 30th congressional district.
Talarico, a 36-year-old state representative, opened his speech by hearkening to Texas’ long tradition of high school football and how “Friday Night Lights,” the 2000s TV show about the Dillon Panthers, an underdog high school football team, inspired the name for his campaign tour.
"The very first episode, right before the big game, [the show’s coach] gives a locker room speech. And he says, they're going to come at you with everything they've got," he said. "I expect you boys to execute. I expect you boys to play football. And then he ends with six immortal words, 'clear eyes, full hearts, can’t lose.'"
For Talarico, that expression is at the heart of his campaign for the U.S. Senate.
“We have five days to win this election. We have to execute,” he added. “We have to leave it all on the field. We have to win.”
Pointing to the dozens of yellow-vested volunteers in the exhibit hall, Talarico boasted of the more than 60,000 campaign volunteers who continued to knock on doors and send text messages in the days leading up to Tuesday’s vote, and predicted his campaign was on the verge of defeating his opponent, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.
“In the final days of this election, they are coming at us with everything they’ve got. The billionaire mega-donors and their super PACs are spending more than $200 million to try to stop us,” said Talarico. “That is the most of any Senate race in American history and more is on the way. They are scared. They are terrified. They see what we see: that we’re about to win this election.”
Talarico, who has painted himself as a progressive Christian champion, compared himself to the Bible’s most famous underdog, even as polling averages show he has a 2.1 percentage point lead over Paxton.
“This election reminds me of that story from Scripture of a shepherd boy who goes up against a giant,” Talarico, who has a master's degree in theological studies from the Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary (PCUSA), said.
“For 40 days, Goliath taunts and teases. … David wasn’t as big or as strong as Goliath. He didn’t have as many weapons, but he had hope. He had faith. And he had a slingshot.
“Dallas, you are my slingshot,” Talarico added. “The people of Texas are my slingshot.”
He called Paxton “the most corrupt politician in Texas” and contrasted his work in the state legislature with his opponent’s.
"Ken Paxton is everything that’s wrong with our politics. He doesn’t serve us. He serves himself," he said. "This election is about whether you want a senator who puts money in your pocket or who puts money in their own. This election is about whether you want a senator who serves you or who serves billionaire mega-donors."
Repeating his signature claim that Jesus of Nazareth was a “barefoot rabbi who gave us two commandments,” Talarico also suggested Jesus was crucified not for the accusation of blasphemy, as recorded in Matthew 26 and John 19, but rather for committing an act of “civil disobedience.”
“Two thousand years ago, when the powers that be hurt his neighbors, that barefoot rabbi didn’t stay in his room and pray,” said Talarico. “He walked into the seat of power and he flipped over the tables of injustice. That brave act of civil disobedience led to his execution.”
He closed the rally by urging his supporters to play their part at the ballot box.
"This is the last play of the last drive. Dallas, this is the moment we leave it all on the field. We are the underdogs. It's David versus Goliath," he said. "It's the powers that be versus the powers that ought to be. And it's time for us to start flipping over some tables."
Outside the exhibit hall, a merch vendor named Hank said he sold more than 300 Talarico shirts and over 100 hats on Thursday — a sign of what he viewed as a crescendo of support for Talarico.
“We’ve been following him for about a year now, and we’ve watching him get out of a minivan, walk up to us, come check out our stuff, and walk into the venue,” he said. “Now we see him hop out of the bus. The other [rally] had a motorcade.”
Talarico hopes to become the first Democrat to win a U.S. Senate race in Texas since 1988.
