As many of you know, I was born and raised in Texas. I grew up in Houston, third of eight children. I went to public schools, then to college in Massachusetts. I have never stopped being a Texan. I live in Brooklyn now but a part of my heart will always be in Texas. So I keep a close watch over developments in my home state.
The victories of James Talarico for Senate and Gina Hinojosa for Governor put Texas Democrats in a good position to turn Texas blue.
Gina Hinojosa coasted to victory in the Democratic primary over seven opponents. Soon after the polls closed, she had 61% of the vote. She will face incumbent Greg Abbot in November.
Talarico won the primary by 52.8% to Crockett’s 45.9%.
(Full disclosure: I contributed to all three campaigns.)
Talarico was a member of the state legislature. He has studied theology and is working towards a Master of Divinity at the Austin Presbyterian Seminary. He hopes to win independents and Trump voters with his deep religious faith and his rhetoric of love and reconciliation.
Under Governor Greg Abbot–now seeking his fourth term–Texas became an extreme MAGA state. Abbot echoes whatever Trump says , or says it first. Abbot is mean and has a stone heart.
Gina Hinojosa swept the Democratic primary for Governor. She is smart, articulate, beautiful, and Hispanic. One of the reasons that Democrats have not won a statewide office since 1994 is low turnout and growing Hispanic support for Trump. Gina was a featured speaker at the last conference of the Network for Public Education in Columbus, Ohio, and she was wonderful! As she explains in her PBS interview, strengthening neighborhood public schools is her top priority.
The Republicans running for Senate will compete in a May run-off. Jon Cornyn, the incumbent, is a reliable vote for Trump but not really MAGA. He seems like a moderate Republican who votes with Trump to protect his hide. Cornyn is running for his fifth term.
His opponent Ken Paxton is Attorney General of Texas, and it’s fair to say that he’s been scarred by scandals. His wife is a state senator. He cheated on her. Some of his staff blew the whistle on him and said he took payoffs from men he was investigating. The Republican House impeached him; the Republican Senate cleared him, thanks to generous donations by hard-right MAGA billionaires.
Paxton and Cornyn will have a runoff in May.
Talarico will be a strong candidate for the Senate. Hinojosa will be a strong candidate against Abbot, if Texans are sufficiently sick of pay-to-play politics.
The outcome will depend on turnout. Right now, Texas is run by a handful of oil billionaires. They want low taxes and minimal public services. They are Christian nationalists who love money and power.
If Talarico can attract the support of non-MAGA Republicans and if Gina can bring Hispanic voters to the polls, Texas will flip blue.
To learn why Gina Hinojosa ran for governor and what she wants to do, watch this excellent interview.
Watch Gina Hinojosa explain why “we don’t want handouts,” we want the services we paid for.
See Gina Hinojosa speaking at the Network for Public Education conference in April 2025, before the Republican-dominated Texas legislature passed vouchers. The passage of vouchers happened only after Governor Abbot primaried anti-voucher Republicans with the millions given him by billionaire Jeff Yass, the richest man in Pennsylvania.
To see Talarico in action, watch him talk on the power of love.
See Talarico on how the worst people quote Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on MLK Day and then violate his teachings every other day of the year.
Talarico on Christian nationalists, who–he says–are “more committed to the love of power than to the power of love.”
I love these two and will support them both. There will be a tidal wave of money pouring into Texas Republican coffers from other states to try to stop these two exciting Democrats!
Diane Ravitch's blog 
For myself, Talarico’s most interesting face-off will be with the so-called “Christian Nationalists”, which is a generic label for the New Apostolic Revelation (NAR). The NAR is now calling itself the “New Apostolic Reformation” because it encountered a recruiting issue with peeling away members of mainline Christian denominations to join with NAR: The problem was that the traditional mainline Christians they were recruiting were at first resistant to the idea that there could be new revelation that isn’t in the Bible. Hence, the name change — but nothing has changed in NAR’s “theology” which continues to expound “new revelation” from its apostles.
MILLIONS OF MAGA MINIONS like House Speaker Johnson are followers of the evangelical NAR which presents itself as “Christian”, but which is actually an ANTICHRIST movement which teaches that the empathy that Jesus shows us in Matthew 25:41-46 is a source of weakness.
At 2021 Turning Point USA rally, NAR’s new gospel was put on public display for the first time to large crowds of evangelical Christians when Donald Trump, Jr., declared that “We’ve turned the other cheek, and I understand, sort of, the biblical reference — I understand the mentality — but it’s gotten us nothing. Okay? It’s gotten us nothing, while we’ve ceded ground in every major institution in our country.”
NAR was overjoyed when the Turning Point USA evangelicals responded with thundering applause and whoops of approval.
So, the teachings of Christ no longer “work” for NAR and their Turning Point “Christians”. They have merged to become an ideological political group who have usurped the label “Christian” in order to gain power over people…and to attract money.
The “Christian nationalist” NAR leaders claim that they have a “better” way than The Way of Jesus: Instead of the humility that Jesus taught and lived, the NAR Christian nationalists have decided on pride, as in The Proud Boys.
Instead of love, they preach hate.
Instead of freedom, they demand total obedience to their “new revelations”.
That’s not Christianity.
That leads directly to violence and oppression of anyone who disagrees with them.
And we see NAR “Christians” today everywhere in the U.S. military, thanks to the ceaseless effort of Hegseth to purge career military leaders and replace them with NAR zealots.
As you know, hundreds of military service men and women at more than 50 military bases have now filed complaints with the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) because as they were being prepared for deployment to Iran their commanding officers told the troops that Trump was “anointed by Jesus” to start The Apocalypse in Iran. The Hegseth-appointed commanders told the troops this war is biblically ordained and that widespread bloodshed is necessary to fulfill biblical Apocalypse prophecy so that Jesus can return triumphant to this world. These commanders are typical of those whom Pete Hegseth has placed in charge of most of our nation’s military bases and ships after his purge of genuine military career officers.
Remember that Hegseth launched monthly Christian Nationalist worship services at the Pentagon last summer and recently invited Doug Wilson, a Christian nationalist pastor who opposes women’s right to vote, to lead one. At a recent convention, Hegseth declared that advancing Trump’s agenda is “not political” but is “biblical.”
What happens to our world — to each one of us — not that we have NAR Christian Nationalist zealots leading our military and fervently wanting The Apocalypse to happen right now because they fervently believe that will bring about the return of Jesus. They have control of our nuclear missiles and see pushing the Launch button to start nuclear war and The Apocalypse as being the Will of God.
God help us.
These zealots are crazy and fanatical.
BEWARE OF THE NAR’s “SEVEN MOUNTAINS MANDATE”
NAR claims that today’s Christian nationalists have been given a mandate by God through today’s New NAR Apostles. It’s called “The Seven Mountains Mandate”.
This mandate is to “invade” and take over the seven crucial segments of society: Religion, Family, Government, Business, Media, Education, and Entertainment.
NAR uses the word “invade” because the mandate they claim that they have from the New Apostles is a military-type mandate and requires military-type tactics, like the ICE army.
For members of the Christian Nationalist NAR movement, the objective is: Invade, Take Over, Rule.
NAR followers are mandated to invade and replace traditional Christian denominations with NAR’s new doctrine, an oppressive doctrine that imposes *strict **conformity* to NAR’s New Revelations. NAR = 1984.
Genuine Christians must listen carefully — very carefully — to identify NAR people in their congregation, even long-term members who have been converted to NAR because of its political gospel. Challenge these people. Don’t let them bully you. Don’t let them shout you down. Don’t allow them to spread their “new revelation” heresy and sow discord in your congregation.
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i don’t think, that the education, the experiences of work will matter, in a complete Republican STATE such as Texas, after all, there are, only, TWO “states”, those that favored the Republican Party, and those that favored the Democratic, that is, how the lines are, divided, as, always, unless the states’ governors from the original party lose, then maybe, the entire state will, turn…and then, people in these states might becomes, independent-thinking…
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Talarico started his career as a middle school teacher in a high poverty school in San Antonio. He is also a strong advocate for public education and fair funding to support the common good. According to “The Texas Tribune,” James Talarico was a middle school teacher at Rhodes Middle School on the west side of San Antonio, Texas, before entering politics. He taught sixth grade and his experiences in this high-poverty, low-income school, where he was described as an amazing teacher, directed much of his political focus on education, public school funding, and student well-being. He supports the separation of church and state.
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He was TFA but one of the best. His values are remarkable.
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Perhaps he learned to appreciate public education from his experience with TFA as his recent comments have opposed vouchers as a scam. He has said he wants to ensure fair funding for public schools. At least he didn’t stay with TFA and ride on their gravy train as so many others have.
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We have to get out the vote. Both Talirico and Crockett suggest that we have to get the big money out of politics. Only then will people pay attention to the real issues.
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