Voters packed every seat at T&P Station in downtown Fort Worth on Monday night for Attorney General Ken Paxton’s Come and Take It Tour stop, and several told Breitbart News they see the U.S. Senate race against Democrat James Talarico as a fight over whether Texas keeps its capitalist, faith-centered identity.
Leonard Lang, who moved to Texas from California five years ago, said he started watching Talarico closely during the primaries after concluding that churches needed to directly confront the ideas the state representative was promoting.
Lang called Talarico a “progressive” and did not mince words about what that means in practice.
“Progressives make everything progressively worse. They will make more government, more bureaucracy, they will make more regulation. It’s already a broken system as I’ve told you. They don’t mind. It is a mission to destroy capitalism. The progressive movement started in the 1880s and that is their mission, to destroy capitalism. And I’m a capitalist.”
Another attendee, a woman named Michele, told Breitbart News her biggest worry for the state is ideological drift away from constitutional government.
“I do not want Texas to go under communism, socialism, or Sharia law. That is a huge concern of mine. I see that’s where we’re headed, and I don’t think a lot of people’s eyes are really open to the fact that how close it is.”
Michele argued that Tarrant County residents often assume the area is insulated from the changes already underway elsewhere in the state.
“In Fort Worth, a lot of people don’t know what’s going on in Frisco and Allen… because in a weird way, we’re sheltered here.”
She pushed back on the idea that Tarrant County will simply stay red on autopilot, pointing to nearby communities.
“I say yeah, but you know just go down 35 a little ways or go down 121 a little ways, there’s mosques… So I wouldn’t say it’s coming, but it’s here.”
Michele said many voters fail to recognize socialist or communist ideas when they’re repackaged by a candidate with a sympathetic public image.
“They trust those in power. They trust the Talaricos. They say ‘He looks like a good ole boy. He’s a pastor, he knows what’s going on. He’s a pastor.'”
Rep. Brandon Gill (R-TX) made a similar point Monday, telling Breitbart News that Talarico’s campaign ads are designed to obscure his record behind small-town imagery.
“You know, I think that’s the kind of stuff that Texas voters see in James Talarico. You know, whenever they watch commercials like James Talarico trying to play into the Friday night lights feel, I think that’s what Texas voters dislike the most, because they realize that this is a guy who will take, and has taken, your most cherished traditions, your most cherished beliefs, your love for Friday night football, small town traditions, your faith, and wears them like a skin suit and then promotes policies that undermine everything that you know and love. And promotes things that will fundamentally, and in a very tangible way, make your life worse, whether it’s flooding American communities with illegal aliens or supporting a party who wants to give welfare to illegal aliens, or promoting ideas about how the Bible is pro-abortion or God is non-binary. I mean, these are bizarre things. I think most Texans see what James Talarico, how he’s trying to portray himself and what he actually believes, and realizes these are two very different Talaricos and they’re very off-put by it.”
Michele’s own political shift began a decade ago, she said, after watching welfare-state policies under Democrat leadership damage members of her own family. She told Breitbart News she was homeless with her daughter for two years, a period during which she attended culinary school before relocating to Texas, where she now runs a baking business.
She said leaving California’s high cost of living behind has let her build something she can pass on.
Her message to voters ahead of the midterms was simple: do the legwork yourself.
“Look up words like socialism, look up words like capitalism, look up words like fascism… Take a few seconds to look up what these terms mean.”
A recent poll shows Paxton holding a narrow lead over Talarico in the Senate race. Speaking to the Fort Worth crowd Monday night, Paxton framed the contest in stark terms.
“Join us in the fight. While Talarico fights for his radical agenda, we fight for faith, family, and freedom. We fight for Texas’ future. I believe this with all of my heart: The reason Texas is going to stay the reddest state in the union is because of what you all are going to do in the next few weeks.”
