Juli McShay had a few pointed questions for James Talarico, the Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate in Texas, when she stood up during a town hall in Houston.
Black audiences such as this one are key to Talarico’s effort to defeat Republican state Attorney General Ken Paxton and become the first Democrat to win a statewide race in Texas since 1994. Although polls show strong backing for Talarico among Black voters, McShay brought up some lingering questions about the campaign’s outreach.
She told Talarico, who is white, that she and others had given his team some ideas.
“You’re saying one thing, but we’re waiting on the action,” said McShay, a political science professor and content creator.
“I want to ask for two contradictory things,” responded Talarico, adding that he had put in place some suggestions and more moves were coming. “One is patience. The other is urgency.”
That was two months ago. Since then, the candidate has labored to expand his support and erase any doubt, saying he wants to make sure the Democratic Party does not continue taking Black voters for granted.
His campaign announced what it described as a historic investment of $25 million to reach Black voters in Texas. He has also received an endorsement from the political arm of the Congressional Black Caucus and elected leaders, hired veteran Black political operatives and Black-owned firms, visited Black churches and businesses and appeared on Black media shows.
McShay said that “shows intentionality,” and she is encouraged by some of the candidate’s decisions. She is working on what she calls a report card to publish in the Houston outlet the Forward Times.
“If I’ve critiqued you and you’ve corrected the things that I critiqued you on, it’s only fair that I express that,” she said. As far as the overall grade, McShay said it wouldn’t be higher than a B.
Let me guess, after alienating all the queer votes, he’s using street slang and claiming “woke” to bring ‘em in? Maybe if he says more anti-trans things, he can attract the transphobic religious black vote?
That’s some brilliant 5d chess shit right there.
It sure would be nice if the article listed any specifics the black voters referenced had asked for.
Seems like there were some mentioned.
Although Talarico had welcomed her to the primary and said “we will always treat Crockett with the utmost respect,” McShay said she wanted him to come down harder against online posters’ vitriol.
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Richard said in July that he will likely vote for Talarico, but he wanted to see more of him to answer a boiled-down question: “Are you for us?” The answer would not necessarily change his vote, but it could spark an enthusiasm that he said would push him to attend rallies and talk up Talarico to his friends and church colleagues.
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Richard and his wife, both in their 70s, lived through the Civil Rights Movement, the Voting Rights Act and the politicians who touched down in their neighborhoods just long enough to fix the cracks in the street ahead of an election, returning only when it was time to vote again.
Now, they said, there are food deserts and food swamps — a glut of fast-food restaurants — and thefts at the grocery store. Their son was pulled over for no clear reason, and police sat him down in wet grass. When someone calls in hazardous tree limbs or problems with sewage or running water, Richard said, “no one comes out for days, for months.”
“And so, you know, our concern is about our people,” he said. “We’re looking for the candidate that’s going to at least meet us halfway, at least listen to us.”
“And so, you know, our concern is about our people,” he said. “We’re looking for the candidate that’s going to at least meet us halfway, at least listen to us.”
this can’t be serious ? This is Texas, you’ve had GOP up your asshole for years resulting in all the outcomes you say you dislike and now you have to consider things ? consider what exactly ? what brand of lube the GOP is selling for use on the dildo perhaps. ffs.
as to tree’s and branches, surely that’s not even a matter for a US Senator to even look into? ffs
This attitude is exactly why many of them get demotivated and will not be motivated to go out of their way to vote, to go to rallies, to encourage others to vote, to help campaigns with things like phone banking/going door-knocking/etc.
So all you need to do as foreign intelligence is pretend to be a mean democratic candidate supporter and the GOP gets the votes. America is cooked.
What?
