Talarico's historic Texas Senate win makes the case for decency | Opinion

So apparently the nickname "Talafreako" wasn't enough to stop James Talarico from becoming Texas' first Democratic U.S. senator since 1988, after Texas voters gave him a historic win, according to several news outlets, which will be a major surge in any blue wave that comes.

It also appears that falsely calling the charismatic 37-year-old former public school teacher a vegan – or, as President Donald Trump regularly mispronounced it, a "vay-gun" – didn't manage to swing Texans enough toward Talarico's opponent, the state's Republican attorney general and depressed bridge troll, Ken Paxton.

Having earth's most annoying billionaire, Elon Musk, spend more than $200 million to support Paxton? Nah, that didn't work, either. Talarico, or Talafreako, the vay-gun, still won the Nov. 3 midterm election running away, making Musk's millions more useless than the right-wing tech lord's self-driving cars.

Calling James Talarico a 'freak' who will 'trans your kids' sure didn't work

Vampiric White House adviser Stephen Miller bizarrely calling Talarico the Democratic Party's "first transgender senate candidate" didn't stop him from winning, presumably because that claim was false, dumb, childish and offensive.

Rep. Brandon Gill, R-Texas, thought he had a winning strategy when he posted this on social media: "Low-T Talarico wants to trans your kids. Texas must reject this radical left freak and vote for America First patriot Ken Paxton."

Yeah, sorry Brandon. They didn't vote for Paxton, Talarico isn't a "radical left freak," and the phrase "trans your kids" just isn't a thing at all. Now who's feeling "Low-T"?

Talarico's win shows Trump's fact-free, corrupt grip on US politics is breaking

Remarkably, none of these embarrassingly stupid campaign slams were enough to stop Talarico. Musk pouring money into amplifying the embarrassingly stupid campaign slams wasn't enough to stop Talarico. And Trump babbling incessantly about radical leftists and what he bafflingly called "transgender mutilization" wasn't enough.

I'd posit there's a simple reason all that failed: Talarico was unstoppable because he's a decent human being, he's intelligent, and he identified with the problems Texas voters are facing, convincing enough people that he's committed to making their lives better.

That's just being a politician. Or at least that's what the old definition was, in the days before Trump and other Republicans came along and redefined "politician" as "someone who makes crap up and does corrupt things with such frequency it's impossible to tabulate."

Ken Paxton had more baggage than an airport at Christmas

Paxton fell into that new Trumpian definition. In 2023, he was impeached by Texas' GOP-controlled House on allegations of bribery, obstruction of justice and dereliction of duty.

He was indicted in 2015 on felony securities fraud charges, which ended with a 2024 plea deal.

His wife of 38 years, state Sen. Angela Paxton, filed for divorce in 2025, saying he had committed adultery. And on Oct. 12, The Wall Street Journal reported on "a previously unreported New Year's Eve 2024 celebration where Paxton partied in Dubai with two fugitives from U.S. justice and a woman who wasn't his wife."

There's a lesson in Talarico's big Texas win. Politicians should take note

In any reasonable world, a dude with this much dirt on him wouldn't have even been on the ballot. Paxton is truly a politician in the Trump mold, a lout with an affinity for corruption.

Talarico, regardless of how many nicknames or false claims Republicans tried to pin on him, is a politician in the mold most Americans, and obviously most Texans, prefer. Someone with sense, humility, personality and a will to make the world a better place.

His once-unlikely victory is a sign the pendulum might be swinging back to that old definition of a politician. It's a reminder that we like it when the good guys win.

Follow USA TODAY columnist Rex Huppke on Bluesky at @rexhuppke.bsky.social and on Facebook at facebook.com/RexIsAJerk.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Talarico's historic Texas Senate win makes the case for decency | Opinion

Reporting by Rex Huppke, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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This story was originally published November 3, 2026 at 8:15 PM.