The MeidasTouch Podcast - James Talarico is Ready to Turn Texas Blue

Episode Date: May 27, 2026

MeidasTouch host Ben Meiselas reports on Donald Trump causing Texas to turn purple, or even blue, as he has caused utter havoc in the GOP primary tonight and Meiselas interviews Democratic Senate Candidate James Talarico. Visit https://meidasplus.com for more! Visit https://meidasplus.com for more! Remember to subscribe to ALL the MeidasTouch Network Podcasts: MeidasTouch: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/meidastouch-podcast Legal AF: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/legal-af MissTrial: https://meidasnews.com/tag/miss-trial The PoliticsGirl Podcast: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/the-politicsgirl-podcast Cult Conversations: The Influence Continuum with Dr. Steve Hassan: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/the-influence-continuum-with-dr-steven-hassan The Weekend Show: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/the-weekend-show The Ken Harbaugh Show: https://meidasnews.com/tag/the-ken-harbaugh-show Majority 54: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/majority-54 On Democracy with FP Wellman: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/on-democracy-with-fpwellman Uncovered: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/maga-uncovered Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Visit BetMGM Casino and check out the newest exclusive. The Price is Right Fortune Pick. BetMGM and GameSense remind you to play responsibly. 19 plus to wager. Ontario only. Please play responsibly. If you have questions or concerns about your gambling or someone close to you, please contact connects Ontario at 1-866-531-2,600 to speak to an advisor,

free of charge. BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with Eye Gaming Ontario. Donald Trump's approval is plummeting in Texas net negative 19, according to the latest economist poll. Donald Trump and the GOP losing support in Texas is Texas turning blue. We got the latest polling results out on hypothetical Senate matchups in Texas where James Tolariko, the Democratic candidate would be leading plus five in a high. hypothetical matchup with the MAGA Republican Trump endorsed candidate. Ken Paxton, the most corrupt human being, perhaps not just in the country in that saying a lot, but the entire world leads five against Paxton.

He's up three in a head to head against John Cornyn right there, who Donald Trump passed over after Cornyn did everything he could try to do at the last minute to get Donald Trump's endorsement. Now you have Cornyn panicked as this evening is Judgment Day. The Republican primary is taking place. And by most expectations, Ken Paxton is now expected to beat Corn. And although we'll see what the results ultimately show. And so now Maga Republican Senator Cornyn who tries to act like I'm a little more centrist, if you will.

Meanwhile, Donald Trump was posting these AI photos of himself, hunting, Rhinos, Republicans in name molding, which I think was also a message directed at Cornyn. And Cornyn said the following about, you know, how he believes that Paxton is going to basically destroy Republican chances of keeping control of the Senate. And it could trickle down to congressional races. Here, play this clip. Ken Paxton's flaws in the baggage she brings to the general election is going to be exploited to the fullest by James Tala Rico and by Democrat.

James Tala Rico raised $27 million in just the first quarter of this year. Now, one of the things we're seeing as well is Trump losing Latino support at massive, massive rates. Take a listen right here as it's described on CNN with Harry Enton. Play this. Where are we now? What a different world. Oe ve if I'm the president of the United States, because just take a look here. Okay, Latino voters on Trump. He won a record show. for a Republican presidential nominee, 46% of that vote, going all the way back since we had the advent of exit polls back in 19702.

And look at where he is today. His job approval rating in an average of CNN polls this year, 28%. That is an 18-point drop. The bottom has completely fallen out when it comes to Donald Trump and Latino voters. He won record numbers of him back in 2024, and they have abandoned him

with the utmost just dislike of what he has. is doing so far, just 28% a drop of 18 points. Now, among Latinos, it was Latino men who were driving this movement toward him in 2024. Where are they now? Yeah, you think that this movement is a lot. What about Latino men? Oh, my goodness gracious.

Okay, Latino male voters in the 2024 election versus Kamala Harris, look at this. Trump won him by 10 points. Look at the net approval rating now, minus 41 points. That is a movement of 51 points, a shift away from the president. in the United States, Latino male voters supercharged that record performance that Donald Trump had with Latino voters, and they, like Latino women, Latinas, are moving against the President of the United States, minus 41 points. Again, the bottom has just completely fallen out. And of course,

when you look across that political map, there are so many races that will be involving a lot of Latino voters. And when you see numbers like this, I just go, uh-oh, if I am a Republican running for Congress. And the main area where he's losing support amongst Latino voters is also where it relates to the economy. Donald Trump was making all of these promises. I'm going to make your lives better. And he's really harmed the economic outlook in the Latino community and across the country in general. Play this clip.

But one of those races in just a moment. But wait, there's more before that, which is, look, this new CNN poll this week talked about just how people have enormous concerns about the economy. enormous disapproval of the president on it. What are Latinos saying about that? Yeah, okay, I'm going to take two for one here. It's a two for one special here on a Friday or mid-Friday morning, I guess. Latino voters on Trump and the economy, look, one of the big reasons why Donald Trump put in that record performance with Latinos back in 2024 was because the issue of the economy.

They trusted Donald Trump by a three-point margin against Kamala Harris. But look at his net approval rating on the economy now. Oh, yeah, Johnny B said it best over there. Look at that. Minus 46 points. That's, again, another near 50-point movement against the President of the United States on the number one issue. No wonder the bottom has fallen out with Latino voters and Latino men in particular. And you're talking about one of those races, right, Johnny B, one of those races. Why don't we go to Texas, right?

The chance that the Dems win the Texas Senate race. Of course, James Hilarico going to be that Democratic nominee. Look at this. In January, look at this. He had a 19% chance of winning. Look at where we are now. 5% chance of winning that number is up through the roof. And part of the reason that number is up through the roof

is because a lot of Latino voters turning against President Trump. And it could be that they turn against Republican nominees for Congress and for the United States Senate in particular. President Trump just speak. And now even state regime media, which calls itself Fox, they're out there saying, look, Ken Paxton is a really flawed candidate. If he were to win in this Republican primary for the United States Senate, Republicans are in big trouble of now losing the United States Senate.

Here's what they said on Fox. Let's play this clip. And Cornyn is a huge prolific fundraiser, very popular. So I think the caucus was pretty down yesterday. Hopefully John Cornycan still went because Ken Paxson is an extremely flawed candidate. And I sense the worst is yet to come about his background. And I guess you have Ken Paxson going around. And I guess his line of attack on James Tolariko is to call Talarico,

Tofu Tala Rico and Trump's like, the guy's a vegan. First of him, he's not a vegan. Tofu Tala Rico. I mean, there are so many significant issues that are going on. You making up that the guy's a vegan, but nothing wrong if he was, but he isn't. And then calling him tofu Tala Rico. What are you?

Three years old, three-year-olds don't behave like this. No offense to three-year-olds. Let's play this clip. I'll get one more. Tofu Tala riko. So is Texas a purple state now? Is Texas turning blue? What's gonna happen tonight in the Republican primaries

with Ken Paxton and John Cornyn? How is that going to impact the general election? Let's bring in James Tolariko, Democratic candidate for Senate seat in Texas. James, it's great to see you. What are you, I mean, everyone wants to know your perspective of what you're thinking about tonight. Ken Paxton, John Corny, I know you put out statements.

They're both, you know, mega billionaire class people. You're going to take them on regardless. But what are you thinking going into this evening? Yeah, you know, on primary night a few months ago, I said it doesn't matter what happens in this Republican runoff because we already know who we're running against. We're running against the billionaire mega donors who have taken over this political system, who've taken over this economic system. and both Ken Paxton and John Cornyn have a history of serving those billionaire mega donors

instead of serving the people of Texas. So in my mind, they are two sides of the same corrupt coin. And I look forward to prosecuting the case against either Paxton or Cornyn, whoever comes out of the runoff tonight. All right. Can we do the choose-your-own-adventure novel here, though, and do Paxton and then do Cornyn? Sure. So let's choose our adventure.

Trump endorses Paxton. one of the most corrupt individuals in techs, perhaps the world, like one of the most corrupt individuals in the world and maybe human history, you know, and so he's out there, ultra-maga, Trump, you give me marching orders directly. So let's talk about that path. What goes down there? Yeah, Ken Paxton embodies everything that's wrong with our political system. He was impeached by his own party for using his public office to enrich himself and his donors at our expense. And that kind of corruption is the rot at the core of this broken system. It's why we can't afford anything.

It's why we can't get ahead no matter how hard we work because billionaires buy these politicians like Ken Paxton and then these puppet politicians turn around and rig the rules of the game in favor the billionaires at our expense. And so this has been happening for 50 years in this country. Mega donors and their puppet politicians have been stealing from the American people, from the people of Texas, stealing the wealth that we created

through their bribes, their bailouts, and their billionaire tax breaks. And so I look forward to not only running against Ken Paxton, but running against the broken system that he embodies. You got Senator Cornyn, Donald. You want me to name a road after you? what can I do? Please endorse me, Donald. Please endorse me, Donald.

Donald Trump then does not endorse him. And now he's saying, well, Paxton's going to lose to Tala Rico now. And now you're going to cause us the Senate, Donald. And now I'm going to potentially grow a backbone for 48 hours. And now I'll vote against you on things in the Senate because I didn't get your endorsement. And then you see that kind of play out where now he and some Republicans finally are like, well, now that I didn't get the endorsement, now I'm going to speak out. against you here and there.

Yeah, you know, Ken Paxton embodies illegal corruption. It's why he was impeached, it's why he was indicted. But John Cornyn embodies the legalized corruption that we have in our political system. John Cornyn was the deciding vote on that big ugly bill, the big ugly bill that's going to kick millions of Texans off their health care. The big ugly bill that's going to take food out of the mouths of hungry, Texas children all to give yet another tax break to John Cornyn's billionaire mega donors. So in some ways, they have both used their office to enrich their mega donors.

Ken Paxton did it in a literal, illegal way. John Cornyn has done it in a legal way, but at a much bigger scale. I mean, by casting the deciding vote on that big, ugly bill, John Cornyn committed an act of corruption of the highest order. And it's why neither he nor can Paxton deserve the honor of representing this great state in our nation's capital. You're touring the great state of Texas right now. The data that I shared at the beginning of this video shows major momentum in your direction

for Democrats generally, but to me, less than like a political party, just people who stand up for the rule of law, democracy, and who fight for them. Are you been in Texas politics now? Are you seeing these change? Talk to us about what you are seeing on the ground. I've never seen anything like this in Texas. And I'm an eighth generation Texan. My family's been here since it was Mexico.

And there is something unique happening in our state in this year, in this race. You know, I've been able to travel to every corner of the state from Beaumont to El Paso, from Amarillo to Brownsville, and everywhere in between. And we have had tens of thousands of Texans showing up to rally with us. And I can't tell you the number of Texans who come up to me at the end of these events and whisper, I'm not a Democrat, like they're in the witness protection program. We are reaching out to people who have never voted for a Democrat before and who I think are joining this campaign because they're hungry for a different kind of politics. They're hungry for someone who's going to confront the extremism and the corruption in our government.

They're hungry for someone who's going to fight to lower their costs and raise their pay and cut their taxes and ensure that the American dream is still possible in the state of Texas in this country. And so, you know, we've seen it in the number of people signing up to volunteer. We have 45,000 people who have signed up to knock doors and make phone calls and send text messages and write postcards, people all over the country. We have shattered grassroots fundraising records, all without taking a dime from corporate packs, people giving $5, $10, $15 at a time. And so if anybody is watching this program or listening to this podcast, please go to jamestalorico.com

and sign up to volunteer or donate yourself because we're going to be up against a machine. We're going to be up against some of the most corrupt politicians, some of the biggest billionaire mega donors in American politics. and they know that if we win Texas, we will transform American politics in the process. And so we're going to need everybody to step up and join this movement, whether you live in Texas or not, it's going to take all of us to pull off this feat of winning Texas in November of this year. You know, they've already began their attacks on you when, you know, some of the kind of, you know, weirdest, you know, and bizarre ones, they're like, he's a vegan.

They don't even know how to say that. He's a vegan. And you're not, you know, and then they go, let's call it tofu, man, let's call them tofu. And which is ridiculous. The whole thing is ridiculous. I want to hear your response to just kind of not, not that, but just in general, you know, stepping into this and seeing, you know, what they're doing when they put a trillion-dollar medium machine behind attacking you.

But my thesis ultimately is, you know, maybe that stuff worked two years ago or three years ago when people were also being pitched, we're going to make your life so much better, and it's going to be affordable on day one, and we're going to do so much things, it's going to be great. But like, the bill is now due, and I think whether you're in Texas or whatever, you're like, okay, you promised me this stuff, it ain't happening right now, and you're not going to just divide and I get it. You're not going to make me vote for you by saying the word tofu over and over again, like, where the heck is my Doge dividend check that you promised? And where's my savings that you promised me? You screwed me.

That's right. That's right. And, you know, I'm an eighth generation Texan. I've been eating barbecue since before Ken Paxton's first indictment. And if all they have on me is lying about me being a vegan, I feel pretty good about our chances this November. And you're absolutely right. You know, so many of my family members, my friends, my neighbors who voted for Donald Trump in 2024, they voted for him because they thought he was going to lower costs. They thought he was going to end the Forever Wars. They thought he was going to release the Epstein files and drain the swamp. But just one year later, they've seen how he's done the exact opposite. Through his crazy tariffs, he's made everything more expensive. He has started even more

conflicts around the world, including this new Forever War in Iran. He has done everything he could, to keep the Epstein files from seeing the light of day. And the swamp in Washington is bigger than it's ever been. So there's a lot of disillusionment. And what I'm trying to do is speak directly to those Texans who feel disillusioned, who feel like this system doesn't work for them, that it only works for billionaires

and puppet politicians like Paxton and Cornyn. And I think if we can bring those Texans together across all these divisions in our politics, if we can see past the distractions and the culture war tactics, I think we can do something extraordinary. We can end 30 years of one-party rule in Texas, and we can transform American politics in the process. And that gets me excited every day to hit the campaign trail

and talk directly to Texans about the things they actually care about. James, before we go, where can people learn more about your campaign and anything else you want to say to our 7 million subscribers before you go? Well, anybody can sign up to join us at jamestolerico.com. You can sign up to volunteer or donate. You can also find me on all the major social media platforms. And I encourage everyone to get involved in this campaign in Texas. We're leading in every public and private poll.

It's the first time a Texas Democrat has been leading in the polls. And so we have a real shot at winning this race in Texas. And I don't have to tell your listeners and your viewers what that would mean for the political landscape in the state of Texas. So please sign up. Please help us win this race and take power back for working people in this country. James Telerico, thanks for all you do. Thanks for joining us. Thank you. Everybody hit subscribe. Let's get to 7 million subscribers. Want to stay plugged in? Become a subscriber to our substack at Midasplus.com. You'll get daily recaps from Ron Filipkowski, add free episodes of our podcast, and more exclusive content

only available at Midasplus.com.