Willie Nelson has thrown his weight behind James Talarico, officially endorsing the Democratic state representative in his race for U.S. Senate and urging Texans to get to the polls. The country music legend called Talarico a good man who would be a good senator for the state of Texas, pairing the endorsement with the launch of a new initiative aimed at rural voters.
“He's a good man and will be a good senator for the state of Texas. Please vote — and vote for James Talarico,” Nelson said, according to the Houston Chronicle. The endorsement, announced Thursday, helps launch Rural Texans for Talarico, an initiative on policy reform for rural communities across the state, focusing on issues like data centers, recruiting and retaining health care workers, and expanding internet access, per the same report.
Talarico, a Democratic state representative, is challenging Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton for the Senate seat in a contest that NPR describes as pitting Paxton against Talarico in one of the state's most closely watched races in years. The two candidates appeared onstage together earlier this summer, when Talarico joined Nelson at his annual Fourth of July Picnic in Austin, the Chronicle's report notes. Nelson also recorded similar endorsement videos for gubernatorial candidate Gina Hinojosa and lieutenant governor candidate Vikki Godwin.
A Growing List of Celebrity Backers
Nelson joins a roster of entertainers who have publicly backed Talarico's campaign. The Chicks expressed their support in an Instagram post and were photographed wearing shirts reading “I'm a Talafreako,” according to the same Chronicle account. Eagles co-founder Don Henley, who grew up in Cass County near Texarkana, has also weighed in — not just with words but with his wallet.
Henley donated $250,000 to Lone Star Rising, a super PAC working to boost Talarico on Texas airwaves, according to the Houston Chronicle's politics desk. That group has funded more than $6 million in digital ads in Texas since late August in support of Talarico, the outlet reported. Henley is also described as the top donor to Democratic candidates running for lieutenant governor, agriculture commissioner and the Railroad Commission.
Polls Show a Tight Race, But Money Favors Paxton
The celebrity push arrives as polling shows a genuinely competitive contest. A New York Times/Siena College poll released Oct. 3 put Talarico at 51 percent and Paxton at 45 percent among 615 likely voters, according to Newsweek. A Fox News poll conducted Sept. 24 to 28 showed a tighter race, with Talarico at 51 percent and Paxton at 49 percent, per the same outlet.
A Marist poll conducted Sept. 17 to 20 found Talarico edging Paxton 50 percent to 44 percent among registered voters statewide, according to Marist. Yet that same poll found 52 percent of voters overall still think Paxton will win the Senate race, despite Talarico's edge in head-to-head support. NPR notes that most polls since the summer have shown the two candidates statistically tied, or sometimes Talarico ahead by a slim margin.
Record Spending and a 32-Year Democratic Drought
Money is pouring into the race at a historic clip. Combined advertising spending by Talarico, Paxton and their supporting super PACs has already topped $240 million, according to NPR, blowing past the $55 million spent during the 2018 Cruz-O'Rourke contest, as CNN reported. But the spending is lopsided: Paxton and his allies have spent $193 million on the airwaves over a recent five-week stretch, compared to $45 million from Talarico and his allies like Lone Star Rising, per the Chronicle's politics coverage. CNN also reported that Republican-aligned groups were positioned to outspend Democratic counterparts in the race's final two months by more than five to one, $166 million to $32 million.
Talarico's campaign has leaned into that imbalance, running an ad arguing that billionaires are spending millions attacking him because of his opposition to corporate PAC money, congressional stock trading and gerrymandering, according to CNN. His fundraising has nonetheless been historic in its own right — Talarico raised about $27 million in the first three months of 2026, described by Newsweek as the largest first-quarter haul ever for a Senate candidate in an election year, and his campaign reported raising more than $70 million by June 30.
Democrats have not won a statewide race in Texas in 32 years, according to the New York Times, which frames Talarico's polling strength as fueling Democratic hopes of finally breaking that streak. The Times notes that Beto O'Rourke came up 2.6 points short of unseating Senator Ted Cruz in 2018, a result that still looms over Democratic expectations in statewide Texas contests. Whether star power and record fundraising can close that gap will become clear when Texans head to the polls.
