James Talarico, the 37-year-old former public school teacher and seminary student who just became Texas's Senate-elect, spent his first days in Washington doing something unusual for a newly victorious Democrat: courting the other side. Talarico met twice with Republican U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, appeared on Fox News the morning after his win, and told viewers he was ready to work with President Donald Trump on border security, housing and energy costs.
Talarico framed the outreach as urgency rather than capitulation. “The American people cannot wait two years for change. So we must work with President Trump,” he said, according to NBC News. He paired that message with a demand for accountability, saying, “We need accountability and we need to deliver.”
The Senate-elect's visit came as newly elected senators arrived for orientation at the U.S. Capitol the week of Nov. 9, according to the Houston Chronicle. Talarico's win makes him the first Democrat to capture a Texas U.S. Senate seat in more than three decades, according to Yahoo News, which reported he earned about 55% of the vote to Ken Paxton's roughly 43%, according to unofficial results.
A Border-Security Compliment and a Housing Pitch
On Fox News, Talarico went further than simply offering an olive branch — he credited Trump directly on one of the president's signature issues. “He has done a better job than the previous administration in securing our border,” Talarico said, per Fox News. He also laid out specific areas of potential cooperation: suspending the federal gas and diesel taxes, legalizing marijuana, reforming the criminal justice system, and cutting housing regulations.
“We need to cut the red tape, the regulation that sometimes my party has been guilty of, so that we can build millions of new homes in this country,” Talarico said, according to the same Fox News report. He insisted his win wasn't a mandate for score-settling. “The people of Texas did not elect me last night for retribution. They elected me to deliver for them,” he said.
Two Meetings With Cornyn, One Warm Word
Talarico's engagement with Cornyn wasn't a single photo-op. The two met in Austin and then again in Washington, with Cornyn telling reporters he “enjoyed meeting with” Talarico “last Friday in Austin and again this morning here in D.C.,” per Yahoo News. Talarico returned the warmth, saying of his future Senate colleague, “He has served our state honorably, and I'm grateful for his advice and guidance,” according to WFAA.
Talarico also said he would work with Elon Musk, even as the two campaigns clashed bitterly over money. The Houston Chronicle reported that Musk spent tens of millions of dollars trying to defeat Talarico, while NBC News reported Musk spent more than $168 million supporting Paxton. The two outlets describe Musk's spending differently, and neither figure is reconciled in the available reporting.
Republicans Respond — Some Warmly, One Not at All
The reaction from Senate Republicans split along predictable lines. Sen. Thom Tillis commended Talarico for being magnanimous in victory and said he looked forward to meeting him, though Tillis also described Talarico as a genuinely left-of-center conservative and said he would need to govern that way to win reelection in Texas, per the Houston Chronicle's reporting. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito struck a similarly open tone, saying most people would talk with Talarico or anyone with a good idea after an election.
Not everyone bought it. Sen. Chip Roy said he was highly skeptical that Talarico's bipartisan messaging was genuine, according to the Chronicle's reporting — a sign that Talarico's charm offensive hasn't won over the Texas GOP's more combative wing. Texas remains largely conservative despite Democrats' sweeping 2026 victories, the Chronicle noted, underscoring why Talarico's positioning matters beyond Washington photo-ops.
A Record Built on Working the Other Side
Talarico's pitch isn't new rhetoric so much as a scaled-up version of his Texas Legislature playbook. Over four state legislative terms, he built a record of working with Republicans on public education, drug prices and medical marijuana, according to the Houston Chronicle. His campaign had already been laying groundwork for a broader coalition before Election Day — arranging a meeting with moderate conservatives and business leaders in Houston a week before the midterm, intended, in part, to persuade former Paxton supporters that Talarico wasn't an extreme left-wing candidate.
Houston business figure Bill King, who helped organize that meeting, said it was meant to introduce Talarico to influential Houston moderates and business leaders who could vouch for him, and that the discussion touched on immigration and a possible deal with Trump, according to the Chronicle's reporting. Talarico ran as an economic populist promising to challenge wealthy and powerful interests on behalf of working-class Texans, while also identifying immigration-law reform, faster home building and marijuana legalization as common ground with Republicans.
Talarico has drawn a line on at least one issue: he said he did not support the progressive Green New Deal effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, even though he introduced a similar Texas bill in 2021 aimed at cutting emissions 90% by 2050. Energy lobbyist Scott Segal said Talarico called energy jobs some of the best jobs available and argued Democrats must fight efforts to end the oil and gas industry, according to the Chronicle. Segal added that Talarico would be a welcome addition to Democratic voices in the new Senate.
Talarico also said he supported congressional oversight of the Trump administration, even as he pursues cooperation on specific policy fronts, and that he planned to work to improve the lives of Texans who did not vote for him. Sen. Raphael Warnock, reflecting on the broader question facing incoming Democrats, said sustainable progress requires working together — but added he did not yet know whether Republicans actually wanted to work across the aisle, a question Talarico's early Washington tour has yet to fully answer. Talarico is set to take office in January 2027.
