Talarico Urges UT Students to Channel Frustration into Political Action at Campus Rally 

By Samantha Rubin

Reporting Texas

As Democrats look to energize young voters ahead of a competitive primary, U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico urged University of Texas at Austin students Wednesday to reject political division and to help mobilize voters on campus.

“I learned how to organize, how to build big coalitions, how to fight and how to win, and that is exactly what we’re going to do in this race,” Talarico, a state representative from Austin, said at a rally hosted by University Democrats. “That’s exactly what we have an opportunity to do again here in Texas.”

Talarico faces U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Dallas, in  the March 3 primary to be the Democratic nominee for the Senate seat held for 24 years by John Cornyn, who faces a Republican primary challenge from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. Early voting begins Feb. 17.

At UT, Talarico did not address the Democratic infighting that hit the campaign this week when former U.S. Rep. Colin Allred endorsed Crockett and blasted Talarico. Allred, the Democrats’ 2024 Senate nominee, cited allegations from TikTok creator Morgan Thompson that Talarico had called Allred a “mediocre Black man” in a private conversation. Talarico has called Thompson’s allegations a “mischaracterization of a private conversation” and said he had only called Allred’s campaign mediocre.

While that intraparty split grabbed national headlines, Talarico’s speech at UT stuck to his campaign themes of generational change, economic inequality, health care affordability and education.

“The only minority destroying this country is the billionaire class,” Talarico said, arguing that powerful elites benefit from keeping Americans divided along lines of race, religion and gender.

University Democrats organizers said the event was designed to engage students who are often overlooked in primary elections and give them direct access to candidates.

“We wanted students to have the chance to engage with him personally and feel invested in the upcoming election,” said Allie Flores, a member of the University Democrats.

Eleanor Burns, a sophomore journalism student, said Talarico’s message resonated with her and other students who feel alienated by partisan politics.

“A lot of students don’t want to pledge allegiance to a party or a rigid list of ideas,” Burns said. “His message is very much, ‘Come as you are.’ People are tired of being pitted against each other.”

Burns also added the tone of Talarico’s campaign reminded her of Barack Obama’s early campaigns, which she said focused less on ideological purity and more on broad participation.

“That kind of politics, about bringing people in rather than pushing them out, is something students are really drawn to,” Burns said.

Daron Shaw, a UT political science professor, said campus rallies aim for outcomes beyond immediate votes since college students are unlikely to make the difference in the election.

“There’s not a lot of evidence that they have much of an effect,” Shaw said, regarding rallies as drivers of youth voting.  “What candidates are really trying to do is develop contributor networks and volunteer networks. We do know those things are correlated with votes in primary elections.”

Shaw said  younger voters face structural barriers that make participation less likely, such as frequent moving,  limited experience with elections and competing priorities.

“Voting tends to be a habit,” Shaw said. “If you’ve only done it once or twice, you don’t yet have that muscle memory that older voters do.”

Shaw also said motivating students in primary elections can be especially difficult because ideological differences between primary candidates are often less clear.

“The differences aren’t that great,” Shaw said. “For young people who already have other priorities, it’s harder to see why showing up in a primary is especially motivating.”

Talarico, a former public school teacher, repeatedly tied his political outlook to his time teaching sixth-grade language arts at a middle school on the west side of San Antonio, which was in the city’s poorest ZIP  code.

“My students weren’t just kids; they were survivors,” Talarico said. “Every day, I saw them fighting to overcome poverty, racism and systems designed to hold them back.”

He described how his mother left an abusive relationship when he was an infant and raised him as a single parent. He credited Texas Democrats, including former Gov. Ann Richards, with shaping his political identity.

“Texas Democrats know how to fight for the underdog,” Talarico said.

He also criticized federal immigration enforcement practices, calling for accountability.

“This has never been about immigrants,” he said. “It has always been about control.”

Talarico closed the rally by acknowledging the frustration and grief many Americans feel about the state of the country, urging students not to disengage. Talarico’s speech lasted 15 minutes and he took no questions.

“Having a little bit of hope is dangerous,” he said, “and that’s a good thing.”