There’s an old rule in politics that never steers you wrong: if you want to know who a candidate truly serves, skip the stump speech and follow the money. When a man running for United States Senate in the largest red state in America can’t fill a fundraising room in Houston or San Antonio – but has Hollywood producers tripping over each other to host him – his loyalties aren’t exactly a mystery.
Democrats have spent two decades chasing the dream of flipping Texas blue. Every cycle delivers the same fever-pitch predictions, the same tidal wave of coastal cash, and the same stubborn reality: they keep importing candidates whose values were assembled somewhere west of the Pacific Coast Highway. So instead of building genuine support on the ground, they go shopping in zip codes where a bottle of wine costs more than a week of groceries in Lubbock.
From Fox News Digital:
Texas Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico is set to travel to Los Angeles in September for a high-dollar fundraiser with Hollywood celebrities, according to a report.
Politico reported that “Lost” co-creator Damon Lindelof and his wife, Heidi, will host a fundraiser for Talarico in Brentwood on Sept. 10. Tickets for the event start at $500 and go as high as $13,500, according to the outlet. This will be Talarico’s second Hollywood fundraiser in a few months. The first was held in June and was described by Page Six Hollywood as a “glitzy Dem fundraiser” at the home of Hollywood producer Peter Chernin.
Hollywood’s favorite Texan
Two glitzy Hollywood galas in three months. One at a major film producer’s mansion, the next at a Brentwood estate belonging to the guy who created a TV show about people stranded on a mysterious island. Fitting, really – Talarico seems pretty lost himself when it comes to finding donors in his own state.
According to first-quarter campaign finance records, roughly 50% of the funds Talarico has raised came from donors outside Texas. Half his war chest, assembled by people who have zero stake in whether Texas roads get fixed or the border stays secure. The man wants to represent 30 million Texans, yet half his financial lifeline runs through area codes that wouldn’t know Amarillo from Albuquerque.
The geographic contrast on September 10th is almost too perfect. While Talarico works the room in Brentwood, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton will be in Dallas at the Republican National Committee’s midterm convention alongside President Trump and fellow Republicans. That same evening, Barack Obama headlines a Democratic House fundraiser in New York. Democrats stationed on the coasts. Republicans planted in the heartland. The picture paints itself.
The costume party
The money trail is damning enough. But then there’s the elaborate costume Talarico puts on every time he faces actual Texas voters. RNC spokesperson Zach Kraft didn’t mince words: “It is no surprise that James Talarico feels more comfortable in crazy liberal California than when his handlers force him to wear a fake cowboy hat and rent a pickup truck to pretend to be a ‘real’ Texan.”
About that pickup truck. Talarico’s viral campaign ad featured him behind the wheel of a Dodge Ram – except he doesn’t actually own or drive it. A rented prop for a manufactured image. You’d think someone running for Senate in Texas would at least bother to buy the truck.
Underneath the costume sits a progressive state lawmaker who has called God “nonbinary,” claimed there are six sexes, and declared that reducing meat consumption is “existential” to fighting climate change. Those aren’t Texas values. Those are Brentwood values – and now we know exactly where he goes to collect on them.
Follow the money
Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana framed it with his usual directness: “Mr. Talarico has been raising bucketloads of money from California, Hollywood.” Kennedy urged President Trump to help close the fundraising gap, warning bluntly, “We in the Senate don’t have the money budgeted for Texas; we need help from the president.”
Trump has stepped up, promising to spend significant time campaigning in the state. He’s also given Talarico a new nickname – “Talafreako” – because, as Trump put it, “he is a little freaky.” Subtle it is not. Effective it probably is.
A Fox News poll from July showed Talarico clinging to a 51-48 lead over Paxton – within the margin of error. This race is genuinely competitive, and every dollar matters. The difference is where those dollars originate.
The cowboy hat comes off when the cameras stop rolling, but the flight manifests to LAX don’t lie. Texans have always had sharp instincts for spotting a dude ranch pretender. Come November, the choice is straightforward: a senator who answers to the people of Texas, or one whose real constituents live in Brentwood.
Key Takeaways
- Half of Talarico’s campaign funds come from outside Texas, heavily reliant on Hollywood donors.
- His manufactured cowboy image – rented trucks, fake hats – masks a progressive record.
- Democrats fundraise on the coasts while Republicans rally in the Texas heartland.
- The razor-thin Senate poll makes conservative turnout and funding absolutely critical.
Sources: Fox News
