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Calling in to Sean Hannity’s radio show Wednesday, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz offered a blunt warning cry to his party: Democratic state Rep. James Talarico has a legitimate shot at flipping Texas this year.
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“Unfortunately, I do think he has a real chance,” Cruz told Gov. Greg Abbott, who guest hosted the three-hour talk radio program. “I think this is a real race. I think it’s going to be close. I think we’re going to win, I think we’re going to keep Texas red, but the polling right now shows this is a 1- or 2-point race.”
Cruz went on to call the Austin Democrat “radical” and “extreme” for labeling God nonbinary, saying there are six recognized sexes and previously running a “non-meat” reelection campaign, all part of the trove of attacks Republicans have unfurled against the Democratic Senate nominee.
Cruz, Texas’ future senior senator, speaks from some experience. At 2.6 points, his 2018 reelection margin marked Texas’ closest statewide race this millennium. Recent public polling has shown Talarico running neck and neck with the GOP nominee, Attorney General Ken Paxton — well ahead of where the polls had Cruz’s opponent, Beto O’Rourke, at the same point six years ago.
As in 2018, the national environment looks ripe for Democrats given voter backlash to President Donald Trump, whose approval rating has settled just under 40% since late April. And once again, Texas Democrats are running a candidate who hopes to appeal to middle-of-the-road voters.
“This guy is also charming,” Cruz warned. “He is affable, he sounds like a preacher, and I worry about the voters who may not be paying close attention to the issues, who just turn on the TV and say, ‘Oh, he seems like a nice young man.’”
Abbott was more optimistic.
“I personally think Talarico is going to be very beatable once Texans get to know who he really is,” the governor said, pointing to the litany of attack lines Cruz recounted. Abbott, who is up for reelection in November, has trained his early fire on Talarico, repeatedly calling him “Jimmy Talarico” while ignoring his actual opponent, state Rep. Gina Hinojosa, D-Austin.
Paxton has faced his own share of attack ads, including from Republicans hoping to stop him from ousting U.S. Sen. John Cornyn in the primary. Cruz encouraged Republicans and “ordinary commonsense Texans” to vote, echoing concerns Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has raised repeatedly about the prospect of a divided GOP spelling the party’s defeat. In particular, Patrick has called on Cornyn to do more to help Paxton.
Cornyn has said he will support the Republican ticket but told reporters he will not campaign for Paxton.
“We need John to come around,” Patrick told conservative radio host Mark Davis on Wednesday morning, while also questioning whether acting Comptroller Kelly Hancock had officially endorsed his successor, GOP nominee Don Huffines, since losing the primary. Hancock announced his resignation last month, and Abbott said he would tap Huffines, Abbott’s one-time gubernatorial challenger, to fill the remainder of the term.
Cruz, meanwhile, was not the only guest to bash Talarico during Abbott’s run as talk radio host. Later in the show, National Republican Senatorial Committee Chair Tim Scott, a senator from South Carolina, likened Talarico’s values to the “amorality” of embattled Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner, who has described himself as a democratic socialist. Platner suspended his campaign Wednesday amid accusations of rape and sexual misconduct.
“Democrats are bound and determined to turn the page to socialism today and communism tomorrow,” Scott said.
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Abbott, a former Texas Supreme Court justice, and Cruz, a former state solicitor general, also discussed the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision rejecting Trump’s executive order banning birthright citizenship. The pair discussed ways around the ruling outside of a constitutional amendment, including passing a federal law or executive order denying visas to women who are visibly pregnant.
“If it’s someone coming before there’s any indication they’re pregnant, that’s one thing, but if someone is seven, eight, nine months pregnant and visibly pregnant, I think the administration ought to say we will not grant a tourist visa, visitor visa or any other visa to anyone who is pregnant,” Cruz said. “That makes sense, and there’s no legal impediment to doing that.”
The governor’s other guests included White House border czar Tom Homan, newly anointed trillionaire Elon Musk, Buc’ee’s founder and CEO Arch “Beaver” Aplin III and Longhorns Football Coach Steve Sarkisian. Notably, neither Homan nor Abbott addressed the fatal shooting of a man in Houston on Tuesday by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer.
Humoring the governor, Musk told Abbott he’d try to get a Texas flag emoji on his social media platform, X, drawing a round of applause from the governor over the air.