Transcript: James Talarico’s Victory Speech After Historic Texas Senate Flip

Read the full transcript of James Talarico’s victory speech after his historic flip of a U.S. Senate seat in Texas. In the speech, the former public school teacher compares his campaign to David and Goliath, calls for a “politics of love” over a politics of division, and sets out his agenda for the U.S. Senate, from getting big money out of politics to universal health care.

“We Just Took Back Texas”

JAMES TALARICO: Thank you. Thank you, Chris. Thank you, Blanca, and thank you all for being here. We just took back Texas. We just proved that all the money in the world is no match for the people of Texas.

We just showed that a politics of division is no match for a politics of love. And we just sent a message to every billionaire mega donor, every trillionaire mega donor, every corrupt defender of this broken political system in this state, in this country, power belongs to the people.

David and Goliath

I’m reminded of that story from scripture of a shepherd boy who goes up against a giant. For forty days, Goliath teases and taunts. On the day of the fight, he shows up in full armor. He’s carrying so many weapons, he needs someone else to carry his shield.

In this race, we went up against our own Goliaths. The richest man in the world, the most powerful man in the world, and the entire Washington DC establishment. David wasn’t as big or as strong as Goliath. He didn’t have as many weapons, but he had hope.

He had faith, and he had a slingshot. You were my slingshot. The people of Texas were my slingshot. And tonight, we defeated Goliath. Scripture has taught me, my own life has taught me, always bet on the underdog.

From the Classroom to the Campaign

Before I was a politician, I was a public school teacher. I taught language arts at Rhodes Middle School on the West Side of San Antonio. And as I always say, teaching middle school is the best preparation for politics.

The West Side is a beautiful, historic neighborhood. It’s also one of the poorest ZIP codes in the entire state of Texas. Every day, my students struggled heroically to overcome a rigged system. My students weren’t just kids, they were survivors, dreamers, fighters. I saw it in their eyes every day. This unshakable resolve, this unconquered spirit.

My Mother’s Love

Growing up, I saw that same fight in my mother, a preacher’s daughter from Laredo who left home at 19. She moved up to Austin and met my birth father, a 21 year old high school dropout whose drinking problem sometimes led to violence. One night, he became abusive again. But that night, my mother’s love rose to meet that abuse.

She packed all our stuff into her little Ford Escort. She drove me to the hotel where she worked. She begged the manager to let us stay in one of the rooms until we found this little apartment in East Austin.

There wasn’t room for a nursery, so I slept in a crib in her closet. And she was so proud of that closet. She decorated it with pictures and toys. No one was going to tell her it wasn’t a nursery.

Always Bet on the Underdog

Always, always bet on the underdog. We were the underdogs in this race. We went up against nearly forty years of doubt and disillusionment. We went up against more than $300 million, more than any senate campaign in American history. We went up against all the negative ads, smear campaigns, foreign bots, and AI deepfakes that money can buy.

Those attacks were the final howls of a dying establishment. The death rattle of a status quo that knows its days are numbered. They played dirty because they were desperate, but we never lost hope. We never lost faith. And against big money and long odds, we took our power back.

Always, always bet on the underdog. We built a movement unlike any this state has ever seen. We united Texans from all backgrounds and beliefs onto one team to take on this broken, corrupt political system. First time voters, three time Trump voters, working people from every corner of the state who are fed up and ready for change.

“This Win Is for Every Underdog”

This win is for every underdog who’s been counted out and left behind. This win is for every teacher and every nurse, for every farmer and every rancher, for every young person who’s trying to buy a home, for every parent who’s trying to put food on the table.

This win is for every Texan who’s ever wondered if anyone is listening. I heard you. We heard you. And tonight, the world hears you.

To the Texans who supported this movement, I am humbled by your trust, and I will work every day to be worthy of it. And to the Texans who didn’t vote for me, I will be your senator too. I will always serve you. I will always fight for you.

Love God and Love Neighbor

This win is not about the Democratic Party or the Republican Party. It’s much bigger than that. There is something broken in America. Our economic system is broken. Our political system is broken. Even our relationships with each other feel broken. That’s because the most powerful people in the world want it that way.

My granddad was a Baptist preacher in South Texas and when I was little, he told me that we follow a barefoot rabbi who gave us two commandments, “love God and love neighbor.” Because there is no love of God without love of neighbor. Every single person bears the image of the sacred. Every single person is holy.

Not just my neighbor who looks like me. Not just my neighbor who prays like me. Not just my neighbor who votes like me. I am called to love all of my neighbors the way I love myself.

Because despite our differences, we all want the same things, a safe neighborhood, a good job, a high quality, well funded public school, and the ability to see a doctor when we need one.

Not Left Versus Right, But Top Versus Bottom

But the billionaires who own the social media algorithms, who own the cable news networks, who own the politicians fighting on our screens, they want us at each other’s throats.

They want us focused on how we’re different instead of on how we’re the same. They want us looking left and right at each other instead of looking up at them. The real fight in this country is not left versus right. It is top versus bottom.

The people at the top work so hard to keep us angry and divided because our unity is a threat to their wealth and their power. We saw it in this race. We saw it in every billionaire funded attack ad.

The people at the top divide us by party, by race, by gender, by religion, by culture, so we don’t notice that they are picking our pockets, that they are defunding our schools, that they are gutting our health care, that they are raising taxes on all of us while they cut taxes for themselves. It is the oldest strategy in the world, divide and conquer.

But tonight, we sent a crystal clear message to the people at the top, we will not be conquered.

A Politics of Love

I think it’s safe to say that we are tired of being pitted against each other. We are tired of being told to hate each other. It has been ten years of this kind of politics. Politics as blood sport. Politics as trolling and owning. Politics as professional wrestling. It tears families apart. It ends friendships, and it leaves us all feeling terrible all the time.

People across the political spectrum are hungry for a different kind of politics. Not a politics of hate, not a politics of fear, not a politics of division, but a politics of love.

My faith teaches me that love is the strongest force in the universe. Love is not passive. Love is not neutral. Love is not weak. Love requires that we stand between the bullies and the bullied. Love requires that we look evil in the eye and not blink. That kind of love has always been a threat to the powers that be. That kind of love is revolutionary.

That kind of love is creative. Hate is predictable. Hate is boring. Hate can’t lower our energy bills. Hate can’t teach a child to read. Hate can’t build a future. But what hate can’t do, love can.

Love can turn a student into a scholar. Love can turn a closet into a nursery. Love can turn an enemy into a friend. Love can turn a campaign into a movement. Love can heal what’s broken in America.

We can’t defeat the politics of division with more division. We can’t win that game. We have to change the game.

Neighbor to Neighbor

In my experience, when you extend an open hand rather than a closed fist, you’ll be surprised by who takes that hand. We didn’t win this race by alienating our neighbors or shaming our neighbors or ridiculing our neighbors. We embodied a new kind of politics. A politics rooted in a deep love for our state, for our country, and most importantly, for all of our neighbors.

We mobilized our 60,000 volunteers in every corner of the state, and together, we delivered bottled water to Sandbranch, a community south of Dallas with no running water. We donated school supplies to an elementary school in El Cenizo, a small town on the border. We collected more than 20,000 pounds of groceries for families in Fort Worth who are struggling under the high cost of living.

Before the world changes in ways you see on TV or read about in newspapers, the world changes person to person, neighbor to neighbor. In each moment, when you choose to be kind, in each neighbor, we choose to love, in each prayer that we say for someone who would not pray for us in return. This is how we won Texas.

A Mandate the Size of Texas

This is a win the size of Texas. And now we have a mandate the size of Texas. This election was about chasing a vision of what this state can be. Texas public schools that are the envy of the nation. A Texas economy that is second to none, and Texas families that are stronger and healthier than they’ve ever been before.

It won’t happen overnight, but a giant state deserves giant dreams. And we know how to get there. We must get big money out of our politics so no billionaire or trillionaire can buy our elections. We must unrig this economic system that only benefits the top 1%. We must pass universal health care so no one goes bankrupt just because they get sick.

We must invest in our teachers and our students so every underdog has a fighting chance. We must end these corrupt forever wars that are driving up prices and killing our brave men and women in uniform. And we must heal the deep spiritual corruption at the root of all of these crisis. We must bridge the divides between us and repair the ties that bind us.

We forged a new kind of politics here in the Lone Star State, an answer to this decade of division. We showed that when working people come together across every dividing line, we can do extraordinary things. We won this race because people who are desperate for change now are going to get change.

That old politics is dying, and a new politics is being born. Through each of us, through every underdog, through every David against every Goliath, through every Texan who believed in our state and believed in this movement.

“It’s Time to Start Flipping Tables”

Now the real work begins. Two thousand years ago, when the people at the top hurt his neighbors, that barefoot rabbi didn’t stay in his room and pray. He walked into the seat of power, and he flipped over the tables of injustice.

As this movement heads to the seat of power, as we head to the United States Senate, we know what this moment requires of us. Texas, it’s time to start flipping tables.

Thank you for being here.