Talarico Gets Late Polling Boost in Texas Senate Race After Axed Appearance on Colbert

Texas state representative James Talarico is receiving a significant influx of cash and a much-needed bump in the polls ahead of Tuesday’s U.S. Senate primary election in Texas. The good news for Mr. Talarico comes shortly after his appearance on Stephen Colbert’s “The Late Show” was not aired due to concerns about threats from the FCC. Mr. Talarico has been trailing Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett in a primary race that has grown increasingly ugly in recent weeks. Ms. Crockett’s decision to enter the race at the last possible moment last year scrambled the campaign, forcing one other candidate from the race and pushing Mr. Talarico into second place. In the 24 hours after Mr. Colbert’s show decided to not air the in-studio interview with Mr. Talarico, his Senate campaign says it raised $2.5 million. Google searches for Mr. Talarico’s name also shot up. On Wednesday, he received more good news — his internal polling shows him closing the gap with Ms. Crockett, though other surveys suggest that Ms. Crockett is still the odds-on favorite to win the race. Mr. Talarico’s internal poll, which was conducted by the Democratic firm Impact Research, found that Mr. Talarico leads Ms. Crockett, 47 percent to 43 percent, though that is still within the margin of error. It is a 21-point shift from the firm’s December poll when Ms. Crockett led Mr. Talarico by double-digits — 52 percent to 35 percent. “Talarico … enjoys a huge advantage on electability,” Impact Research staff write in their polling memo. “Democratic primary voters think Talarico has a better chance of defeating the Republican Senate nominee than Crockett by a 25-point margin.” The firm says Mr. Talarico was leading Ms. Crockett on the “electability” question by only four points back in December. His favorability rating and name ID have also increased significantly, based on the poll. Among Texas Democrats, 85 percent now know who he is, compared to 90 percent name ID for Ms. Crockett. On overall favorability, he now only trails Ms. Crockett by one point. The best possible news for Mr. Talarico is that the poll was conducted even before Mr. Colbert decided not to air his interview with the Senate candidate, which was taped on February 16. The poll was conducted between February 10 and February 12. Ms. Crockett is still the favorite to win the race, however, given her steady polling lead and strong early turnout numbers in key areas. As of Wednesday, she is leading in all polling aggregators and is seeing her base of supporters turnout at a higher share of their statewide vote than they had in recent years. So far, more registered Democrats have turned out to vote than Republicans, even though Republicans also have a contested Senate primary this year. Turnout in this year’s primary early voting is even higher than it was at this point in 2020, when there was a contested presidential primary and a competitive Democratic Senate primary. Areas in Ms. Crockett’s home district, which is based in Dallas, are seeing a notable spike in early vote participation. The district covers the southern parts of Dallas County and Tarrant County, both of which have significant African-American and Hispanic populations. Those two counties make up just under 23 percent of the total early vote so far statewide. Six years ago, those Dallas County and Tarrant County made up only 18 percent of the Democratic primary vote.

Talarico Gets Late Polling Boost in Texas Senate Race After Axed Appearance on Colbert

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