State Rep. James Talarico (D-Austin) announced his US Senate campaign’s new anti-corruption agenda on Thursday morning, which includes implementing term limits for Supreme Court justices.
Democratic US Senate candidate and Texas state Rep. James Talarico held a press conference Thursday morning to announce his campaign’s anti-corruption agenda.
The event took place outside Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office in Austin, which Talarico dubbed “Corruption HQ.”
“ Ken Paxton is the most corrupt politician in America,” Talarico said. “He has used his public office to enrich his donors, he is everything that’s wrong with this broken political system.”
If Talarico wins his March 3 primary against Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Dallas), he will face the winner of the Republican primary—Paxton, US Sen. John Cornyn, or US House Rep. Wesley Hunt—on Nov. 3.
In an Emerson College poll released Thursday, Talarico leads the Democratic primary by 47%. In a matchup between Paxton and Talarico, polling shows a virtual tie race, with 46% of voters supporting each candidate.
With less than 50 days until the primary election, Talarico said his campaign is dedicated to getting big money out of politics by banning corporate and super PACs, and prohibiting members of Congress from trading stocks for their own financial gain.
“ We don’t have a government of, by, and for the people, we have a government of, by, and for the billionaires,” Talarico said. “Billionaire megadonors buy politicians, and then those puppet politicians turn around and rig the rules in favor of those billionaires at our expense.”
He also announced plans to ban partisan gerrymandering by establishing independent redistricting commissions.
Talarico gained national attention this summer during Texas’ redistricting fight when he left the state with nearly 60 other Democrats to stop Gov. Greg Abbott and President Donald Trump’s gerrymandered congressional maps from becoming law.
Talarico also vowed to fight corruption by implementing term limits for Supreme Court justices and members of Congress, prohibiting presidential pardons, and requiring every member of Congress to hold town halls so their constituents can hold them accountable.
“This is how we build a government of, by, and for the people,” he said. “It won’t be easy. We’re going up against those billionaire megadonors and those corporate PACs that are trying to instill their top puppet in this US Senate seat. Politics feels corrupt because it is—but it doesn’t have to be.”
