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Former President Barack Obama appeared in Texas to help garner support from blacks for Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico on Tuesday.
Talarico has struggled to gain support among the Black community after a heated campaign against Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas. Crockett won a large majority of Black voters, but lost the primary thanks to Talarico’s support among white Democrats and Latinos.
A victory in Texas is still a long game for Democrats, but Obama showed up at a Talarico campaign event on Tuesday, ordering tacos from the candidate’s favorite restaurant in Austin, Taco Joint. There was also Gina Hinojosa, a state level politician who is challenging Gov. Greg Abbott.
“Do you know our next governor and next senator?” Obama asked one table of donors, according to the New York Times.
RISING STAR TALARICO TOPPLES PROGRESSIVE FIREBRAND CROCKETT AT THE TOP OF THE TEXAS SENATE DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY
Texas Senate gubernatorial candidate Gina Hinojosa (D-TX), James Talarico (D-TX) and Former President Barack Obama meet with supporters at a Taco Joint restaurant on the campaign trail on May 12, 2026 in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Joel Angel Juarez-Pool/Getty Images)
Talarico’s struggle with Black voters came to a head in March against Crockett, when he was accused of calling Rep. Collin Allred, R-Texas, “mediocre.”
“James Talarico told me he signed up to run against an average black man, not a scary and smart black woman,” Morgan Thompson, a political analyst and former supporter of Talarico’s said in a video from the time.
Allred then escalated the incident in a video to X, saying she had noise “coming out of my ears.”
CROCKETT DEFENDS OPPONENT’S DEBATE FOR ‘MEDIOCRE BLACK MAN’ COMMENTS, CALLS OUT ‘WHITE INTENTIONS’
Texas Senate Representative James Talarico speaks at a campaign rally on March 2, 2026 in Houston. (Danielle Villasana/Getty Images)
“I understand that James Talarico had the guts and guts to say to a black woman that she signed up to run against an average black man, meaning me, I’m not a tough, smart woman, meaning Jasmine Crockett,” Allred said, adding that Talarico shouldn’t praise black women while “destroying Black men.”
“We have seen that game. We are sick and tired of it,” he said.
Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) lost the Democratic primary against Talarico in March. (Aaron Schwartz/Getty Images)
Talarico told the Times that Thompson’s recollection of his comments was “a lie.”
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“In my eulogy for Congressman Crockett, I described Congressman Allred’s approach to campaigning as low-key,” he said in a statement. “I will never attack him racially.”
