Early voting underway in closely watched Texas Senate Democratic primary
Early voting began this week in the Texas Senate Democratic primary election, and one candidate got a fundraising bump from talk show host Stephen Colbert.
LEILA FADEL, HOST:
Early voting started this week in Texas for some closely watched U.S. Senate primaries. On Monday, we heard about the Republican side of that race, including incumbent Senator John Cornyn and the state’s Attorney General Ken Paxton. Today, we hear about two of the Democratic primary candidates, Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett, and state representative James Talarico. The Texas Newsroom’s Blaise Gainey is here to break this all down. Good morning.
BLAISE GAINEY, BYLINE: Morning.
FADEL: So there’s been a lot of attention on Talarico this week because of the interview that he did with Stephen Colbert, and Colbert says CBS lawyers told him not to air it. So he talked about that on the show and put the interview on YouTube. CBS disputes his account. But has this controversy around the interview been a big boost for Talarico?
GAINEY: I mean, it’s been a huge boost. It’s actually outstanding. That interview now has over 7 million views on “The Late Show’s” YouTube page. The campaign yesterday came out and said they’ve raised $2.5 million since it aired on YouTube, and Talarico is now using the situation as fodder for his campaign, saying that it’s another sign that the current administration will go to any level to try and prevent messaging that isn’t in line with their talking points from being aired.
FADEL: Now, one of the main questions that arose over this interview was an FCC rule about equal time for political candidates, which the current commissioner says he’s considering applying to late-night shows. That hasn’t applied in the past. So what has Talarico’s main opponent, Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett, said about this so far?
GAINEY: Yeah. The Congresswoman is mostly still gathering details, but on the briefing with Jen Psaki on MS NOW, she said it was ultimately beneficial for Colbert and her opponent Talarico.
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JASMINE CROCKETT: It probably gave my opponent the – a boost he was looking for. So I think it’s probably better that he didn’t get on and that they went straight to streaming because we know that when we resist and when we know that it seems like they’re trying to change the rules and bend the need to this president, that it backfires in a historic fashion.
GAINEY: And also, Crockett said she wasn’t approached by “The Late Show,” but she’s been on the show multiple times. Her and Colbert both noted that.
FADEL: Right. So she’s referencing the FCC trying to apply this rule. How are Crockett and Talarico doing before all this?
GAINEY: Right before this started, Crockett was ahead by eight points on Talarico. That was a recent poll that came out from earlier this month. But who knows now? I mean, because of the views and since this happened sort of right as early voting started in the state, it could sort of change people’s minds in the last minute.
FADEL: After all of this focus on a single interview of one candidate, I mean, talk about the bigger picture. Do Democrats even have a chance to win in Texas? I mean, Republicans have won every statewide race there for three decades.
GAINEY: Yeah. I mean, if you ask them, of course they do. And here’s how Talarico describes his chances in that interview on the YouTube channel for ‘The Late Show With Stephen Colbert.”
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, “THE LATE SHOW WITH STEPHEN COLBERT”)
JAMES TALARICO: I think that Donald Trump is worried that we’re about to flip Texas.
(CHEERING)
TALARICO: And, Stephen, this is the party that ran against cancel culture, and now they’re trying to control what we watch.
GAINEY: Yeah. And he’s not exaggerating. Trump’s approval numbers are low. And historically, during a midterm election, the party in power doesn’t really gain seats. So this is the time for Democrats to try and flip seats, even in a state as red as Texas.
FADEL: That’s Texas Newsroom’s Blaise Gainey in Austin, Texas. Thank you, Blaise.
GAINEY: Thanks for having me.
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