Like Walter White in Breaking Bad, or a Shakespearian tragedy, the Democratic Party is moving through life with self-inflicted wounds that never get healed.
I’m talking about Democrats’ general inability - with notable exceptions—to deliver a message to the American people and have it stick. The party has long had a challenge in connecting with voters — enough voters, at least, so as not be in its current position, where MAGA Republicans control all three branches of government and almost 60% of state legislatures. The result has been quite frankly devastating to the liberal (and mainstream) policy and cultural direction.
After its 2014 midterm losses, the Democratic National Committee concluded in its own after-action report, “We lack a clear message about what unites and animates us as Democrats. This has contributed to a disjointed style of communicating through long lists of policy statements, which are not well understood or embraced by voters.”
Great. Lesson learned. Let’s fix it and move on.
Nothing changed.
In 2016, Hillary Clinton lost to Trump because, in part, she didn’t have a message. “I don’t think Hillary Clinton wants to do anything in one sentence,” said Barack Obama’s former strategist David Axelrod. “That’s the problem, right? She wants to do things in paragraphs and pages. This has always been a problem in that she is incredibly fluent in policy, she embraces good policy ideas, but she has a hard time weaving them into a coherent narrative that cuts through.”
Nothing changed.
In 2020, an autopsy commissioned by three prominent groups found, despite Joe Biden’s win, Democrats “leaned too heavily on ‘anti-Trump’ rhetoric.” And that the GOP successfully branded the party in negative terms. (This isn’t new.)
Nothing changed.
In 2024, same story: no message, no brand, and no durable media megaphone to get a message out, even if they had one.
After more than a decade of the same problem, it‘s malpractice that donors and party leaders haven’t done a course correction.
Even today, amid loud calls to rebrand, current DNC Chairman Ken Martin has done zero on this front. (Let’s not even get into his recent P.R. disaster, please. It was yet another self-inflicted wound.)
So the smart Democratic candidates have to work extra hard to overcome the sour brand in people’s mouths. U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico of Texas is one of them. Here’s how he’s doing it.
The crisp narrative
Elections are about the addition of votes, not subtraction. For any statewide Democrat in Texas to win, this means motivating the base and persuading the persuadables. That’s the only way the math works out.
The lynchpin in this work, beyond money, is the quality of the candidate and his or her core message that speaks to people’s concerns and hopes for the future.
Talarico’s umbrella narrative is tight:
The biggest divide in this country is not left vs. right. It’s top vs. bottom.
A lot is packed in here, but the economy takes center stage. Reducing the explosive cost of living has broad bipartisan appeal. He repeats it often and everywhere, with the right amount of Texas pride. (You may roll your eyes at that, but some Texa-cana needs to be in any statewide race.)
There’s also a moral overlay to Talarico’s pitch. A person of faith who talks about his faith, Talarico references the Golden Rule and key Biblical figures. He uses general religious teachings to frame what he’s for when it comes to policy positions on the economy, healthcare, immigration and public safety.
And he’s going aspirational—something we haven’t seen since the Obama era. He‘s running on something bigger than politics. His campaign hits all the right notes in this must-watch ad:
Going on offense
What also sets the candidate apart is his aggressive effort to go on offense. Immediately. When I say immediately, I mean right after the AP called the Paxton/Cornyn race on that Tuesday night in May. The team had the “oppo” ready to go and an ad up. The campaign is defining Paxton as soft on crime, giving leniency and deals to a man accused of three years of child abuse. Fellow conservative attacks on Paxton’s record of corruption have re-surfaced.
Outside of super PACs, Democrats tend not to do negative campaigning all that well. They’re often slow as molasses and allow the other side to define them and issues they care about. (I wrote about three of the issues here.)
The campaign is also subtly running against the unwelcoming parts of his own party.
The zingers
Everyone knows by now Talarico excels at verbal jujitsu. He’s the undisputed king of one-liners and zingers in politics today.
Crisp, potent soundbites delivered with aplomb are the weapons that win races. They get attention—built for social and news media coverage and shape public perception. And fit into our horribly short attention spans.
In response to being labeled a vegan, Talarico said, using a pastor’s calm, “I’m an eighth-generation Texan. I’ve been eating barbecue since before Ken Paxton’s first indictment.“
He leans on metaphor.
"Our southern border should be like our front porch – there should be a welcome mat and a lock on the door. We can both welcome immigrants who want to live the American Dream AND keep out people who mean to do us harm."
He dabbles in comedy.
“I can’t tell you the number of people who come up to me and whisper, ‘I’m not a Democrat’ like they’re in the witness protection program — including a lot of people who voted for Trump in 2024.”
Looking ahead
Team “Tala-feako” is doing several moves at the same time and doing them well. Is his campaign perfect? No, none are. His campaign certainly has its work cut out for it, including continuing to court Black voters and raise hundreds of millions of dollars.
Still, public polls, if they’re right, indicate a toss-up right now, which in and of itself is an achievement. The nine months of strong comms and branding work has paid off.
I think moving forward, though, you’ve got to assume the polls are wonky, or that they won’t hold given natural campaign machinations. I would add at least 3-5 points in Paxton’s favor. This padding is random, based on nothing scientific. I’ve made it up. The point is this is still Texas. You need to build in the historic reality we’re a low-voting state, as well as a red state with various threads of conservatism.
And the Paxton-Trump alliance will, I’m sure, be activated in ways we can’t even imagine (but should).
What I do know is that Talarico joins a relatively small club of savvy communicators on the left— one that includes Obama, AOC, Elissa Slotkin, Zohran Mamdani, Jon Ossoff, Ruben Gallego, Stacey Abrams, Pete B. These Democrats know how to be themselves, convey a compelling story, bring their fight to the spotlight, and embrace the happy warrior persona. Some of this skill may be natural. Much of it is learned.
Yet another Democratic star is showing the party at large how to do this. Will they finally listen?