Willie Nelson has made it official. The 93-year-old outlaw country legend has endorsed Democrat James Talarico in the U.S. Senate race in Texas, putting his name behind the challenger to Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton less than four weeks before the November 3 midterms.
The endorsement came in a short video, first reported as an exclusive by the Houston Chronicle on Thursday, in which Nelson keeps it brief. “I’ve gotten to know James Talarico. He’s a good man and will be a good senator for the state of Texas,” he says, according to Trending Politics, which noted that he recorded it in his familiar red bandana. He closes with a plain instruction: “Please vote, and vote for James Talarico,” as quoted by the Washington Examiner.
The Talarico campaign is using the video to launch Rural Texans for Talarico, an outreach effort aimed at the parts of the state where Nelson’s name carries the most weight. Hoodline reports the initiative will focus on rural internet access, recruiting and keeping health care workers, and the impact of data centers on rural communities.
How Willie got here
Thursday’s video is the end point of a slow build rather than a surprise. Talarico appeared onstage with Nelson at his Fourth of July Picnic in Austin this summer, a detail noted by both the San Antonio Current and Trending Politics. Then, the weekend before this endorsement, Nelson posted Instagram videos backing two other Texas Democrats: Gina Hinojosa for governor and Vikki Goodwin for lieutenant governor. “This is Willie Nelson. I’m voting for Gina Hinojosa. I hope you do too,” he said in one of them.
As recently as Monday, the San Antonio Current was pointing out that Nelson had not yet officially endorsed Talarico, despite the picnic appearance. That gap is now closed.
None of this is new territory for him. In 2018 Nelson headlined a free rally in Austin for Beto O’Rourke, who was then trying to unseat Ted Cruz, and debuted a song called “Vote ‘Em Out.” When he was asked on The View that year about fans who were angry with him, he did not back down. “I love flak,” he said, as reported by Rolling Stone. “We’re not happy ’til they’re not happy.” The Washington Examiner notes that he has never publicly endorsed a Republican.
The reaction this time has followed a familiar pattern. The San Antonio Current reported that some conservative commenters responded angrily to his Hinojosa and Goodwin videos last weekend, and an endorsement in the state’s highest-profile race is unlikely to calm them.
Who Talarico is, and who he is running against
Talarico, 37, is a former sixth-grade English teacher from Round Rock who was elected to the Texas House in 2018. He became known well beyond the state for viral moments: a floor speech that delayed a bill requiring the Ten Commandments in classrooms, an appearance on The Joe Rogan Experience, and a Late Show interview that CBS did not air, which Stephen Colbert then posted to YouTube. He won the Democratic primary in March, beating U.S. Representative Jasmine Crockett.
Paxton reached the general election by defeating incumbent Senator John Cornyn in a May runoff. President Trump has campaigned for him, including a recent rally in San Antonio that the Washington Examiner reports was interrupted by protesters.
A race nobody expected to be close
Texas has not elected a Democrat to the U.S. Senate in more than three decades, yet the Cook Political Report now rates this race a toss-up, according to the Washington Examiner. Recent polls collected by Hoodline put Talarico narrowly ahead: a New York Times/Siena poll had him at 51% to Paxton’s 45% among likely voters, a Fox News poll had it 51% to 49%, and Marist had Talarico ahead 50% to 44% among registered voters. The same Marist poll found that a majority of voters still expect Paxton to win.
The money tells a different story. Hoodline reports that Paxton and allied groups spent about $193 million on advertising over a five-week stretch, compared with roughly $45 million from Talarico and his allies.
Willie is not the only musician involved
Nelson joins a growing group of musicians backing Texas Democrats this cycle. The San Antonio Current reports that the Chicks appeared on tour in “Talafreako” T-shirts, and that Eagles co-founder Don Henley has given money to Talarico and to Lone Star Rising, a super PAC tied to his campaign. Bill Nye has also launched a “Teachers for Talarico” coalition.
On the other side, Paxton has the backing of the president, a large advertising advantage, and a state that has voted Republican in every Senate race since the 1990s.
What happens next
Early voting in Texas begins later this month, with Election Day on November 3. Whether an endorsement from a 93-year-old country singer can move votes in rural Texas is an open question. What is clear is that Nelson, who has spent decades singing about the people in those small towns, has decided to spend some of his goodwill there. And if past experience is any guide, he will not be bothered by the flak.
