A left-wing podcaster accused Democratic Texas State Rep. James Talarico of calling former Democratic Rep. Colin Allred a “mediocre black man” in a video posted to TikTok Sunday.
Talarico is running against Democratic Texas Rep. Jasmine Crockett for the Democratic nomination for the United States Senate seat currently held by Republican Texas Sen. John Cornyn, while Allred dropped his Senate campaign to instead run for a seat in the House of Representatives shortly before Crockett announced her statewide bid. The podcaster, who goes by Morgan, claimed Talarico complained about having to face Crockett in the primary.
“James Talarico told me that he signed up to run against a mediocre black man, not a formidable and intelligent black woman, and I want to explain why this is problematic, especially as he shifted his current approach in the Texas Senate race,” Morgan said in the TikTok video. “Now, before I get into the conversation that led to this comment, I want to put it out there that I supported Talarico and planned on voting for him before Jasmine Crockett joined the race.”
“I planned on voting for him when he was running against Colin Allred, the mediocre black man that he’s referring to,” Morgan added. “Now, no matter how you feel about Colin Allred, the man is an attorney, a former professional football player, and a former congressman, but I’m not bringing this forward because I want to bring any more negativity to this race. I care way too much about Texas to do something like that, but I do think it is my responsibility to bring something like this forward, and I do think it also indicates some things that are pretty important when it comes to how he’s moving with his campaign.”
Talarico, a former public school teacher and currently attending a Presbyterian seminary, entered the Senate race in September, vowing to re-center the Democratic party on “working people.” Morgan said in her video that she was concerned about a recent fundraising email featuring Democratic strategist James Carville on Talarico’s behalf, saying that failing to use “woke politics” was leaving black people out of political decisions.
“Now, up until this comment, the conversation was going well,” Morgan said. “That’s why it threw me off so much to have a white man say this to a black woman who was coming to him with concerns in relation to him for black people.”
Morgan said she wouldn’t be dissuaded from voting for Talarico in the general election, though.
“I stand by my statements that he’s way better than [Republican Attorney General] Ken Paxton [of Texas], who’s the current front runner for Republicans and a terror that we’re trying to protect the rest of the country from, but this isn’t someone I feel comfortable being in office when we have a truly amazing candidate like Jasmine Crockett as an option,” Morgan said. “So yes, I’m voting for Jasmine Crockett for Senate, and I encourage you to do so as well.”
Talarico posted a statement regarding the claims, stating that they were “a mischaracterization of a private conversation.”
“In my praise of Congresswoman Crockett, I described Congressman Allred’s method of campaigning as mediocre — but his life and service are not,” the statement, posed to X, read. “I would never attack him on the basis of race.”
The senate hopeful also stated that he understood how his criticism of Allred’s campaign could be seen “given this country’s painful legacy of racism.”
Allred also took aim at Talarico, who leads Crocket 47% to 38% in polling for the Democratic primary, in a post on X.
“I understand that James Talarico had the temerity and the audacity to say to a black woman that he had signed up to run against a mediocre black man, meaning me, not a formidable, intelligent black woman, meaning Jasmine Crockett,” Allred said. “Let me just break this down into a few segments here. First of all, let me just give you some free advice, James. If you want to compliment black women, just do it. Just do it. Don’t do it while also tearing down a black man, OK?”
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