By Lenora Small
Forward Times
https://www.forwardtimes.com/
Months before early voting begins, Forward Times sat down with Democratic U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico to introduce him to readers through a conversation about public service, education, accountability and earning trust before Election Day.
James Talarico was on his way to the next campaign stop.
Like most candidates running statewide in Texas, his schedule was packed. There were places to be, people to meet and miles of highway between them. When his campaign manager connected our call, Talarico had just climbed into a vehicle headed to another event.
Before answering the first question, he paused. The background noise settled. His pace slowed. For the next several minutes, the campaign trail gave way to conversation.
At Forward Times, we’ve spent decades covering the people, policies and elections shaping our community. We know there will be plenty of time between now and Election Day to compare campaign platforms, analyze television ads, dissect political attacks and report on fundraising numbers.
This wasn’t meant to be that conversation.
For 66 years, Forward Times has served Houston’s Black community as a trusted news publication committed to informing, engaging and empowering our community. We’ve never endorsed political candidates. Instead, our responsibility has always been to help readers make informed decisions for themselves.
That means asking questions before the campaign reaches its loudest moments.
Too often, Black communities meet candidates during the final stretch of an election, when mailboxes are full, campaign commercials dominate the airwaves and every conversation feels designed to secure a vote. By then, voters are often expected to make decisions about people they haven’t truly had the opportunity to know.
When Talarico’s campaign requested an interview with Forward Times, we saw an opportunity to do something our readers deserve: introduce a candidate before campaign season defines him.
It comes at a pivotal moment.
Texas is preparing for one of its most consequential U.S. Senate races in recent memory. Attorney General Ken Paxton’s decision to seek the seat has elevated what was already expected to be a high-profile contest. A deeply polarizing figure, Paxton has spent years at the center of criminal charges, ethics investigations, impeachment proceedings and national political debates while becoming one of the country’s most influential conservative attorneys general. Backed by a formidable political operation, his campaign unfolds as Texans grapple with issues ranging from public education and voting rights to reproductive rights, immigration and the role of the federal government.
Long before early voting begins Oct. 19 and Election Day arrives Nov. 3, voters deserve the chance to hear directly from the people asking to represent them.
So we started with the question we believed mattered most.
Who is James Talarico?
For many Forward Times readers, this was their first introduction to the four-term state representative, former public school teacher and Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate.
When asked what he hoped people would know about him, Talarico didn’t begin with campaign promises or partisan politics.
He began with his grandfather.
Growing up in South Texas, he said his grandfather, a Baptist preacher, taught him that loving God meant loving your neighbor. Years later, after becoming a middle school teacher in San Antonio, he came to view public service as another way to live out that lesson.
“I’m trying to love my neighbor through public policy,” he said.
When the conversation turned to his years in the classroom, Talarico laughed.
“Teaching middle school is the best preparation for politics,” he joked.
It was one of the lighter moments in the conversation, but it underscored a theme that surfaced repeatedly. Whether discussing housing affordability, child care, prescription drug costs or education, he repeatedly returned to the belief that government should improve people’s everyday lives.
That also made it the right moment to ask a question our community has wrestled with for years.
Many Black voters have watched candidates show up during campaign season only to disappear once the election is over. If he was asking people to trust him with their vote, what would make his relationship with Black Texans different?
For Talarico, earning trust begins long before Election Day.
“That’s why we are earning the trust and the respect and the votes of Black Texans now, not two weeks before Election Day,” he said.
He pointed to roundtables with Black business, community and elected leaders across Texas, a town hall at Prairie View A&M University, visits to historically Black colleges and universities, delivering this year’s commencement address at Paul Quinn College, and policy proposals addressing the state’s maternal mortality crisis, which disproportionately affects Black women.
That conversation naturally led us to another institution that has spent generations earning the trust of Black communities: the Black Press.
Next year, Black newspapers across America will celebrate 200 years of informing readers, documenting history and holding public officials accountable. We asked Talarico what responsibility candidates have when they are invited into those trusted spaces.
His answer was direct.
“I think the Black Press plays an indispensable role in our democracy,” he said, adding that Black-owned media helps communities make informed decisions while holding elected officials accountable. He also said campaigns have a responsibility to intentionally engage Black media and ensure their outreach reflects the communities they hope to represent.
Education naturally became the next focus, an issue that has shaped both Talarico’s career and his political identity.
Rather than viewing education solely through the lens of the classroom, he believes parents should also understand the policies shaping schools long before students walk through the front doors.
He framed education as both a policy issue and a moral one.
“My faith teaches me that God doesn’t make junk,” he said. “If a child is not achieving their potential, that is on us as the adults.”
That led us to Houston ISD and the Texas Education Agency’s takeover of the district, one of the most consequential education issues facing Houston families today.
It was one of the most direct questions of our conversation, and Talarico didn’t hesitate.
Asked what Houston families should take away from the changes, he argued the takeover should be viewed within the larger debate over the future of public education in Texas.
“There is a coordinated effort by some of the most powerful politicians, and some of the wealthiest mega donors to dismantle public education,” he said.
He argued the state takeover, coupled with the expansion of private school vouchers, reflects what he sees as a broader effort to privatize public education.
When the call ended, there were still questions on my list.
We never made it to diversity, equity and inclusion. We didn’t have time to discuss the changing face of Texas or what he hopes the next generation of leaders will inherit. Those are conversations worth having, and I hope we have the opportunity to revisit them.
Still, I hung up feeling that we had accomplished exactly what we set out to do.
Whether readers ultimately agree with James Talarico is entirely up to them. That’s never been our role.
Our role is to ask the questions our community deserves answered long before campaign commercials, political mailers and television ads begin telling the story for everyone else.
That’s also why this conversation mattered. James Talarico’s campaign asked to introduce him to Forward Times readers months before Texans begin casting ballots. He understood something every candidate should understand: trust isn’t built in the closing weeks of a campaign. It’s earned over time, through conversation, accountability and a willingness to answer questions.
This election carries enormous consequences for Texans. The person Texans elect to the United States Senate will help shape federal decisions on public education, voting rights, health care, judicial appointments, immigration, the economy and countless other issues that directly affect our community. Those decisions will outlast campaign slogans and election season.
Between now and November, Forward Times will continue creating those opportunities. We’ll ask difficult questions. We’ll examine records. We’ll provide context. And if candidates want the trust of our community, our pages and our platforms remain a place where they can earn it.
Then, as we have for 66 years, we’ll trust our readers to do what they’ve always done.
Make informed decisions for themselves.
