In politics, a rule of thumb never fails: if you want to know who a candidate truly serves, skip the stump speech and follow the money. When a man running for United States Senate in the largest red state in America struggles to fill fundraising rooms in Houston or San Antonio but has Hollywood producers scrambling to host him, his loyalties are clear.
Democrats have chased the dream of flipping Texas blue for two decades. Every election cycle brings fever-pitch predictions, a tidal wave of coastal cash, and the same stubborn reality: they import candidates whose values were assembled west of the Pacific Coast Highway. Instead of building genuine support on the ground, they shop in zip codes where a bottle of wine costs more than a week’s groceries in Lubbock.
Texas Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico is set to travel to Los Angeles in September for a high-dollar fundraiser with Hollywood celebrities, according to a report. Politico reported that “Lost” co-creator Damon Lindelof and his wife, Heidi, will host a fundraiser for Talarico in Brentwood on Sept. 10. Tickets start at $500 and go as high as $13,500. This marks Talarico’s second Hollywood fundraiser in months; the first was held in June and described by Page Six Hollywood as a “glitzy Dem fundraiser” at the home of Hollywood producer Peter Chernin.
Two glitzy Hollywood galas in three months—one at a major film producer’s mansion, the next at a Brentwood estate belonging to the creator of the TV show about people stranded on a mysterious island. Talarico seems lost when it comes to finding donors in his own state.
According to first-quarter campaign finance records, roughly 50% of Talarico’s funds came from outside Texas. Half his war chest is assembled by donors with no stake in whether Texas roads get fixed or the border stays secure. The candidate wants to represent 30 million Texans but half his financial lifeline runs through area codes that wouldn’t know Amarillo from Albuquerque.
The geographic contrast on September 10th is almost too perfect: While Talarico works the room in Brentwood, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton will be in Dallas at the Republican National Committee’s midterm convention alongside President Trump and fellow Republicans. That same evening, Barack Obama headlines a Democratic House fundraiser in New York.
The money trail is damning enough. Then there’s the elaborate costume Talarico puts on when facing actual Texas voters. RNC spokesperson Zach Kraft didn’t mince words: “It is no surprise that James Talarico feels more comfortable in crazy liberal California than when his handlers force him to wear a fake cowboy hat and rent a pickup truck to pretend to be a ‘real’ Texan.”
About the pickup truck: Talarico’s viral campaign ad featured him behind the wheel of a Dodge Ram—but he doesn’t actually own or drive it. A rented prop for a manufactured image. You’d think someone running for Senate in Texas would at least bother to buy the truck.
Underneath the costume sits a progressive state lawmaker who has called God “nonbinary,” claimed there are six sexes, and declared that reducing meat consumption is “existential” to fighting climate change. Those aren’t Texas values—they’re Brentwood values—and now we know exactly where he goes to collect on them.
Louisiana Senator John Kennedy framed the issue with directness: “Mr. Talarico has been raising bucketloads of money from California, Hollywood.” Kennedy urged President Trump to help close the fundraising gap, warning bluntly, “We in the Senate don’t have the money budgeted for Texas; we need help from the president.”
Trump has stepped up, promising significant time campaigning in Texas and giving Talarico a new nickname—“Talafreako”—because, as Trump put it, “he is a little freaky.” Subtle? Not at all. Effective? Probably.
A Fox News poll from July showed Talarico clinging to a 51-48 lead over Paxton—a margin within the error. This race is genuinely competitive, and every dollar matters. The difference? Where those dollars originate.
The cowboy hat comes off when cameras stop rolling—but flight manifests to LAX don’t lie. Texans have always had sharp instincts for spotting a dude ranch pretender. Come November, the choice is straightforward: a senator who answers to the people of Texas—or one whose real constituents live in Brentwood.
