Texas Democrat James Talarico celebrates winning Senate race

History was made tonight. James Tallarico defeating Ken Paxton the first time a Democrat has done so in the Senate since 1988. Let's listen in. We just took back Texas. We just proved that all the money in the world is no match for the people of Texas. We just showed that a politics of division is no match for a politics of love. And we just sent a message to every billionaire megadonor, every trillionaire megadonor, every corrupt defender of this broken political system. In this state, in this country, power belongs to the people. I'm reminded of that story from scripture of a shepherd boy who goes up against a giant. For 40 days, Goliath teases and taunts. On the day of the fight, he shows up in full armor. He's carrying so many weapons, he needs someone else to carry his shield. In this race, we went up against our own Goliaths. The richest man in the world, the most powerful man in the world, and the entire Washington, D.C. establishment. David. David wasn't as big or as strong as Goliath. He didn't have as many weapons, but he had hope. He had faith, and he had a slingshot. You were my slingshot. The people of Texas were my slingshot. And tonight, and tonight, we defeated Goliath. Scripture has taught me. My own life has taught me. Always bet on the underdog. Before I was a politician, I was a public school teacher. I taught language arts at Rhodes Middle School on the west side of San Antonio. And as I always say, teaching middle school is the best preparation for politics. The west side is a beautiful, historic neighborhood. It's also one of the poorest zip codes in the entire state of Texas. Every day, my students struggled heroically to overcome a rigged system. My students weren't just kids. They were survivors, dreamers, fighters. I saw it in their eyes every day, this unshakable resolve, this unconquered spirit. Growing up, I saw that same fight in my mother, a preacher's daughter from Laredo who left home at 19. She... She moved up to Austin and met my birth father, a 21-year-old high school dropout whose drinking problem sometimes led to violence. One night, he became abusive again, but that night, that night, my mother's love rose to meet that abuse. She packed all our stuff into her little Ford Escort. She drove me to the hotel where she worked. She begged the manager to let us stay in one of the rooms until we found this little apartment in East Austin. There wasn't room for a nursery, so I slept in a crib in her closet. And she was so proud of that closet. She decorated it with pictures and toys. No one was going to tell her it wasn't a nursery. Always, always bet on the underdog. We We're the underdogs in this race. We went up against nearly 40 years of doubt and disillusionment. We went up against more than $300 million, more than any Senate campaign in American history. We went up against all the negative ads, smear campaigns, foreign bots, and AI deep fakes that money can buy. Those attacks were the final howls of a dying establishment. The death rattle Of a status quo that knows its days are numbered. They played dirty because they were desperate. But we never lost hope. We never listening in on this is James Tallarico, the Texas senator elect. This is the first time a Democrat has been elected to the Senate in Texas since 1988. The gubernatorial race also going Democratic tonight to Gina Hinojosa, Texas Governor Greg Abbott conceding earlier tonight. That is also historic. The last time a Democrat was in the governor's office there in Texas was in the mid 90s.