This March, James Talarico bested Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) in the Texas Democratic primaries for U.S. Senate. Now, he will face off against either Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) or Attorney General Ken Paxton in the generals. Regardless of his opponent, Talarico may have a good shot at winning. Campaign filings show that he has already raised $27 million in 2026 alone.
Carlos Eduardo Espina, nonprofit director, activist, and content creator, joins Jen to share what he saw during Talarico’s primary campaign and what other Democrats ought to learn from it. Significantly, Espina notes that voters are looking for candidates who can define a new vision for American politics. It is increasingly clear that people have grown weary of “business as usual” politics.
Carlos Eduardo Espina is a nonprofit director, activist, and content creator who works to uplift the immigrant community through social media content, community organizing, and charitable causes. Espina leads the nonprofit organization “Migrantes Unidos” and his community center in Houston, Texas. He is the most followed Latino activist in the United States.
Jen Rubin
Hi, this is Jen Rubin, Editor-in-Chief of the Contrarian. We are thrilled to have back with us the man of the hour, the man of the week, the man, maybe, of the year, Carlos Eduardo Espina. He has the largest audience, mostly Spanish-speaking, in the United States, you have about 12 million worldwide, I think, Carlos? And you are everywhere. Congratulations, and welcome back!
Carlos Espina
No, thank you very much! I love coming on here and speaking with your audience, I feel like it’s always such a great time, so anytime you want to have me on, just let me know.
Jen Rubin
We are thrilled to have you. You played a huge role in James Talarico’s win in Texas. Tell us what you did, and the response you got.
Carlos Espina
We were gonna meet originally at the LULAC conference. We were both scheduled to speak at, I think it was in August of last year, so his team reached out to me about meeting there, but then he actually wasn’t able to make it because of the quorum break, so we still stayed in touch, got to meet in September of last year. you know, his team’s like, we just want you to meet him. We think when you talk to him, you’re gonna like him, and essentially, that’s what happened. I spoke to him, liked him, you know, asked him, hey, what does your outreach look like in Spanish? And at that point, he really didn’t have much going on, you know, media-wise in Spanish.
So, you know, we started just kind of collaborating together, helped him launch his Spanish social media, got him up to, like, 50-something thousand followers in a day. Then, you know, started doing some other content, not really because he was asking me to, I was just, you know, pay attention to his campaign and be like, wow, he got a thousand people at this place, let me react to this, you know? He just proposed this, he’s saying this, and it was very natural, you know, just had a great relationship, spoke at some of his campaign events, and I think the biggest part of what I did, we actually kind of collaborated on a Spanish ad. So, you know, they did their first Spanish ad, and then I was like, hey, you know, I think it would be cool if I was in one, you know, I think it would resonate a lot more with people, and they liked the idea, we tested it, and they did super well, and they ran it all the way through the election.
But then more than that, it was also just kind of like, you know, bouncing ideas back and forth, this is what people are saying, you know, having that connection with the community, which obviously he is very good at, you know, listening to people and, you know, just hearing what their concerns are. So it just kind of became more of a friendship, and I’m really happy to support him.
Jen Rubin
It was amazingly successful, and the turnout of new voters, of young voters, of Hispanic voters was huge. What could you advise other Democrats to do? You had so much success with those three groups, some of which are duplicative of one another, a lot of new Hispanic voters, a lot of young Hispanic voters. What advice would you give to other Democrats?
Carlos Espina
I think right now we’re in a moment, right, where it’s very clear people don’t want Donald Trump, they don’t want Trump’s vision for America, right? But the winning candidates are the ones who define what their vision is for America, right? A lot of people are like, yeah, you know, I don’t want to, you know, continue with Trump, I want to vote in a different way, but I also don’t want to go back to politics as usual, as you will hear, you know, the establishment way of doing things, and not necessarily saying, hey, doesn’t mean… you know, people correlate that with, oh, people don’t want the same people as always, which, you know, in some cases is true, but a lot of times it’s you know, what is the good things that the Democratic Party has done in the last, you know, 20 years, and what can we salvage from that?
But what also needs to be modified, and what is, you know, looking inwards look like? So if you hear, you know, Tallarico’s speeches, I think what, you know, a lot of people like is he’ll recognize, hey, you know, Democrats, we failed on this, or, you know, the previous administrations were not good on this, and that’s kind of what people want to hear, you know, saying, hey. I want to change, but I want to go in a different direction than maybe we’ve tried in the past, and I think the best candidates are the ones who are able to lay out that vision in a way that makes sense to people, but in a way that also people, understand.
Jen Rubin
Right. He talks about how it’s not left versus right, but bottom versus top, but it’s interesting how he phrases it. He doesn’t attack people who are rich. He simply says they need to start paying their fair share, that it’s not fair to people at the middle and the bottom. Talk to us about how that resonates with, your audience. Do they appreciate that? Because, like anyone, you know, people do want to succeed, they do want to have the aspiration to get wealthy, but people feel like the system is broken, and that people at the top are really exploiting them.
Carlos Espina
You know, well, I think this is going back to the traps that the Democratic Party fell to in the past that people want to move away from. One of them is, you know, I obviously, as a Latino, recognize the importance of identity in politics, but at the end of the day, we can’t generalize everyone because, oh, you have money, or because you’re this race or that race. At the end of the day, we have to evaluate people for who they are and what they do, and I think his message resonates with people because, hey, the reality is. you know, at least the people I speak to, a lot of them, they want to be rich, you know, and they aspire to be that. But at the same time, there’s ways of doing that morally, right?
And so I think what Talarico’s been able to do is say, you know, I’m going to speak to you, I don’t care, you know, who you are, where you come from, you know, your economic status, your race, etc. I understand that all of us have different needs, but at the same time, we have a lot more that unites us than divides us, and that’s why his message becomes, you know, it’s not really if you’re a Democrat, if you’re a Republican, if you’re this, this, and that, it’s like, it’s a bigger message of, hey, we’re all, you know, struggling to make ends meet, we’re all facing the same things, we’re all, you know, having the same issues, and so how can we have a more unified message?
And I think he’s been able to, you know, recognize people’s diversity and people’s, you know, identities, but at the same time, not reducing his political positions to saying, oh, this person is good because of this label, or they’re bad because of this other label, you know? Politics is a lot more complex. It’s not a black or white issue. It’s like, there’s a lot of gray area when it comes to evaluating people and when it comes to policy, and I think he just gets it, if you want to put it that way.
Jen Rubin
One thing he does better than any other Democrat I’ve seen is talk sincerely about his faith, and about what it means for him to be a Christian. How important is that, and how did that resonate with your audience, many of whom, not all, are Catholic, and may not be from the same denomination as he is, but are deeply religious people of faith?
Carlos Espina
Yeah, well, I think that’s another, you know, going back to the analysis of the Democratic Party, I think, obviously, I’m not gonna say, hey, if you’re, you know, atheist, then you should be pushing religion. Like, it has to be natural to you, but obviously, I mean, this is a guy who it comes very natural to, and we also shouldn’t shy away from, you know, hey, if I believe, you know, poor people should be fed, and you know, immigrants should be held because of my religious upbringing and my religious understanding, well, you shouldn’t shy away from that. You should lean into that, because there’s millions of people all over the country who think the same way, you know?
I talk to people every day, and you ask them, what do you think about this moment? You know, it’s immoral, what’s going on. I mean, we’ve seen the back and forth, maybe we’ll get into it, right? Between Trump and the Pope. I mean, this is… these are things we’re seeing that are much bigger than, you know, left versus right, or Democrat versus Republican. This is… you know, what are your morals, what are your beliefs, and are you a general, or you consider yourself to be a good person or not? And I think that framing has really resonated with people.
We’re like, hey, you know, I’m… I’m kind of, you know, don’t want to identify as a Democrat, but at the same time, like, hey, you know, I’m a pretty religious person, and this guy’s speaking to me in a way that I understand, and I think that’s just so powerful, and we really need to continue to you know, really lean into that religious messaging, especially because I feel like, you know, Republicans have really co-opted, right, what it means to be religious, and a lot of people say, oh, well, I’m religious, so therefore I have to vote Republican, and it’s not necessarily the case, right? So I think he’s made a good argument for religious people of why we should see the world in the way that we do as progressives, as Democrats. And I think it’s really stuck with a lot of people.
Jen Rubin
I think you’re absolutely right that when you get away from right, left, and you talk about right and wrong, that’s when people feel like they can identify with you, no matter what their background is. I did want to talk to you about Donald Trump and Vance’s Language with the Pope. I’m not Catholic, but I was deeply offended. This is kind of somewhere between crazy and just, you know, outrageous. How has that resonated in your audience? Do they just brush it off because they always knew he was, you know, a ridiculous person? Or has that kind of brought home to them that he really is a fraud, that he’s using religion, he’s using them, kind of to just advance his own perspective, his own power?
Carlos Espina
Yeah, so, I mean, here we have different subsections of the community, right? There’s the people who… I’ve always known Donald Trump’s a disaster, which is what I would consider myself to be. Then there’s the people, you know, who voted for him, but already were regretting it, you know, before all of this happened. Then there’s the people who still supported him, and now are like, hey, okay, this is going too far. And then there’s the bigger audience, which is the people who generally, you know, are not very political, they don’t have any super strong… I mean, they know that there’s things about Trump that they don’t like, but it’s just like, they’re not super, super strong about it, and they’re super strong about this, you know?
It’s like, you can disagree on, you know, policy, and foreign policy, and the economy, but, like, I think for a lot of people, there’s a hard line when it comes to religion of, like, okay, you know, this is not… going back to what I said earlier, this is not, like, a conservative or progressive thing. This is, like. do you just respect other people? Like, do you respect God? Do you respect religion? Do you respect, you know, I just, like, other human beings in general, I don’t know how else to put it. And so I have noticed a lot of those people who are, like, you know, not really trying Trumpy, not really super fans of him, but also not, like, super strong feelings against him, are not like, okay, yeah, this guy’s completely lost the plot. So it’s moved a lot of more of that middle ground.
Obviously, there’s a segment which is smaller every day, but the segment of people who… you know, as he said many years ago, he could shoot someone and they would still support him. I mean, those people are always gonna exist, but I think the vast majority are now like, okay, yeah, this is… this is way too much.
Jen Rubin
I think that’s exactly right. It’s about just simple respect, and, you know, it’s whether it’s disrespectful, or you think it’s blasphemous, it is, really kind of, bracing to see the president behave this way. Pretty soon, James Talarico’s gonna have an opponent. It’s either gonna be John Cornyn or Paxton. What does he have to do between now and the general election to continue to build his audience, to get his message out? What are the things he’s working on, and what do you think he needs to do to really get him all the way home, now that he has a general audience, not just a Democratic audience?
Carlos Espina
Yeah, well, I think he’s been very smart since the beginning, saying, you know, there’s a lot of people, like, oh, I want this person to be the Republican nominee, or the other one, because they’ll be easier to beat. his message has always been clear, you know, no matter who we’re up against, I think the message stays the same, and I think that’s exactly what people want to hear, because when you have politicians who mold their message to fit whatever campaign they’re running. you know, people are like, okay, who is this guy?
But I think people have appreciated Talarico’s consistency on the issues, and, you know, he’s gonna run a campaign, his style, whether it’s against Cornyn, whether it’s against Paxton, whether it’s, you know, against whoever, and so I think that’s really resonated with people. But I think he’s also doing the important work of just being on the ground and really getting to understand the community, in the sense that right now he’s… many people are like, oh, he’s kind of disappeared, he’s laying low, he’s doing a lot of groundwork in the sense of, you know, what are people hearing, what are people feeling, so he can better inform his message and his policy.
And I think we’re gonna see, you know, once this Republican primary ends, which I think Tallarico’s been very smart in just kind of laying back and letting them go at each other, I think we’re gonna see. a very, versatile campaign, and I say versatile, because you never know what they’re gonna try to pull up on him, you know, what they’re gonna attack him for, and you know, but I think this is a guy who… I mean, the worst things they could find, right, were, like. woke tweets from 2020 or something, like, I think he’s a pretty, you know, I think he’s a pretty solid guy, right? Where, like, he’s prepared for whatever they throw his way, but a lot of it will just depend, like, you never know what these people are capable of making up, what they’re capable of doing, but I think he’s just gonna stay consistently on message, and that’s what people are are gonna like, because, you know, on the other hand, you have… well, you have Paxton, who’s just… I mean, we don’t really want to get into how disastrous he is. I think anyone watching this is aware of that.
But then you have John Cornyn, right, who tries to play both sides, where he’s… one day he’s a moderate, the other day he’s a hardcore MAGA Republican, and, like, people don’t like that. It’s like, whatever your views are, you know, you stick to them. In any case, I think that’s why people like Paxton, you know, he’s a disaster, but he’s consistently a disaster. You know, it’s like, okay, you know, at least I can kind of respect that. But yeah, I think Tallarico’s just gonna stick to his message, and he’s gonna, you know, speak to people, meet them where they’re at, and whoever else is on the other side, that’s the least of it.
Jen Rubin
One of the other factors going on here is, and Democrats have had this problem, Republicans have it too, is that there are a lot of old people who have been in office their entire lives.
And whether it’s Paxton or whether it’s Cornyn, these guys are old enough to be James’ parents, frankly, and they’ve been around for forever, and they’ve kind of become creatures of Washington. How strong is the sentiment that these people have gotten out of touch with Texas. I don’t think of John Cornyn now, really, as being a Texan, or even Ken Paxton. They’re so focused on Washington national politics. Is that something that, is felt in, Texas, and that people want someone who’s one of them, who’s in the community, who’s a little bit younger and fresher, not a professional politician.
Carlos Espina
Yeah, and I don’t think that’s just in Texas, it’s all around the country, right? People are looking for a different way of doing politics, and the way it’s like, the reality is, you know, people have been in politics for 15, 20, 30 plus years, they’ve… not to say that they’ve completely lost, you know, the connection they once maybe had with the community, but… you know, they move in different spaces. They’re not interacting with people in the same way. They’re not, you know, forced to think about, hey, what is my community thinking, doing, and feeling?
And so I think— more than the age aspect—is people want someone who they feel understands them, and the reality is, a lot of Texans are starting to realize that, you know, neither John Cornyn nor Ken Paxton understand me. You know, they understand their rich friends, they understand, you know, the people who are financing their campaigns, but they don’t understand me, and I think that is really what’s making the difference right now. I mean, even if you look at you know, the crowd size that each is pulling. You would say, oh, Talarico, well, okay, he’s getting people in Houston and Austin. I mean, he’s gone to some of the most rural areas of the state, and is still pulling massive crowds, and obviously not everyone who goes to those events maybe is gonna support him later on, but at least they’re listening to him, and I think the first step to converting, you know, people back to the Democratic side is for them to listen to our message, because the reality is. for many years now, people have just completely tuned out the Democrats.
They say, hey, well, they have nothing, you know, interesting for me, and I’m just gonna completely ignore them, and now they’re like, okay, well, maybe there is, you know, a way of doing this a little bit different. And it goes back to what I was mentioning earlier. It’s like, he’s presenting, yes, a democratic, progressive platform, but in a different way that’s been done before. You know, different ideas. different ways of achieving those ideas, and I think that’s what’s connecting with voters. And like I said, that’s something that’s happening all over the country. People want a different way of doing politics.
Jen Rubin
So important. Even if you don’t win in a rural area, if you lower the margin, those people can’t make out the majority. And if you don’t show up, people don’t know who you are. Last topic for you. We have seen, obviously, the horrific abuses of ice and the damage it’s done to communities, but it’s hard to get through a day and not see something about Texas, but on the economic front. Restaurants are suffering. Construction is suffering. Agriculture is suffering. How big an economic problem has that been? And do you think people who are business people, or people who are more financially minded might be attracted to a more reasonable message that James is offering because of the impact it’s having on the economy?
Carlos Espina
Yeah, I think that’s the biggest thing, right? It’s like, people support certain ideas in theory until they realize that those ideas don’t really work, and that they’re affecting them, you know? One of them being, oh, mass deportations, you know, might sound flashy, you know, in the media, until you realize, hey, mass deportations means getting rid of people in your community who are working hard, paying taxes, contributing, and then you’re like, oh, hold up, I didn’t mean, like, that kind of mass deportations!
You know, we’re seeing a lot of that, but it’s happening all over, and I think the Trump administration’s even realizing, you know, yesterday, the news secretary, Mark Wayne Mullen, is like, hey, we’re gonna continue doing, like, ICE stuff, but a lot more discreetly, you know, we don’t want to be so much in the news, we don’t want people, like. because there’s two things, right? There’s one, like, the real impact of people who are actually being detained and, you know, being deported, but then there’s also the fear aspect of it, of, like, we have the World Cup who is coming up, and, like, there’s a lot of people who are not detained, but they’re like, I don’t want to be detained, so I’m just not gonna go, you know?
Obviously, what is the economic impact of all the people who have already been rounded up and deported and everything? but then the other people who have changed their habits because of what is happening, you know? People are going out less, they’re spending less, and so they’re still here in the U.S, but their economic activity has been greatly reduced, or maybe they’re just, you know… it’s hard to say they’re not going to work because people are still working regardless of everything, but they’re doing so in a way, you know, that’s not, like, moving the economy as much. They’re not going, you know, to the mall after work to spend money, and you know, if they’re not spending money at the mall, then, you know, the mall is suffering, and they’re not spending money at the movie theaters. The movie theaters, you know, it’s an all-encompassing thing. And so I’ve seen that, you know, in Texas, I’ve seen that all over.
Just go to any, I mean, major city, and one of the good ways that I like to do is, whenever you get in a taxi or Uber, whatever you use, just ask them, you know, how have things been recently? And most people in most cities will tell you, hey, you know, tourism is down, people moving around is down, the economy is getting tougher, and so… people might not necessarily be progressive Democrats, but they’re like, hey, you know, things… objectively were better before because I had more money in my pocket, you know?
People were, you know, just happier all around, and not to say everything was perfect, but now we’re in a disaster, and that’s kind of at the national level, what you’re seeing of this. every special election, every, you know, from little municipalities all the way to, you know, special congressional elections, we’re seeing Democrats overperform, and the reason why is the environment that Trump’s created is just one that’s not working for people.
Jen Rubin
Absolutely. So, if people want to find out more about James, or they want to join the campaign, or they want to go to an event, what do they do? Where do they go?
Carlos Espina
I would say, what I really like about James is he’s a very advanced technological guy. He has a very good and functioning website, which you used to say, like, okay, that’s kind of obvious, but you, you know, there’s a lot of candidates who don’t have very good website, good social media, so I think, you know, obviously if you go to his social media profiles, James Talarico, you’re gonna find all this stuff in his bio, you know, all these links and stuff, but his website itself, you know, what I’ve enjoyed is you’ll find on there not just events that he’s actually hosting, but, like, other events that members in the community are hosting for him, you know, like block walks, things like that,
And I would really just encourage as many people you know, to get involved, and if you’re out of the state, well, obviously, donations go a long way, because we know that Texas is a very, very, very big state, and a very expensive state, and when you’re up against whoever the Republicans are gonna be, we know they’re gonna be well-funded, they’re gonna have deep pockets, and so, any kind of support helps, and yeah, I think, you know, together, we can… I’m not gonna get overly optimistic and guarantee we’re gonna win, but I think you know, it’s… we have a really good shot, and I’ll leave it at that.
Jen Rubin
Money’s not everything, but it is a sign of enthusiasm, and he raised $27 million.
Carlos Espina
Yeah, I saw that, I was like, wow!
Jen Rubin
And that’s not PAC money, folks. That’s moderate gifts, that’s small donors, so that is a measure, I think, of the enthusiasm that he’s generated. Well, we are incredibly excited at the concert about this race. We’re going to check in with you. Best of luck, and we will keep an eye on Texas. And the Republicans are gonna have to pick either the guy who turns himself into a pretzel, or the guy who’s really one of the most extreme MAGA types in the country. So, whichever it is, I think it’ll be a fun general election matchup. Thank you, Carlos. For sharing it with us. Thank you for visiting. We can’t wait to have you back and check in on the campaign as things progress.
Carlos Espina
Yeah, no, we’ll be in touch. Thanks so much, and have a good day, all my friends at the Contrarian.
Jen Rubin
You too, take care, bye-bye.
