Texas State Rep. James Talarico (D–Round Rock) will visit Amarillo on Thursday, Oct. 30, as part of his statewide “Talarico for Texas” U.S. Senate campaign tour, following a week of new endorsements and a straw poll win from one of the state’s largest Hispanic Democratic groups.
The free, public rally will begin at 5:30 p.m. at The Shop Event Venue, 1585 SE 58th Ave., with doors opening at 5 p.m. No ticket is required.
The Amarillo stop — Talarico’s first major campaign event in the Panhandle — will follow appearances earlier in the week in El Paso and Fort Worth, part of a 30-city tour aimed at connecting the 36-year-old lawmaker with voters across all regions of Texas.
“I’m coming to Amarillo because West Texas voices deserve to be heard in Washington,” Talarico said in an Oct. 27 campaign release. “This isn’t an Austin campaign — it’s a Texas campaign.”
The Amarillo rally comes just days after more than 100 elected officials from across Texas endorsed Talarico’s Senate bid, including federal, state, county and city leaders, as well as school board members and Democratic Party chairs.
“I’m honored to have the trust and support of more than 100 local elected officials from every corner of Texas,” Talarico said. “From El Paso to Beaumont, from our biggest cities to our smallest towns, these leaders know their communities best, and I’ll be listening to them every step of the way as we build a Texas that actually works for working people.”
That announcement followed Talarico’s win in the State Tejano Democrats’ 2026 straw poll, held during the group’s annual statewide convention in San Antonio. The Tejano Democrats — the largest Hispanic Democratic organization in Texas — selected Talarico as their preferred U.S. Senate candidate in an unofficial vote of members representing multiple regions.
“James Talarico has fought for la cultura y el orgullo of Tejanos his entire career,” Cinia Montoya, president of the Coastal Bend Tejano Democrats, said in the announcement. “We need a senator who will get Texas back on track for our families — someone who funds our schools, lowers health care costs, and stands for justice over fear. James Talarico is that leader — he delivers.”
Talarico’s campaign has framed the Amarillo event as part of an effort to engage voters in regions often overlooked by statewide Democrats. His legislative priorities — covering public school funding, insulin affordability and rural health care access — have been central themes of his statewide tour.
Many Panhandle school districts are facing budget deficits and difficulty retaining teachers, challenges Talarico has cited as emblematic of what he calls “systemic neglect of rural and West Texas communities.”
Talarico was first elected to the Texas House of Representatives in 2018, flipping a Republican seat in Round Rock that had been held by the GOP for nearly four decades. A former middle school English teacher and Harvard-educated minister, he has built a reputation as a progressive lawmaker with bipartisan legislative results.
He has authored bills capping insulin costs at $25 a month, expanding access to Canadian prescription drugs, increasing school funding and directing $300 million toward school-based mental health services.
His campaign reported $6.2 million raised within three weeks of launching — the largest opening quarter for a Texas Senate race in state history. Recent polling shows him in strong contention among Democratic primary voters, with 25% support in the latest University of Houston–Texas Southern University poll conducted in October, trailing only undeclared candidate Jasmine Crockett at 31%.
Event details:
This article originally appeared on Amarillo Globe-News: Talarico to make first Amarillo visit as part of campaign tour across Texas
Reporting by Michael Cuviello, Amarillo Globe-News / Amarillo Globe-News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
