Every election cycle, like clockwork, some Democratic candidate rediscovers religion. Faith – the same force the Left spends most of its energy scrubbing from courthouses, classrooms, and public squares – suddenly becomes a handy rhetorical accessory once the campaign signs go up. Funny how that works.

And it’s always the same playbook. A Democrat running in a red state grabs a Bible verse, waves it around at a rally, and prays – perhaps for the first time in a while – that nobody examines the comparison too closely. The latest specimen of campaign-trail theology just dropped in Texas, and it’s a masterpiece of unearned self-mythology.

From The Hill:

Democrat James Talarico compared his campaign to biblical figure David, saying he was “going up against our own Goliaths,” ahead of his battleground contest against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in November’s elections.

“We are going up against our own Goliaths, those billionaire mega-donors, those corporate PACs, the entire Washington, D.C., establishment,” Talarico said at a campaign rally in Texas.

So James Talarico, the Democrat challenging Ken Paxton for a Texas Senate seat, wants Texans to see him as a humble shepherd boy with nothing but hope and a slingshot. There’s just one glaring problem with his little parable.

The $64 million shepherd boy

Talarico’s campaign reported $64 million in third-quarter donations – what his team calls the most money ever raised in a single Q3 by any Senate candidate in American history. Sixty-four million dollars. Let that figure sit where it belongs: right next to his claim of being an underdog.

Ken Paxton, the alleged Goliath here, raised $18 million during the same period. So the guy with nearly four times more campaign cash somehow cast himself as the scrappy little guy? That takes a special kind of audacity – or a special kind of obliviousness.

Yes, Elon Musk directed $158 million into a super PAC backing Paxton. But that’s independent expenditure money, not Paxton’s war chest. Talarico’s $64 million flows straight into his operation, fueled in large part by out-of-state liberal donors who couldn’t locate his district on a map but are desperate to paint Texas blue. David never marched into the Valley of Elah bankrolled by distant benefactors with an ideological agenda.

Scripture as a campaign prop

Here’s where it gets embarrassing. Talarico told the rally crowd: “This race reminds me of that story in the Bible of a shepherd boy who goes up against a giant for 40 days.” Slight problem – David didn’t fight Goliath for 40 days. Goliath taunted the Israelite army for 40 days. David showed up and ended it in an afternoon. It’s a meaningful distinction, and anyone with more than a passing familiarity with the text would know it.

But Talarico wasn’t going for accuracy. He was going for applause. “You are my slingshot,” he told supporters – the kind of line that sounds stirring if you don’t think about it for more than three seconds. Conservative Texans who actually crack open their Bibles on days other than Election Day tend to notice when a politician treats Scripture like a costume.

What’s really at stake in Texas

Strip away the theatrical Bible references and this race carries genuinely serious consequences. Cook Political Report shifted it to “toss-up” back in August. Decision Desk HQ gives Talarico a 54 percent chance of flipping the seat. Texas – the backbone of conservative electoral power in America – is in play.

Paxton carries baggage. His 2023 impeachment by the Texas state House is an undeniable blemish, though the state Senate acquitted him. He earned President Trump’s endorsement and unseated incumbent Senator John Cornyn, meaning Republican primary voters chose him deliberately and fully informed. The alternative is surrendering a Texas Senate seat to a Democrat who denounces the “Washington establishment” while riding every resource that same establishment provides.

The irony Talarico seems genuinely incapable of grasping could power a small city. He rails against billionaire mega-donors and corporate PACs while perched atop a historically unprecedented pile of campaign cash. He invokes a story about divine favor resting on the humble – while running the most lavishly funded “underdog” campaign in Senate history.

Texas voters have sat through this kind of sermon before. On November 3, they’ll have a chance to remind Talarico that you can’t purchase your way into a Bible story – and you certainly can’t purchase Texas.

Key Takeaways

• Talarico’s record $64 million Q3 haul completely demolishes his “underdog” David narrative.
• Democrats routinely weaponize Scripture in red states while sidelining faith elsewhere.
• Texas’s Senate seat is genuinely at risk, threatening core conservative electoral power.
• Voters should see past hollow biblical theatrics and protect the Lone Star State on November 3.

Sources: The Hill