Early voting underway in closely watched Texas Senate Democratic primary

+ Accessibility links Skip to main content Keyboard shortcuts for audio player Open Navigation Menu Newsletters NPR Shop Close Navigation Menu Home News Expand/collapse submenu for News National World Politics Business Health Science Climate Race Culture Expand/collapse submenu for Culture Books Movies Television Pop Culture Food Art & Design Performing Arts Life Kit Gaming Music Expand/collapse submenu for Music The Best Music of 2025 All Songs Considered Tiny Desk Music Features Live Sessions Podcasts & Shows Expand/collapse submenu for Podcasts & Shows Daily Morning Edition Weekend Edition Saturday Weekend Edition Sunday All Things Considered Fresh Air Up First Featured Embedded The NPR Politics Podcast Throughline Trump's Terms More Podcasts & Shows Search Newsletters NPR Shop The Best Music of 2025 All Songs Considered Tiny Desk Music Features Live Sessions About NPR Diversity Support Careers Press Ethics Early voting underway in closely watched Texas Senate Democratic primary Early voting began this week in the Texas Senate Democratic primary election, and one candidate got a fundraising bump from talk show host Stephen Colbert. Politics Early voting underway in closely watched Texas Senate Democratic primary February 19, 20264:51 AM ET Heard on Morning Edition From The Texas Newsroom By Blaise Gainey , Leila Fadel Early voting underway in closely watched Texas Senate Democratic primary Listen &middot; 3:40 3:40 Transcript Toggle more options Download Embed Embed "> <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/nx-s1-5712618/nx-s1-9654972" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player"> Transcript Early voting began this week in the Texas Senate Democratic primary election, and one candidate got a fundraising bump from talk show host Stephen Colbert. Sponsor Message LEILA FADEL, HOST: Early voting started this week in Texas for some closely watched U.S. Senate primaries. On Monday, we heard about the Republican side of that race, including incumbent Senator John Cornyn and the state's Attorney General Ken Paxton. Today, we hear about two of the Democratic primary candidates, Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett, and state representative James Talarico. The Texas Newsroom's Blaise Gainey is here to break this all down. Good morning.

+ BLAISE GAINEY, BYLINE: Morning. FADEL: So there's been a lot of attention on Talarico this week because of the interview that he did with Stephen Colbert, and Colbert says CBS lawyers told him not to air it. So he talked about that on the show and put the interview on YouTube. CBS disputes his account. But has this controversy around the interview been a big boost for Talarico? GAINEY: I mean, it's been a huge boost. It's actually outstanding. That interview now has over 7 million views on "The Late Show's" YouTube page. The campaign yesterday came out and said they've raised $2.5 million since it aired on YouTube, and Talarico is now using the situation as fodder for his campaign, saying that it's another sign that the current administration will go to any level to try and prevent messaging that isn't in line with their talking points from being aired. FADEL: Now, one of the main questions that arose over this interview was an FCC rule about equal time for political candidates, which the current commissioner says he's considering applying to late-night shows. That hasn't applied in the past. So what has Talarico's main opponent, Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett, said about this so far? GAINEY: Yeah. The Congresswoman is mostly still gathering details, but on the briefing with Jen Psaki on MS NOW, she said it was ultimately beneficial for Colbert and her opponent Talarico. (SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING) JASMINE CROCKETT: It probably gave my opponent the - a boost he was looking for. So I think it's probably better that he didn't get on and that they went straight to streaming because we know that when we resist and when we know that it seems like they're trying to change the rules and bend the need to this president, that it backfires in a historic fashion. GAINEY: And also, Crockett said she wasn't approached by "The Late Show," but she's been on the show multiple times. Her and Colbert both noted that. FADEL: Right. So she's referencing the FCC trying to apply this rule. How are Crockett and Talarico doing before all this? GAINEY: Right before this started, Crockett was ahead by eight points on Talarico. That was a recent poll that came out from earlier this month. But who knows now? I mean, because of the views and since this happened sort of right as early voting started in the state, it could sort of change people's minds in the last minute. FADEL: After all of this focus on a single interview of one candidate, I mean, talk about the bigger picture. Do Democrats even have a chance to win in Texas? I mean, Republicans have won every statewide race there for three decades. GAINEY: Yeah. I mean, if you ask them, of course they do. And here's how Talarico describes his chances in that interview on the YouTube channel for 'The Late Show With Stephen Colbert." (SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "THE LATE SHOW WITH STEPHEN COLBERT") JAMES TALARICO: I think that Donald Trump is worried that we're about to flip Texas. (CHEERING) TALARICO: And, Stephen, this is the party that ran against cancel culture, and now they're trying to control what we watch. GAINEY: Yeah. And he's not exaggerating. Trump's approval numbers are low. And historically, during a midterm election, the party in power doesn't really gain seats. So this is the time for Democrats to try and flip seats, even in a state as red as Texas. FADEL: That's Texas Newsroom's Blaise Gainey in Austin, Texas. Thank you, Blaise. GAINEY: Thanks for having me. Copyright &copy; 2026 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. Accuracy and availability of NPR transcripts may vary. Transcript text may be revised to correct errors or match updates to audio. Audio on npr.org may be edited after its original broadcast or publication. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record. Facebook Flipboard Email Read & Listen Home News Culture Music Podcasts & Shows Connect Newsletters Facebook Instagram Press Public Editor Corrections Transcripts Contact & Help About NPR Overview Diversity NPR Network Accessibility Ethics Finances Get Involved Support Public Radio Sponsor NPR NPR Careers NPR Shop NPR Extra Terms of Use Privacy Your Privacy Choices Text Only Sponsor Message Sponsor MessageBecome an NPR sponsor (function () { var loadPageJs = function () { (window.webpackJsonp=window.webpackJsonp||[]).push([[22],{1167:function(e,n,c){e.exports=c(323)},323:function(e,n,c){"use strict";c.p=NPR.serverVars.webpackPublicPath,Promise.all([c.e(1),c.e(2),c.e(3),c.e(4),c.e(84)]).then(function(e){c(3),c(1140),c(116),c(94),c(52),c(493),c(239),c(102),c(104),c(1141),c(143),c(1142),c(238),c(48),c(1143)}.bind(null,c)).catch(c.oe)}},[[1167,0]]]); }; if (document.readyState === 'complete') { loadPageJs(); } else { window.addEventListener('load', function load() { window.removeEventListener('load', load, false); loadPageJs(); }); } })();