With midterms rapidly approaching, polling continues to indicate that Democratic senate candidate James Talarico could win, flipping the state blue for the first time in decades. And, according to “The View” host Alyssa Farah Griffin, that possibility is “a mess of the president’s own making.”
In the lead-up to these elections, President Trump has encouraged Republican voters to vote like it’s him on the ballot, and pushed the nickname of “Tala-Freako” for Talarico, after endorsing Ken Paxton. Nonetheless, as host Sunny Hostin pointed out, eight pollsters had Talarico ahead of Paxton as of September.
“I mean, the fact that Texas is in play speaks to the moment right now, that people are so frustrated with the current leadership,” Farah Griffin said. “A Democrat hasn’t won statewide in Texas in over 30 years. I still think it could go either direction for Paxton or Talarico, but this is kind of a perfect storm, and it’s a mess of the president’s own making.”
“So John Cornyn, the incumbent Republican senator, had been in this seat for 20 years. He was popular,” she continued explaining. “He would have been doing pretty well, cruising to re-election right now, but [Trump] insisted on backing Ken Paxton, an ethically plagued guy with the charisma of a shoe, who was not even liked in his own state, who Donald Trump regularly criticizes.”
Indeed, in each endorsement of Paxton publicly, Trump has made jokes about how the man talks and dresses. As a result, Farah Griffin pointed out, Paxton is “now five points behind James Talarico.” That said, the ABC host praised the Texas Democrat on his own merits as well.
“I’ve got to give credit to James Talarico, who is a very good candidate,” she said. “He has been message disciplined. He’s been talking about the cost of living, and he appeals to even moderate Republicans, and that he speaks like a Southern Christian, you know, moderate Democrat, and it’s working. So we might see Texas go blue.”
“I think we will. I think we will see Texas go blue,” Hostin chimed in.
“The View” airs weekdays at 11 a.m. ET on ABC.
