James Edge still vividly remembers the thrill of receiving a signed letter from Richard Nixon after writing to the former president.
He describes opening the White House envelope as one of his earliest childhood memories. The moment also delighted his firmly Republican relatives.
At 18, Edge cast his first vote for Ronald Reagan — a decision he says he remains “very proud of.”
Now 62, Edge says he has voted in every Republican primary since then, with one exception. That came when conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh urged Republicans to join “Operation Chaos” and disrupt Democratic primary contests, he told Our News Outlet.
“And I will tell you what my Republican bona fides are,” Edge said. “I have held offices within my local Republican Party. I’ve got a little certificate on my wall: I was voted Republican Volunteer of the Year. For 10 years I worked for a Republican member of Congress, and I also served as a delegate to the state Republican convention at least three times, maybe four, I can’t remember.”
“I’ve been a strong Republican literally since the moment that I learned what government and politics are.”
But now, the fourth-generation Bryan, Texas, resident can only offer a wry chuckle when discussing his latest political decision.
Edge has become the first person in his family to acknowledge voting for a Democrat, endorsing James Talarico in the Texas Senate race. His name now appears on a list released by Talarico’s campaign featuring Republicans who say they are backing him.
Some Republicans have admitted to voting for a Democrat, endorsing James Talarico to represent Texas in the US Senate
Talarico’s campaign published of Republicans who are now voting for him over Ken Paxton
His wife initially advised him not to go public, warning that the decision could cost them friends. Her concern proved justified: Some people now avoid him when they see him in public. In deeply conservative Brazos County, the backlash was so intense that a local radio station invited Edge to speak on air and was then flooded with hate mail.
“It was as if an earthquake shifted in my world, in the area around my home,” he told Our News Outlet. “I would think it would be relatively uninteresting, what my position would be on this. I am a well-known Republican, and a city councilor, but our city is fairly small – it’s only 100,000 people.”
“The attention that this has drawn has been fascinating. I have heard from countless people: individuals that are currently elected Republicans in Brazos County; staffers throughout the state of Texas that work for Republican officeholders. And they have said, ‘Thank you, I agree with you 100 percent. I’m with you, and I feel the same way. I can’t vote for Ken Paxton.’”
“But virtually none of them have been willing to do it publicly. And I fully understand that, because of the blowback that I have experienced, which has been unlike anything I really expected.”
Talarico, 37, is running virtually neck and neck with Republican challenger Ken Paxton. To turn Texas blue, the Democrat would need large numbers of Republican voters to cross party lines. Whether enough are prepared to do so remains uncertain.
“I’ve traveled to every corner of Texas, from Beaumont to El Paso, from Amarillo to Brownsville,” said Talarico, the youthful former middle school teacher, during a Monday afternoon rally at the University of Houston.
“We’ve had thousands of Texans showing up at our events. I can’t tell you the number of people who come up to me at the end of these events and whisper, ‘I’m not a Democrat,’ like they’re in the witness protection program.”
Polling places opened across Texas on Monday, but there was little certainty in coastal Jefferson County that Talarico had found the wave of Republican defectors he needs. The county, located between Houston and the Louisiana border in eastern Texas, backed Barack Obama twice before voting for Donald Trump in three consecutive elections, making it a closely watched swing area.
“Everybody I know is staying Republican that is a Republican,” said Karan Berman, 63, an administrator at an HVAC company. Speaking to Our News Outlet, she dismissed Talarico as “a little weirdo” and said she objected to his support for transgender children and “his whole spiel on God being non-binary.”
“This is Texas,” she said from inside Madison’s, a cavernous sports bar in a Beaumont strip mall. “And we’re red.”
‘This is Texas,’ one voter said, before defiantly adding: ‘And we’re red’
Talarico needs legions of Republicans to switch lanes if he is to turn Texas blue. Whether he has them is far from clear
Jefferson County, sandwiched in the far east of Texas between Houston and the Louisiana state line, voted for Barack Obama twice then three times for Trump, making it a closely-watched swing district
Caye Wright, 64, a registered nurse from Nome, had just cast her vote at a polling station in China, 13 miles outside of Beaumont, when Our News Outlet caught up with her.
A man had removed a snake from the polling station shortly before Wright arrived.
‘I went for Paxton only because I am conservative,’ she said. ‘I have issues with Paxton but he is my only choice for voting.’
Paxton, the 63-year-old attorney general, has been dogged for decades by scandal. He was impeached by the Republican-controlled House in 2023, becoming the first statewide official since 1917 to suffer such ignominy, but was acquitted by his allies in the Senate.
Officials in his own office turned against him, accusing him of corruption. His wife of 38 years is currently divorcing him ‘on Biblical grounds,’ owing to a series of alleged affairs which he made little effort to hide – skipping America’s 250th birthday celebration in favor of a London jaunt with his mistress, and spending New Year’s Eve 2024 at a party in Dubai with her, an event also attended by two federal fugitives.
But the Republicans Our News Outlet spoke to this week were willing to overlook the drama.
‘Everybody has skeletons in their closets,’ said Michael Valdez, a 69-year-old investor living in Beaumont. He had just cast his vote for Paxton at the Rogers Park community center and said anyone ‘with half a brain’ would vote for the Republican.
‘I’m not for communists, I’m not for Marxists and I’m definitely not for socialists,’ he said.
Are there ‘shy Republicans’ out there, though? Those who publicly profess their allegiance to the GOP, but in the privacy of the polling station quietly check the box for Democrats? Perhaps.
Back at Madison’s at Dowlen, Roger Marshall, 72, admitted: ‘We have one Republican friend who says he’s going to Talarico. Yeah, just one.’
Democrats are, of course, hoping, for many, many more.
Wilbert Moore, a 27-year-old IT worker from Houston, and a Democrat who voted for Talarico on the first day of polling, said ‘some of his coworkers’ admitted to doing the same.
Jaslin Martinez, a 21-year-old college student, said some of her friends were crossing the divide, too.
‘They are actually Republicans, but I’ve seen them like, we have to do something about this because this is not OK on stuff like immigration,’ she said. ‘I think that’s been a really big factor for them – seeing all of the people get deported and then just killed. I think it has made them lean more to the Democrat side.’
Adam Kinzinger, a former Republican representative for Illinois, who clashed with Donald Trump and left the House in 2022, moving to Houston, was on stage on Monday afternoon to drum up support for Talarico.
He told Our News Outlet that he expected there to be many secretly Democratic voters.
Are there ‘shy Republicans’ out there, though? Those who publicly profess their allegiance to the GOP, but in the privacy of the polling station quietly check the box for Democrats? Perhaps
Adam Kinzinger, a former Republican representative for Illinois, told Our News Outlet that he expected there to be many secretly Democrat voters
‘I have issues with Paxton but he is my only choice for voting,’ one voter said
‘I don’t think any Republican will admit that they’re going to be a crossover voter, but in the privacy of the ballot box, I think there will be a lot,’ he said. ‘I’ve talked to plenty of Republicans that are sick of what’s going on in DC, but are really, really offended by what Ken Paxton is and what he does.’
Talarico’s team has been gleefully highlighting high-profile defections.
Dan Cogdell, the attorney who defended Paxton in his 2023 impeachment hearing, has endorsed Talarico. Members of the Bush family, Neil, the younger brother of George W, and George W’s daughter Barbara, have backed the Round Rock-born Talarico.
Celebrated attorney Thomas J Henry, who gave $600,000 to a pro-Paxton PAC, on Wednesday night published a video on social media endorsing Talarico. He said in the clip, which received 24,000 likes in under 24 hours, that he had met with Talarico and discussed issues at length, finding him to be ‘balanced, straightforward and honest.’
‘I think there are going to be many, many people that are Republicans that are going to vote for Talarico,’ Henry told Our News Outlet. ‘And I can tell you, as a lawyer, I have dealt with many people that are on juries that are very conservative, and people that you’d think would be very liberal, and I’ve seen them make decisions based on certain circumstances that are not consistent with what you think they would be based on a label.
‘So I think we have to give people credit for making up their own mind.’
Will it be enough to get Talarico over the line, making him the first Democrat to represent Texas in the nation’s capital in 33 years?
No one dare say.
‘I know for a fact that the shy Republican idea is real,’ said Edge. ‘But whether or not it’s enough is something I cannot tell. I’ve had people tell me, “I will never vote for Paxton. But I’m sorry, I can’t pull the lever for Talarico.”‘
