Republicans are "freaking out" over Texas possibly going blue, GOP lawmaker divulgeshttps://www.lgbtqnation.com/2026/10/republicans-are-freaking-out-over-texas-possibly-going-blue-gop-lawmaker-divulges/ 🔗Alex Bollinger (15 Oct 2026)
"People are freaking out," Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan (R) told Texas Monthly when asked about how state Rep. James Talarico (D) is ahead in the polls in his US Senate election, despite Republicans dominating statewide elections in Texas for decades. "You see it in their faces. There's serious concern like I've never seen before."
He also called out his state GOP's focus on LGBTQ+ issues. Republicans in the state have repeatedly hit at Talarico's support in the state legislature for LGBTQ+ rights and some of his past statements of support for trans kids. They have gone so far as to make regular gay jokes about Talarico and share AI-generated images and videos of him wearing dresses, while constantly raging against him for not hating drag performers as much as they do. The right's more serious ads this year have also been focused on scaremongering about "sex-change surgeries."
"We're still running transgender ads," Phelan lamented. "It's just not resonating. $100 million in ads, $125 million in ads, and nothing's moved the needle here in Texas in a month in the Senate race."
"Let's be honest. The 8 to 10 percent of voters in the middle who are going to decide this election, when they hear stuff about boys in girls' sports, they don't even know what you're talking about. This never happened in their communities, and they've been hearing about it for so many years, and so many other people have been accused of it. What Republicans are talking about is just not what the swing voter is really interested in."----------------------
@Sarah B
