James Talarico
2023 - Present
2027
2
James Talarico (Democratic Party) is a member of the Texas House of Representatives, representing District 50. He assumed office on January 10, 2023. His current term ends on January 12, 2027.
Talarico (Democratic Party) ran for re-election to the Texas House of Representatives to represent District 50. He won in the general election on November 5, 2024.
Talarico completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
James Talarico was born in Round Rock, Texas. He graduated from McNeil High School. He earned a bachelor's degree in government from the University of Texas at Austin and a master's degree in education policy from Harvard University. Talarico's career experience includes working as a public school teacher.[1]
Committee assignments
Note: This membership information was last updated in September 2023. Ballotpedia completes biannual updates of committee membership. If you would like to send us an update, email us at:editor@ballotpedia.org.
2023-2024
Talarico was assigned to the following committees:
2021-2022
Talarico was assigned to the following committees:
2019-2020
Talarico was assigned to the following committees:
Sponsored legislation
The following table lists bills this person sponsored as a legislator, according to BillTrack50 and sorted by action history. Bills are sorted by the date of their last action. The following list may not be comprehensive. To see all bills this legislator sponsored, click on the legislator's name in the title of the table.
Elections
2024
See also: Texas House of Representatives elections, 2024
General election
General election for Texas House of Representatives District 50
Incumbent James Talarico won election in the general election for Texas House of Representatives District 50 on November 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | James Talarico (D) | 100.0 | 48,289 | |
| Total votes: 48,289 | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for Texas House of Representatives District 50
Incumbent James Talarico defeated Nathan Boynton in the Democratic primary for Texas House of Representatives District 50 on March 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | James Talarico | 84.4 | 8,015 | |
| Nathan Boynton | 15.6 | 1,478 | ||
| Total votes: 9,493 | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Campaign finance
Endorsements
2022
See also: Texas House of Representatives elections, 2022
General election
General election for Texas House of Representatives District 50
Incumbent James Talarico defeated Victor Johnson and Ted Brown in the general election for Texas House of Representatives District 50 on November 8, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | James Talarico (D) | 76.8 | 36,881 | |
| Victor Johnson (R) | 20.2 | 9,718 | ||
| Ted Brown (L) | 2.9 | 1,392 | ||
| Total votes: 47,991 | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for Texas House of Representatives District 50
Incumbent James Talarico defeated David Alcorta in the Democratic primary for Texas House of Representatives District 50 on March 1, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | James Talarico | 78.5 | 9,117 | |
| David Alcorta | 21.5 | 2,497 | ||
| Total votes: 11,614 | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Republican primary election
Republican primary for Texas House of Representatives District 50
Victor Johnson advanced from the Republican primary for Texas House of Representatives District 50 on March 1, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | Victor Johnson | 100.0 | 2,396 | |
| Total votes: 2,396 | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Libertarian convention
Libertarian convention for Texas House of Representatives District 50
Ted Brown advanced from the Libertarian convention for Texas House of Representatives District 50 on March 12, 2022.
Candidate | ||
| ✔ | Ted Brown (L) | |
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Campaign finance
2020
See also: Texas House of Representatives elections, 2020
General election
General election for Texas House of Representatives District 52
Incumbent James Talarico defeated Lucio Valdez in the general election for Texas House of Representatives District 52 on November 3, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | James Talarico (D) | 51.5 | 50,520 | |
| Lucio Valdez (R) | 48.5 | 47,611 | ||
| Total votes: 98,131 | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for Texas House of Representatives District 52
Incumbent James Talarico advanced from the Democratic primary for Texas House of Representatives District 52 on March 3, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | James Talarico | 100.0 | 17,888 | |
| Total votes: 17,888 | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Republican primary election
Republican primary for Texas House of Representatives District 52
Lucio Valdez advanced from the Republican primary for Texas House of Representatives District 52 on March 3, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | Lucio Valdez | 100.0 | 11,297 | |
| Total votes: 11,297 | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Campaign finance
2018
Regular
General election
General election for Texas House of Representatives District 52
James Talarico defeated Cynthia Flores in the general election for Texas House of Representatives District 52 on November 6, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | James Talarico (D) | 51.7 | 36,798 | |
| Cynthia Flores (R) | 48.3 | 34,340 | ||
| Total votes: 71,138 | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for Texas House of Representatives District 52
James Talarico advanced from the Democratic primary for Texas House of Representatives District 52 on March 6, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | James Talarico | 100.0 | 7,499 | |
| Total votes: 7,499 | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Republican primary election
Republican primary for Texas House of Representatives District 52
Cynthia Flores defeated Jeremy Story and Christopher Ward in the Republican primary for Texas House of Representatives District 52 on March 6, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | Cynthia Flores | 60.8 | 6,056 | |
| Jeremy Story | 22.4 | 2,232 | ||
| Christopher Ward | 16.8 | 1,671 | ||
| Total votes: 9,959 | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Special
General election
Special general election for Texas House of Representatives District 52
James Talarico defeated Cynthia Flores in the special general election for Texas House of Representatives District 52 on November 6, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | James Talarico (D) | 51.7 | 36,798 | |
| Cynthia Flores (R) | 48.3 | 34,340 | ||
| Total votes: 71,138 | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Campaign themes
2024
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
James Talarico completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Talarico's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
| Collapse all
- I’m a former public school teacher. I taught 45 kids in one classroom, in a school so underfunded we didn’t have enough chairs for all the kids. Changing the education system is what inspired me to run for office in 2018.
I'm proud to have led the fight to defeat Governor Abbott's private school voucher scam in defense of our public schools. I’ve also passed sweeping legislation to reform the school finance system, place the first-ever cap on pre-K class sizes in Texas, improve early childhood education across the state, and fund mental health care in schools.
Healthy students need healthy teachers. That’s why I introduced legislation $15,000 across-the-board teacher pay raise with a 25% raise for school support staff. - A giant state deserves giant dreams. We can build an inclusive Texas where every family can get ahead and every community can achieve their fullest potential. We’ve done so much in three terms to move us closer to that dream. But we have wasted so much time focused on extreme right-wing culture wars. I’ve led the fight against efforts to ban abortion, whitewash our history curriculum, ban books, and force a Christian Nationalist agenda onto the people of Texas. The community that raised me deserves a Representative that is battle-tested and knows how to stand up to Republican extremism and win. There is much work left to do, and I’m committed to creating a Texas as good as its promise.
- Health care is a human right. It should be affordable and accessible for every Texan. I know the failures of our health care system personally. Five years ago, I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. Even with health insurance, I paid $684 for my first 30-day supply of insulin. I had to put it on a credit card. That’s why I passed historic legislation capping insulin copays in Texas at $25 per prescription and major legislation to import low-cost prescription drugs from Canada — saving Texans 60-70% on commonly used medications. These are historic progressive wins, but they’re only a step toward our eventual goal: guaranteed healthcare.
Over the past three sessions, we have won historic progressive accomplishments on the cost of health care, the quality and affordability of child care, school finance, policing reform, youth justice, the fentanyl crisis, and pet safety. And we’ve proposed bold, progressive legislation on teacher pay, climate change, workers rights, marijuana legalization, gun safety, and more.
Planned Parenthood Texas Votes
Texas AFL-CIO COPE
Sierra Club
Austin Tejano Democrats
Pflugerville Area Democrats
Mothers Against Greg Abbott
Black Austin Democrats
Austin Young Democrats
Stonewall Democrats of Austin
Texas AFT COPE
Texas State Teachers Association
Northeast Travis County Democrats
Texas State Employees Union
Progressive Hispanic Democrats
University Democrats
Capital Area Progressive Democrats
Texas Democrats with Disabilities
NxNW Democrats
Austin Environmental Democrats
Liberal Austin Democrats
Central Austin Democrats
Emgage PAC
Texas College Democrats
AFSCME Texas Retirees Chapter 12
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
2022
James Talarico completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Talarico's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
| Collapse all
- A giant state deserves giant dreams. We can build an inclusive Texas where every family can get ahead and every community can achieve their fullest potential. We’ve done so much in two terms to move us closer to that dream—from reforming school finance to capping insulin costs to banning reality TV policing. But our achievements have led Texas Republicans to target me in the redistricting process. They tried to gerrymander me out, but I won’t go away that easily. The community that raised me deserves a Representative that is battle-tested and knows how to fight Republicans and win. There is much work left to do, and I’m committed to creating a Texas as good as its promise.
- I’m a former public school teacher. I taught 45 kids in one classroom, in a school so underfunded we didn’t have enough chairs for all the kids. Changing the education system to help students like mine is what inspired me to run for office in 2018. In addition to proposing a minimum teacher salary of $70k, I have passed sweeping legislation to reform the school finance system, place the first-ever cap on pre-K class sizes in Texas, improve early childhood education across the state, fund mental health care in schools, disrupt the school to prison pipeline, and require all incarcerated minors in Texas be given the opportunity to graduate with a high school diploma.
- Health care is a human right. It should be affordable and accessible for every Texan. I know the failures of our health care system personally. Three years ago, I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. Even with health insurance, I paid $684 for my first 30-day supply of insulin. I had to put it on a credit card. In the last 20 years, pharmaceutical companies have increased the price of insulin 1200%. Putting profits over people has deadly consequences. And in the richest country in the world, 1 in 4 diabetics risk their lives by rationing their insulin. That’s why I passed legislation capping insulin copays in Texas at $25 per prescription. It’s a historic progressive win, but it’s only a step toward our eventual goal—guaranteed healthcare.
I also commit to holding our government accountable and working towards a budget that does not pay for the COVID-19 pandemic off the backs of our children or working-class Texans, but one that increases the state minimum wage and ensures equal pay for equal work for all Texans. We can rebuild the Texas economy by providing well-paying, safe jobs for Texans who need them.
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
2020
James Talarico completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Talarico's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
| Collapse all
- I'm a proud Democrat who works with Republicans and Independents to put people over politics.
- As a former teacher, I'm deeply committed to ensuring educational equity for our kids and educators. Particularly now, we will need to protect the commitment we made to our schools and educators for additional funding and support through HB 3, the first major overhaul in our state's school finance system since before I was in Kindergarten. While HB 3 was a big step towards quality school finance reform, the work is not done. How our state will keep students and educators safe and healthy in the upcoming school year and meet every child's educational need are challenges we will need to face in the upcoming session and I'm committed to do all I can to continue improving our education system for ALL students.
- Healthcare should be affordable for every Texan. The best way to reduce our state's high uninsured rate is by expanding Medicaid, but the Texas Legislature refuses to accept billions of our own federal tax dollars available to expand health coverage. That's putting politics over people. Last session, I supported an amendment that would have expanded Medicaid in our state. Though this amendment did not pass, I will continue to work for expanded access to affordable healthcare for Texans. Additionally, we need to vastly expand preventative care, meaning ensuring yearly check-ups and basic health needs are affordable even for poorer communities.
Short-sighted decisions at the State Capitol hurt middle-class families in Williamson County. Families, like yours and mine, are paying more for less - for our schools, for our roads, and for our healthcare. From Round Rock to Taylor, we want our state government to get back to basics.
We need leaders who are focused on building a future where every Williamson County family can get ahead. As a Round Rock native, a former public school teacher, and your State Representative, I'm committed to that future. In this campaign, and throughout my service to the great people of House District 52, we'll be honest about the real work it will take to get us there.
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
Campaign finance summary
Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.
Scorecards
A scorecard evaluates a legislator’s voting record. Its purpose is to inform voters about the legislator’s political positions. Because scorecards have varying purposes and methodologies, each report should be considered on its own merits. For example, an advocacy group’s scorecard may assess a legislator’s voting record on one issue while a state newspaper’s scorecard may evaluate the voting record in its entirety.
Ballotpedia is in the process of developing an encyclopedic list of published scorecards. Some states have a limited number of available scorecards or scorecards produced only by select groups. It is Ballotpedia’s goal to incorporate all available scorecards regardless of ideology or number.
Click here for an overview of legislative scorecards in all 50 states. To contribute to the list of Texas scorecards, email suggestions to editor@ballotpedia.org.
2024
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2024, click [show]. |
|---|
|
In 2024, the Texas State Legislature was not in session. |
2023
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2023, click [show]. |
|---|
|
In 2023, the Texas State Legislature was in session from January 10 to May 29.
|
2022
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2022, click [show]. |
|---|
|
In 2022, the Texas State Legislature was not in session. |
2021
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2021, click [show]. |
|---|
|
In 2021, the Texas State Legislature was in session from January 12 to May 31.
|
2020
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2020, click [show]. |
|---|
|
In 2020, the Texas State Legislature was not in session. |
2019
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2019, click [show]. |
|---|
|
In 2019, the Texas State Legislature was in its 86th legislative session from January 8 through May 27.
|
See also
2024 Elections
External links
|
Candidate Texas House of Representatives District 50 |
Officeholder Texas House of Representatives District 50 |
Personal |
Footnotes
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Celia Israel (D) |
Texas House of Representatives District 50 2023-Present |
Succeeded by - |
| Preceded by - |
Texas House of Representatives District 52 2018-2023 |
Succeeded by Caroline Harris (R) |
