Democratic Senate nominee James Talarico joined MSNBC to argue that America’s affordability crisis is rooted in political corruption, accusing Ken Paxton of serving billionaire donors while challenging the Texas attorney general to debate him three times before the November election: <\/p>\n
LAWRENCE O’DONNELL, HOST: In Texas, a new poll shows Democratic nominee for Senate James Talarico leading Texas Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton by five points, 45 to 40. That poll is still within the margin of error, and it is the largest lead James Talarico has had in any public general election poll. Today the campaigns announced they have agreed to debate three times this fall after James Talarico challenged Ken Paxton to a series of debates. Last night, James Talarico made his case to voters in Lockhart, Texas. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) STATE REP. JAMES TALARICO (D-TX), U.S. SENATE CANDIDATE: We have an affordability crisis because we have a corruption crisis. We don’t have a government of, by, and for the people. Things would be different if we did. We have a government of, by, and for the billionaires. The system is working exactly as it was intended to work. There is something broken in America. This is not just a political battle. This is a spiritual battle between selfishness and service, between greed and greatness, real greatness. I think after decades of this corruption, we are on the cusp of returning to those old-fashioned values, the values of my great-grandfather, the values of the Greatest Generation, service, sacrifice, doing what’s right even when no one is watching. Ken Paxton has been selling us out for years, for decades, and he’s gotten away with it. They’ve all gotten away with it. But that ends this year in this state, in this race. (APPLAUSE) (END VIDEO CLIP) O’DONNELL: Joining us now is Texas State Representative James Talarico, Democratic nominee for United States Senate in Texas. Thank you very much for joining us tonight. In that clip we just showed, you led with affordability, but you joined it to another major issue, which I think is a frame — it’s a framing that I haven’t heard before, when you said we have an affordability crisis because we have a corruption crisis, those are two sides of the same coin. TALARICO: Yeah, that’s exactly right. I mean, I’ve been traveling to every corner of Texas, big cities, small towns like Lockhart, red areas, blue areas alike. And everywhere I go, I hear from Texans, I hear about the struggles to afford the basics. Texans are drowning. And it’s not like we’re spending money on nice clothes or nice cars or nice vacations. We’re spending our money on the necessities, groceries, gas, health care, insurance, utilities. And it’s because for 50 years, puppet politicians like Ken Paxton have been rigging this economy in favor of their billionaire mega-donors at our expense. And it’s — it’s been theft. I mean, trickle-down economics is not a theory. It is theft. And it’s been with their bribes, their — their bailouts, their billionaire tax breaks, they’ve been stealing from the American people. This affordability crisis has really hit its peak, especially over the last few years as prices have skyrocketed. But it’s been a problem 50 years in the making. Our wages, our income, our pay has remained stagnant or it’s declined. Our power in the economy has been chipped away at. And so we’re trying to tell the big story about what’s happened to the middle class in this country. And it’s not a problem just over the last five years, it’s a problem over the last 50 years. O’DONNELL: So Donald Trump has just cut — decided to cut funding for Medicare prescription drug benefits, Medicare being a crucial program Americans have been relying on since the last — the really most powerful Democratic politician in Texas history, President Lyndon Baines Johnson, signed Medicare into law. This — and this is from the same president who said yesterday, once again, I just want to try to get his quote exactly right, he said, This word affordability is made up by the Democrats. So affordability is made up by the Democrats. And he seems to think people will have no trouble spending more money to afford prescription drugs on Medicare. TALARICO: Well, the president needs to get out of the White House and get out in the country and hear from Americans about the — the struggles that they’re facing, because health care is just one of them. But it’s also housing. It’s also child care, which is now more expensive than college in the State of Texas. The middle class has been decimated in this country. You mentioned Lyndon Johnson. This is LBJ’s Senate seat that I’m running for. It was a Texas Democrat who signed Medicare into law, who signed Medicaid into law, who signed Head Start and Title I into law, who signed the Voting Rights Act into law. And bit by bit, this administration has chipped away at the Great Society, has chipped away at the middle class. And the fight in this country is not really left versus right. It is top versus bottom. It’s all of us, whether you’re a little more conservative or a little more progressive, it’s all of us coming together to take on the people at the top, the billionaires and their puppet politicians like Ken Paxton, who have been screwing us over for far too long. That’s the movement we’re building in Texas, and it’s why you’re seeing us make this progress, because we are bringing working people together to take on this corruption so we can lower our costs. O’DONNELL: So you’ve agreed to these three debates, the schedule is September 22nd — all Tuesdays, September 22nd, October 6th, October 13th. Ken Paxton and the Republican TV ad campaign has been throwing all sorts of junk at you. And so this — this first time we’re going to see you confronting this very directly with Paxton will be September 22nd. Do — do you expect him to bring into the debate all the kinds of insulting junk he’s been throwing around? TALARICO: Well, you know, Ken Paxton has not accepted any of these debates yet. When I get tough questions, I answer them. When Ken Paxton gets tough questions, he runs away, literally runs away from reporters, from voters, from anyone asking hard questions. If you’ve given an Epstein-style sweetheart deal to an admitted child predator, you should have to answer the public’s questions. If you were reported to the FBI for bribery by your own staff, you should have to answer the public’s questions. If you’ve become a multi-millionaire on a government salary and now own 15 homes on the public’s dime, then you should have to answer the public’s questions. I get it, if I had Ken Paxton’s record of corruption, I wouldn’t want to answer these questions either. But he’s asking for your vote. He is asking for your trust. And the people of Texas deserve answers. So I’ve challenged Ken Paxton to these three televised debates. The networks have already set the dates and the times and the locations. We’re just waiting on Ken Paxton. I’m not afraid of tough questions. We’ll see if Ken Paxton can say the same. O’DONNELL: So there could be an empty chair at these debates. (LAUGHTER) TALARICO: There might be. And Ken Paxton has a long history of saying one thing and doing another, of promising to show up and then — and then not showing up. And so I’ll believe it when he walks onto that debate stage. I think the people of Texas deserve answers to their very legitimate questions about his career of corruption. He hasn’t debated in more than a decade. He hasn’t made himself available to questions from the public. And I think that should end this November as Texans face this very important choice on November 3rd. O’DONNELL: James Talarico, thank you very much for joining us tonight. TALARICO: Thanks for having me. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n