Team Talarico play for Republican crossover votes reeks of desperation

The James Talarico campaign wants so badly for Republicans to vote for him.

First came a questionable poll immediately following the Runoff which claimed a 47-44% lead for the Democrat nominee in the race for U.S. Senator from Texas.

The poll reported that one-third of John Cornyn's supporters from the Runoff would break for Talarico, thereby splitting their tickets and giving the carpetbagger Austin Representative a slight edge.

Then came the attacks on the conservative grassroots. 

After the Travis County Democratic Party took a rare shot at local Republicans (perhaps a smokescreen for ther own internal squabbles, including a petition to oust their elected chair), the ultra-liberal San Antonio Current followed with the headline "Travis County Republicans make new rule: no more pro-Talarico posts allowed:"

“Could Talarico — a young, wholesome seminarian and former schoolteacher — be just the crossover candidate we’ve always hoped for?” [...] “The Travis County Republicans Facebook group is in disarray as it grapples with a problem: too many members are posting positive things about ... Talarico, the Democratic nominee for Texas’ contested U.S. Senate seat. ... ‘No pro-Talarico posts allowed! Even if you don’t personally like one of our Republican nominees, support for their Democrat or third-party opponent is your own private business,' [an admin] wrote."

Then along came the trolling attempts from thousands of requests to join the 3,000-plus-member unofficial Facebook forum for Travis Republicans (as indicated by the thousands of laughing or angry-face emojis posted by those whose recent membership attempts were blocked -- it's a public group). Many of them falsely claimed to be Republicans or supporters of smaller government when answering membership questions -- likely goaded by the Talarico campaign's Facebook Page or other supporters into doing so. A small number were bots or "sock puppets" of other users, according to admins.

Yet there remain three problems with their crossover support theory, at least when it comes to local Republicans:

1. Public group status. Non-Republicans have traditionally been welcome to join and learn more about the GOP on the Travis County Republicans Facebook Group, a policy dating back to 2010. That was typically not a problem until ...

2. Fake Republicans. The Travis County Republicans Facebook Group admins identified and banned just over a hundred Democrats posing as Republicans after several group members sheepishly said they were considering a crossover vote for Talarico. A total of two actual Republicans expressed their desire to vote for Talarico, according to admins. The rest were Democrats and assorted leftists. The "no Talarico rule" brought several more to the surface.

3. False assumptions. Back to the poll: the survey company, Texas Public Opinion Research, was founded by Luke Warford, a former Democratic Party Texas Railroad Commission candidate from 2022. While this alone does not negate the accuracy of the poll it does throw its objectivity into question, as well as its timing -- especially its handling of a high number of undecideds this early in the general election race. But you'd better believe Talarico supporters take the poll as gospel.

The situation via the San Antonio Current article was cited in a press release (see partial screenshot below) from the Talarico campaign today. Republican nominee Ken Paxton has not responded to the now-perennial assertion that Republicans are going to split their ticket -- as Texas Democrats tried with Beto Mania versus Ted Cruz in 2018 and in other campagins. 

Paxton probably doesn't have to reply. It will take more than keyboard warrior attacks for Democrats to flip Texas.

Note: The writer is an admin for the Travis County Republicans Facebook Group, an unofficial discussion space for local Republicans and supporters.