Exclusive: James Talarico launches multimillion-dollar ad campaign centered on Black voters

The Democratic nominee’s new radio and digital ads address Black maternal health, affordability, and government spending as his campaign expands its outreach to Black Texans.

The U.S. Senate campaign for James Talarico has launched a new multi-million-dollar ad campaign centering Black voters in Texas and the issues most important to them, theGrio exclusively reports.

The digital, radio, and print ad buy will be broadcast and distributed across Black media outlets statewide. It comes during the final weeks before the midterm elections, when Talarico needs strong turnout among Black voters to pull out a win in a state that hasn’t elected a Democrat to the U.S. Senate since 1988.

In a statement to theGrio, Talarico says, “Our Black voter outreach plan is the largest of its kind in modern Texas history. We are speaking directly to Black Texans, meeting them where they are, and investing in the media they consume — because there is no way to win Texas without listening to and showing up for their communities.”

The 37-year-old state representative added, “This is a campaign of, by, and for the people, and I want Black Texans to know that I’ll fight for them in the halls of power.”

The new ad buys include the radio ad “Legacy,” which will run on gospel, talk, hip-hop, R&B, and news stations statewide. The ad focuses on Black maternal health.

“Our legacy is at stake, and James Talarico knows it. More Black women die in childbirth in Texas than in any state in the country, and Republicans just cut a trillion dollars from Medicaid across our communities; hospitals are already closing their maternity wards,” says the ad, which highlights Talarico’s plan that “saves Black lives,” including ensuring mothers have access to prenatal care and paid maternity leave.

The other ad, “Afford It,” which will air statewide on digital platforms, TV, and in historic Black newspapers across the state, addresses the rising affordability crisis that is disproportionately impacting Black Texans and Black Americans across the country.

“They tell us there’s not enough money for schools or enough for health care, but somehow there’s always enough for another war, and enough for tax breaks for billionaires,” says the ad. It continues, “James Talarico knows that’s backward. In the Senate, Talarico will fight corruption in Washington, so our government starts working for the people, not the powerful. Our schools, our health, our neighbors. James Talarico, fighting for us.”

Jamarr Brown, a Democratic strategist and former executive director of the Texas Democratic Party, tells theGrio that the Talarico campaign’s new ad blitz shows the campaign “sees Black voters as essential to winning.”

“We know that it takes a coalition of voters, but really driven by black voters in order to win statewide in Texas,” he explained.

Specifically targeting the economy and health care emphasizes the fact that “Black voters care about what every family cares about,” Brown tells theGrio.

“Black voters are trying to pay the bills, they’re trying to have good jobs, they deserve health care, a fair shot for our children, and we feel the real impacts of the economy and of healthcare disparities more than any community,” said Brown, who said the Talarico campaign has “hit the mark.”

“The Trump administration has cut over a trillion dollars [and] it’s rural Black communities and urban Black communities that will suffer at the hands of that cut and that transfer of wealth that we saw,” said the Democratic strategist.

Brown says campaigns, most especially in highly contested ones like the U.S. Senate in Texas, have to move beyond simply talking about earning the vote, but actually “making the real investment to really move the conversation forward in Black communities.” He told theGrio, “I do see an effort by the Talarico campaign.”

The Talarico ad buy announcement comes just days after the U.S. Senate Democratic nominee attended the HBCU State Fair Classic between Prairie View A&M University and Grambling State University, where more than 50,000 people attended. As theGrio previously reported, Talarico received a warm reception from the majority-Black audience.

Talarico spent hours at the classic, where he met with the football teams, coaches, students, and other attendees.

One delighted attendee embraced Talarico with a bear hug, lifting him off the ground as he yelled, “Talarico, man! You got my vote, baby!”