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AUSTIN – Democrat James Talarico’s Senate campaign plans an advertising push aimed at Asian American and Pacific Islander Texans as he seeks to mobilize supporters ahead of early voting.
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The campaign said Monday it will place television, radio and print ads across 17 Vietnamese, Chinese and South Asian media outlets beginning after an Oct. 13 launch of its AAPI Texans for Talarico coalition.
Texas had nearly 2.1 million Asian and Pacific Islander residents in 2023, according to the American Immigration Council. The population grew nearly 66% over the previous decade.
The advertising push comes near the end of a contentious race between Talarico, a state representative from Austin, and Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton for the Senate seat in the Nov. 3 general election. Talarico is hoping the advertisements boost turnout and generate additional votes for him.
The push also comes a month after racism against people of South Asian descent received national attention in Texas from Bo French’s social media posts. French, the GOP nominee for the Texas Railroad Commission, made a series of social media posts Sept. 13 disparaging the racial makeup of University of Texas students at a Longhorns football game last month.
French faces Democratic nominee Jon Rosenthal in the race.
Two of the students, who were of South Asian descent, condemned French’s social media posts in interviews with The Dallas Morning News, along with Republican and Democratic lawmakers. Multiple Republicans, including Garland Rep. Angie Chen Button, an immigrant from Taiwan, recently said they would not vote for French.
The campaign said its AAPI coalition will be led by several Democratic elected officials and candidates, including Texas House Democratic Caucus Chair Gene Wu, state Reps. Zohaib Qadri and Salman Bhojani and San Antonio City Council member Sukh Kaur. Pooja Sethi, a Democratic Texas House candidate, and former congressional candidate Sima Ladjevardian also will serve as co-chairs.
The Talarico campaign said the outreach will focus on issues including religious freedom, healthcare costs, immigration and anti-Asian discrimination. It cited Talarico’s work in the Legislature on measures involving religious observances, marriage ceremonies performed by imams and condemnation of anti-Asian hate speech.
The Oct. 13 coalition launch also will kick off what the campaign is calling its “Get out the Early Vote” effort, six days before early voting begins Oct. 19.
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This article originally published at Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico launches advertising push aimed at Asian American voters.
