DALLAS – It was almost a perfect microcosm of current American politics when I met Lizbeth, a sweet young Latina woman who had been singing along for ten minutes at the wrong rally.
She thought she was attending an anti-Trump event that I also wanted to cover. Instead, there was a small group of mostly Iranians shouting, “No mullahs, no shahs!” in support of dissident leader Maryam Rajavi, and for a while Lizbeth just went along with it.
In Dallas, it was easy to sense, just by talking to people, that our attacks on Iran overshadowed the two U.S. Senate primaries and captured the imagination not only of Texas but of the nation.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton believed he could defeat longtime Sen. John Cornyn even without President Donald Trump’s endorsement. (Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images; Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
I met John and Jill, who have both worked for the same insurance company for over twenty years and are about to be empty nesters with a plan to move to the beach in Alabama. He is a Republican and she is a Democrat, a situation I encounter much more often than people would expect.
Before delving into Texas politics while casually watching coverage of the NFL combine, the three of us toasted the death of Ayatollah Khamenei as John interjected, “Not a moment too soon.”
I’ll be honest, it took all my banter and Irish charm to figure out who they were supporting. In fact, Jill didn’t want to say anything at all, but John told me he voted for Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and expected him to win, although he looked a little nervous when he said that.
“He’s stable, we all know him, I think he’ll pull it out,” John said. But when I asked if he had any friends who were frustrated by the moderate senator who voted for the more MAGA-oriented Attorney General Ken Paxton, he smiled, nodded and said, “Yes, definitely.”
KEN PAXTON BELIEVES HE WILL CRUSH ‘FAKE JOHN CORNYN’ EVEN WITHOUT TRUMP APPROVAL
Jill was more cautious, as if she intuitively sensed that the division between supporters of Assemblywoman Jasmine Crockett and State Rep. James Talarico made it dangerous to express an opinion.
“The most important thing is to bring in someone who can fight Trump, someone who can turn Texas blue again,” she said. When I pressed whether that was the more apparently “moderate” Talarico, she just gave me a look that said, “You won’t get to know that.”
State Representative James Talarico shakes hands with Congressman Jasmine Crockett during a debate in Georgetown, Texas, on January 24, 2026. (Bob Daemmrich/The Texas Tribune/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
As I talked it out with John and Jill, I came back to a conversation I had with Rajiv, one of the leaders of the anti-regime rally earlier that day: “We just want democracy in Iran,” he told me. “There is so much joy today now that the Ayatollah is gone.”
THE TEXAS DEMOCRAT VEUD IS GROWING NOW COLLIN ALLRED CLAIMS JAMES TALARICO MADE OFFENSIVE COMMENT ABOUT FAMILY, CAMPAIGNS
I wondered whether we don’t sometimes keep our own democracy and freedoms a bit cheap.
Soon, John, Jill, and I were joined in our conversation by Lari, a young woman in her twenties who also has a politically divisive relationship, this time between her, who voted for Talarico, and her boyfriend, who was not present, who pulled the lever for Crockett.
“I just think he has the best chance to win,” she told us, music to the ears of Stephen Colbert and every other lefty who thinks the Bible-quoting Beto O’Rourke 2.0 can pull it off. But she added, “I really like Crockett.”
TRUMP HOLDS APPROVAL IN FIBERY GOP SENATE PRIMARY AS EARLY VOTING BEGINS IN TEXAS
Eligibility is a funny thing. Both the Talarico and Cornyn camps are counting on this to be the driving force that gets them over the top. But electability can also be a bit like a Greek tragedy, because it is sometimes the safe choice that leaves new potential voters on the sidelines.
It was clear to me that Lari had voted with her head, not her heart, and that might best describe the atmosphere of the Democratic fight. In such cases I always tend to think that the heart has the inside.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE FOX NEWS ADVICE
“I feel pretty stupid,” Lizbeth told me when we parted after her accidental moments as a protester against the Iranian regime. I told her not to do that. “Hey,” I said, “you took some time before you went to work to try to make the world a better place. That’s nothing to be ashamed of.’
Lizbeth nodded and smiled. “That’s true,” she said, folding her handmade sign in her hands.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
“Oh, by the way,” I shouted as she walked away, “who are you voting for in the Senate race?”
She thought for a moment and told me, “I haven’t decided yet,” which means each candidate still has work to do over the next three days and still has a chance to celebrate Tuesday night.
CLICK HERE TO DAVID MARCUS
Related article
