Talarico Reaps Windfall for Senate Race
after Bungled CBS Censorship Attempt
Capitol Inside
February 18, 2026
In a colossally critical election year when Democrats need all the help they can get in their first truly serious quest to take Texas back in two dozen years, Christmas came no less than 10 months early for State Rep. James Talarico of Austin this week in a bid to flip a U.S. Senate seat at the polls in 2026.
Talarico couldn't have written a more generous script for his campaign than CBS managed to do in an apparent collaboration with the Federal Communications Committee on Monday when the network refused to air an interview with the Texas Senate contender that Stephen Colbert conducted for the Late Show that night.
Colbert blamed the network that runs his late-night talk show for a bumbled attempt at censorship and posted the 15-minute conversation that he had with Talarico on YouTube. Talarico attributed the blockade to the FCC as a sign of President Donald Trump's fear and anxiety about the thought of Republicans fumbling the Lone Star State away to Democrats.
CBS gave the impression at first that the Talarico snubbing was a result of pressure from the federal agency, which had launched an investigation into the ABC show The View after the Senate candidate appeared on it last week.
Talarico's amazing break came courtesy of a Trump administration that's pulling for U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett of Dallas to win the Senate nomination in Texas as the more liberal alternative in the Democratic primary battle for the seat that veteran U.S. Senator John Cornyn is seeking again.
And Talarico seized the moment without delay - and he revealed on Wednesday that he'd reaped a windfall from the nonsense at the network and raised $2.5 million in a 24-hour period after the banning of the interview with Colbert that went viral in a blink on the Internet.
After a 9-point Talarico lead in an Emerson College poll in January, Crockett was 8 up on the Capitol City representative in a University of Houston survey on the Senate race later that month. Crockett said this week that her internal polling showed her with a 4-point advantage at 49 percent - just one short of winning outright on March 3.
Crockett and Talarico could be destined for a runoff with Ahmad Hassan as a third Democratic nomination contender who could force overtime if the two frontrunners are close. A GOP primary runoff appears to be even higher probability with Cornyn and Attorney General Ken Paxton expecting to face off in OT while U.S. Rep. Wesley Hunt of Houston is eliminated in third place in round one.
The FCC has popped up as an issue across the aisle in Texas as well - with Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller calling for a probe in conjunction with the Federal Election Commission into alleged interference in his re-election race after he was locked out of his Facebook page for 12 hours on Tuesday.
Social media has been Miller's lifeblood as a politician who hasn't needed to raise gargantuan sums of money to win like fellow Republicans in statewide races as a result of the huge followings he has on Facebook, X and other forum sites.
Miller, who's facing Nate Sheets in the primary election, also has called on the White House to look into why he lost access on the first day of early voting to a site that's been his main stage and weapon in a fight against a challenger who's heavily armed and touting Governor Greg Abbott as a marquee supporter.
"Heads will roll," the agriculture commissioner warned on Tuesday.
more to come ... | 
