Whoa. This is something you don’t see everyday. A former intern and right-wing organizer, Vasant Bhatt, who worked for Ted Cruz announced that he has voted for James Talerico over Ken Paxton.
“As a second-generation Indian American, I am thoroughly disgusted by the xenophobia, racial resentment, and increasingly brazen attacks on my identity,” Bhatt wrote. “My family has contributed to the American story through hard work, sacrifice, and an unwavering belief in the opportunities this nation promises. I am every bit as American as anyone else, and I will not tolerate being treated as a perpetual foreigner in the country I call home.”
“I implore every eligible Texan to get out and vote,” he said. “This election is about the kind of state and country we are prepared to defend—and the principles we refuse to surrender.”
Bhatt also confirmed that he voted Democratic in the state Railroad Commission race, where Republican candidate Bo French has been widely condemned for a racist tirade in which he said a photograph of mostly brown-skinned University of Texas students cheering at a Longhorns game proves the “problem is now obviously far worse than anyone imagined” and that Americans “have been displaced by foreigners.”
The demographics of Texas are changing and there are more brown people (generally Hispanic) than there have ever been before. Maybe Talerico is in the right place at the right time. I would say definitely but I remember the heartbreak of previous campaigns where Democrats ran a fine candidate and the Republican won anyhow. Turning Texas blue is a perennial dream amongst Democrats.
But that was then and this is now. It is possible that the times, they are a changin.’ Maybe Talerico can bring it home.
