Democrat James Talarico scores crushing win in Texas Senate race

Texas is such a big story tonight. Katie Simpson is at the James Tallarico watch party. Lots going on, not just about James Tallarico, but the whole state. Adrian, so there has been a wild sequence of events that has happened here at this party. There are two different areas where the watch is taking place. We're in one section and then there's a glass wall behind us and TV's showing different networks are in the other way. Not in this space, just from where I can see here, another American news outlet called for Tallarico, and all I saw was people running and jumping and cheering and screaming and running. But in here, there are so many people in here that the TVs have been freezing. So the announcements and everything have been a bit delayed, and so word is now spreading that a number of American outlets have called this race. For James Tallarico, and so we're seeing these moments, oh hold on, the TV that keeps freezing is showing a projection alert, so here we go, one second, something has to do. Tallarico, through the TV that kept freezing, and delaying the response, finally projected as a winner on the network they're watching in this room, have a listen. The timing that we happen to just be here when that call came into this room, but it was happening in sort of different networks call it at different times, so we suspected it was coming anytime soon and now it's here. When I look into the room here, people are crying. People are hugging. They are so excited. They are in disbelief. This was an underdog campaign from the start that slowly continued to build momentum with Democrats hammering a message about affordability, accusing Ken Paxton, the Republican candidate, in this. election race, of being corrupt, of being too close to Donald Trump, and really offering a different message from what existed here in Texas. So the crowd is clearly extremely excited. If I may, we've got people crying. Hooray! I'm going to pull over some people who are crying. Just one second. Ma'am, may we ask you how you're feeling in this moment? How did this finally happen? Yes. Trenches doing the grassroot work to make it. What does it say to the rest of the United States that Texas flipped blue? What it says is that we have a voice, we have a vote, and when we come together and unify and we're thinking about what's best for all humanity, not just for those who are super rich, or those who are kind of super rich and a little bit of super rich, but we look at all of the humans together and we look at what's in the best interest of humanity, these are the results you're going to continue to see. What are you predicting for the rest of the night? I'm predicting a tsunami! It's already been happening. So many red states are flipping and they keep flipping. And what I'm expecting tonight is that so many people have kind of checked out of politics, are going to check back in, and they're going to start making their leaders accountable once they've been sworn in in January. And I didn't catch your name earlier. What's your name? I'm Latonya Pegues. I live here in Austin, Texas. Thanks for your time. I appreciate it. Thank you so much. You're welcome. Of course. Au revoir. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. We've been chatting with a lot of the folks Bye. that are hanging out sort of where we're all camped out. Bye. Bye. And when we identify ourselves as a Canadian network, Bye. Bye. we often get apologies for what's gone on with the trade war, some of the rhetoric around the 51st state. This woman had said, you know, you're welcome here. Don't feel upset by the rhetoric that you're hearing from different politicians when it comes to the Canada-U.S. relationship. It's a crowd that is ready to celebrate, guys. There's a woman over here that's crying. If we have time, guys, I'm going to... Can we snag the woman right there? Right here. Hi. We're live on TV in Canada. Come on. It's okay. Can I get your name? Margaret Martin. Tell me why you're crying. Here we go, here we go. Because I'm hopeful. Because I'm hopeful. And I feel joy. And this is amazing. As a Democrat in Texas, did you ever think this day would come? No, it's been a really, really dry spell for a really long time, and it's felt like the control of the money and the corruption has just made, like, seems like this is not possible. Like, it didn't seem possible. The people have spoken. The people have spoken. Why do you think this happened now? There's so many reasons, but I think in part, you know, when the current pretend like I'm on the ballot and the people said, that's it. Like, like, like it's like it's going all the way down right tonight. I sleep really well. I think this is my celebration. Like this is amazing. This is amazing being here with all of these people and I'm going to go home and have a really good night's sleep. For the first time in a while. I didn't catch your name. What's your name? Margaret Martin. Thank you very much, Margaret. So, you got... Cheers and screams of joy. You've got tears of joy from Margaret there, because this, of course, is generational change. The Democrats have not been able to win a Senate election in this state since 1988. 88, James. James Tallarico, of course, was born in 1989. So this is a generational shift, a generational change, and the people here are celebrating. Katie Simpson, I was saying earlier to the panel, you are an immovable force. Only, only you would be there and be able to pluck these poor crying people out of the crowd in this moment. But I feel like we all just got a political science class from them just now about the story of the exhaustion in Texas and what this moment represents to people who thought their voices would never be heard. Katie Simpson in Austin, Texas, that was remarkable, as are you. Thank you very much.