A crowd of James Talarico supporters waited for hours outside Austin’s Long Center for the Performing Arts on election night, cheering as CNN screens showed the Democrat leading in some Texas counties. The mood shifted when results from Grayson County showed Republican Ken Paxton ahead there. As counting continued, Talarico’s supporters grew hopeful of a win.

Young Democrats gathered in Austin, a Democratic stronghold surrounded by rural areas that have traditionally voted Republican. Volunteers were given priority access after campaigning door to door and making thousands of calls. The local Democratic Party had to arrange a second election-night event to accommodate the turnout.

Before the final results were in, Talarico spokesperson JT Ennis said youth voting had risen by 200% and Latino participation by 179%. He cautioned that Republicans traditionally vote on Election Day, but said the figures gave the campaign reason for confidence. At a polling place in Dove Spring, a southeastern Austin suburb with a 69% Hispanic population, young voters chanted the campaign slogan, “Clear Eyes, Full Hearts, Can’t Lose.”

Talarico, 37, is a former Presbyterian seminarian and middle-school teacher who built his campaign around community engagement and populist themes. The slogan comes from the television series Friday Night Lights, about an underdog high-school team. His race is a historic challenge: the last Democrat elected to the Senate from Texas was Lloyd Bentsen in 1988, a year before Talarico was born.

On the campaign trail, Talarico spoke about economic hardship, including the story of a Houston grandmother who worked 10 hours a day caring for her five-year-old grandson but could no longer afford her rent and was evicted. He also cast the contest as a struggle between ordinary people and wealthy interests, saying billionaires were the only minority “destroying America.”

Talarico’s campaign referred to $326 million spent to undermine him, including $158 million donated by Elon Musk. The spending focused in part on an old remark by Talarico, “God is non-binary,” made during a debate about transgender athletes. Addressing supporters on election night, he urged them to stay united, arguing that those in power wanted voters to see one another as enemies.

Sources: La Repubblica.