The dueling and near-constant stream of takes has come to frame the intensely competitive primary as a referendum on identity politics in the Democratic Party, hardening each camp’s views against the other and making for an increasingly hostile intraparty contest in a midterm cycle Democrats see as their best chance in years to compete statewide.
“I had such high hopes for what Texas Democratic primaries could be, and I have just been really gut-wrenched at what this primary has become — and it’s not even because of words that are consistently coming out of each candidate’s mouth,” said Olivia Julianna, a Democratic social media influencer who is backing Talarico. “We would all do a lot of good if every once in a while we realized social media is not real life.”
