Texas Democratic U.S. Senate nominee James Talarico has outlined key pledges to support veterans living in the state.
Talarico, a state lawmaker, is facing off against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in a pivotal midterm election. Paxton has been endorsed by President Donald Trump but is locked in a tight race in the traditionally red state.
While speaking to a crowd during an event last Friday in Killeen, Texas, Talarico said he would provide additional support to Texas veterans if he is elected this November. Texas has the second-largest population of former military service members in the nation, with more than 1.5 million veterans.
“They deserve a senator who will fight for them the way they fight for us,” Talarico said. “That’s why I’m proud to announce my plan to support our brave men and women in uniform and bolster the systems they rely on when they return home.”
The Lone Star State is reliably Republican, but with recent polls showing Talarico and Paxton in essentially a dead heat more than two months out of voters heading to the ballot box, swaying this voting bloc could provide an advantage for Talarico to pull the upset.
This, in turn, would affect the balance of power in the Senate and Trump’s ability to carry out his legislative agenda.
Talarico’s Pledge to Military Veterans
Talarico touched on numerous issues that affect veterans daily, including medical care, benefits, navigating the Department of Veterans Affairs, and legislation currently stalled in Congress.
The Democrat said he would reverse the Trump administration’s termination of federal veteran employees at the VA, adding that he would reclassify VA medical care as “mandatory spending” to protect it from annual budget fights in Congress.
“The system has failed the Americans who put their lives on the line for us—resulting in skyrocketing rates of suicide and food insecurity, and challenges with homelessness, healthcare access, and employment,” Talarico’s team said in a news release. “We are also failing the military family members who sacrifice for our freedom.
“That’s why our campaign is unveiling a comprehensive policy agenda to support veterans and military families, ensuring they have access to the support they earned.”
The 37-year-old proposed automatically enrolling all eligible veterans in VA health care and said he was opposed to privatizing a VA system sometimes maligned by the broader veteran community due to wait times for benefits, for example.
He also said he wanted to help people transitioning from military to civilian life, with more funding for programs aimed at helping homeless veterans in Texas.
Policies aimed at supporting military families were also announced, like passing the Love Lives On Act that is currently contained in the controversial 60-plus bill package known as the Take Care of America’s Veterans Act. This act would allow Gold Star spouses of service members who died to continue receiving benefits even if they remarry.
Similarly, Talarico said he would allow military children to remain on TRICARE benefits until age 26.
He also said he would focus on veteran mental health by expanding telemedicine options and would reduce wait times for those in need.
Talarico and Paxton face each other in the Nov. 3 general election.
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