‘Black people don’t trust you’: James Talarico confronted by voters during Houston town hall

"Black people don't trust you for this reason. And you cannot win without us," said a woman identified as Kandice Webber. "So you stay here, you answer our questions, or you suffer the consequences," she said, shouting from across the room.

"I am happy to engage," he responded. "I appreciate you being here, and I appreciate you traveling in."

"I did it for my people, not for you," she responded, cutting the Senate hopeful off.

"That's wonderful," he said, attempting to hold off the crowd of disgruntled attendees. "That's alright, that's alright. This is what this conversation is supposed to be about."

Webber, a local organizer for Houston's Black Lives Matter chapter, voiced frustration after a Talarico campaign worker said he would answer only one more question, prompting groans from parts of the crowd.

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Following the exchange, Webber took to Facebook to expand on her criticism of Talarico. She blasted Talarico again and even went as far as threatening to undermine Talarico in the tight race against Ken Paxton. "For us real black folks, everyday black people, we gonna sit this shit out," she said. "We're gonna undervote your ass, James Talarico."

"Because I know civics," she continued. "What I know for a goddamn fact is that we've survived Ken Paxton as AG. Moving that motherfucker down the road to the Senate decreases his ability to terrorize and torture black Texas voters and Texas children. So a win is a motherfucking win."

Webber went on to say she was not going to allow Talarico to instill his "great white hope" agenda and let black voters down. The activist said she was not going to let white moderates win. The Houstonian concluded by stating, "That white boy should have stayed where the fuck he was," and that he thought he was going to be dealing with "colored people" but instead met "real niggas only."

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This comes as concerns mount within the Democratic Party that Talarico may not be able to win a large enough share of black voters—many of whom backed Jasmine Crockett in the March 3 primary election—to defeat Ken Paxton, who has mounted a formidable statewide campaign in the historically reliable red state.

Those worries have also been expressed by prominent Democratic operatives.

In an op-ed for the Houston Chronicle, former Obama and Harris adviser Ashley Etienne laid out some of the concerns party members have voiced surrounding Talarico's chances in November.

"There's no doubt that the race between scandal-plagued Attorney General Ken Paxton and state Rep. James Talarico offers Texas Democrats their best chance in decades to flip a Senate seat — but the Democratic Party faces a quiet crisis of Black disillusionment and disengagement that threatens electoral victories here and across the country," she said.

"For decades, black voters have been the unshakeable foundation of the Democratic coalition. But dangerous cracks have begun to form."

Talarico himself has acknowledged his struggles with black Democrat voters as many have soured after the defeat of Jasmine Crocket in March.

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