Democratic state Rep. James Talarico is reaching across the aisle as his closely watched Senate race in Texas inches closer, hiring a former aide to outgoing Republican Sen. John Cornyn in a rare cross-party move.
Talarico’s campaign announced Tuesday that Jacob Smith, Cornyn’s former deputy legislative director, has been tapped to serve as the Democratic Senate nominee’s deputy policy director.
In a statement on Tuesday, Talarico’s campaign said the hire, first reported by NOTUS, “demonstrates Talarico’s longtime commitment to bipartisanship — bringing Republicans, Democrats, and independents together to fix this broken, corrupt political system.”
“I’ve worked for Republicans like Senator Cornyn my entire career, but this year I’m proud to be joining James Talarico’s campaign,” Smith said in a statement. He called Texas’ scandal-plagued Republican Senate nominee, state Attorney General Ken Paxton, the “most corrupt, self-dealing politician in Texas who would sell out working people’s futures to the highest contributor just to hold onto power.”
