Democratic U.S. Senate candidate state Rep. James Talarico has launched a $25 million statewide initiative to reach Black voters six weeks before election day.

The initiative is multifaceted and launched as Talarico continues to lead Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton in the polls. A Real Clear Politics average of multiple recent polls has Talarico beating Paxton by three points. The once strong Republican seat has been labeled toss-up by Real Clear Politics and other organizations.

“There is no way to win Texas without sustained, on-the-ground engagement in Black communities,” Talarico said. His campaign’s plan “further solidifies our commitment to organize and energize Black Texans who have been taken for granted for far too long by both political parties.”

His campaign has launched a “Souls to the Polls” initiative, expanding outreach primarily to Black churches in Texas. It’s similar to a Souls to the Polls initiative launched in Virginia in 2021 by former Vice President Kamala Harris and Democrat Terry McAuliffe. The initiative also primarily targeted Black churches, The Center Square reported. McAuliffe lost to Republican Glenn Youngkin. Critics have argued Souls to the Polls campaigns violate IRS rules governing tax-exempt entities, including churches.

“Black churches have carried Texans to the polls for generations,” said Carl Davis, founder of C.D. Davis and Associates, who is running the Souls to the Polls initiative. “Our job is to make sure every voter who hears the call to vote on Souls to the Polls Sunday has a plan to vote and makes their voice heard. Wherever Black people of faith gather, we’ll be there.”

Talarico’s campaign also launched a door-to-door canvassing operation in partnership with the Texas Together Coordinated Campaign. It’s also invested in BlackTOP, an initiative of the Texas Organizing Project PAC, to turn out Black voters in Harris County.

This week, Talarico for Texas launched a multi-million-dollar digital, radio and print ad buy in Black media statewide. His campaign’s newest radio ad, “Legacy,” is slated to run on gospel, talk, hip-hop, R&B and news stations statewide. His digital ad, “Afford It,” is airing statewide on digital platforms and TV. The campaign is also running ads in historic Black newspapers statewide.

Three Black-owned firms are leading the latest paid communications outreach. They include Bryson Gillette, a strategic communications firm founded by Bill Burton, the former press secretary for Barack Obama’s presidential campaign who also served as deputy press secretary in the Obama White House. They also include Foston International Communications, based in Fort Bend County, which ran ads for former U.S. Rep. Robert (Beto) O’Rourke’s 2018 U.S. Senate campaign and 2020 gubernatorial campaign, and Advantage Communications Group of Houston led by Linda Brown. Brown was the former press secretary for Rev. Jesse Jackson and senior advisor to the late U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee and the late Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner among others.

Talarico is leading Paxton among Hispanic and Black voters by 19 points and 77 points, respectively, according to the most recent polls. Paxton leads Talarico among white voters by 19 points.

Talarico is leading Paxton by more than 30 points among independents, according to the latest Texas Public Opinion Research poll.

Talarico has said throughout the campaign that he recognizes there’s a hesitancy among Black voters but his campaign is committed to reaching them, as well as Republicans and all voters. At a campaign event at a large church in Houston in July, Talarico was confronted by Black voters who said they “didn’t trust him” and that he couldn’t win without their vote. Kandice Webber, an organizer with Houston’s Black Lives Matter, demanded that he answer her questions or “suffer the consequences.” Voters raised questions about reparations for descendants of slaves and police brutality.

Black voters and others have also expressed opposition to Talarico’s pro-transgender policies and comments about multiple sexes and genders and God being “non-binary,” according to multiple polls. In the last several years, Black and Hispanic Democratic politicians left the party over these issues, arguing the party no longer represented them, The Center Square reported. By the 2024 election, Texas Democrats suffered massive losses with politicians and voters leaving the party and largely Hispanic districts at the border overwhelmingly voting Republican.

Two years later, a growing percentage of Texas voters who were polled who previously voted for President Donald Trump now say they are voting for Democrats. The primary reason they give is Trump administration economic policies they say have made life unaffordable, including tariffs and the Iran war, The Center Square reported.

Talarico’s campaign says its Black voter outreach plan “is the largest of its kind in modern Texas history.”

Paxton’s campaign hasn’t launched a comparable initiative. Paxton’s campaign office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Bethany Blankley, Center Square