By The American Tribune | Created at 2026-10-09 15:41:19 | Updated at 2026-10-09 16:27:50
49 minutes ago
In an absolutely bonkers decision, 93-year-old country music legend Willie Nelson decided to throw his popularity behind far-left Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico, who is running against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in the critical Senate race. Given how close the race is, many online saw Nelson’s promotion of the socialist-minded candidate, one known for his radically leftist culture war beliefs, as an absolute betrayal.
As background, Nelson’s endorsement of Talarico emerged on Thursday, October 8th, less than a month ahead of the November 3rd election and at a time when Texans appear almost evenly split between the two men. He did so in the form of a short video in which, wearing his trademark red bandana, Nelson insisted that Talarico would make a good Lone Star State Senator.
“I’ve gotten to know James Talarico. He’s a good man, who will be a good senator for the state of Texas. Please vote and vote for James Talarico,” Willie Nelson said in the short clip, which was quickly boosted on social media by Talarico’s team after having been shared by the Houston Chronicle.
As could be expected, this led to immediate and fierce outrage. One commenter on the Talarico team’s post, for example, wrote, “And Johnny Cash would have probably endorsed Ken Paxton. Also, water is wet.” “Yea, a 90 yr old recovering alcoholic pot head is your glowing endorsement..Bout right,” said another. “F*ck off Willie 😒 nobody cares about what you think of this clown 🤡,” said still a third.
Another chimed in to say, “Willie couldn’t find the right side of Texas politics with a GPS and a bloodhound. Stick to the guitar, partner. Talarico’s a wolf in a cardigan, smiling for the cameras till the lights go down, then he’s right back to those pre-campaign stances that make you check the locks. Give me Paxton, a sinner saved by grace, over some fella trying to edit God’s word like it’s a rough draft.”
Still other commenters chimed in and left messages like “This solidifies my vote for Ken Paxton,” “So? He always endorses Democrats. lol,” “Willie’s music is timeless. His politics should be forgotten,” “He’s probably smoked 10 million dollars worth of weed in his lifetime. People with that much brain damage tend to vote for people like Talarico,” and “Maybe Willie has Cannabis Use Disorder. Lol. His cognitive function is definitely impaired.” Pointing to the recent case of another, more modern country star–Jelly Roll–blowing up his career with ridiculous attacks on Trump, said, “Willie, Why would you Jellyroll your legacy?”
Yet another commenter joked about the message sent by citing Willie, writing (punctuation added), “Translation: I’m really losing this race. I gotta pull out an old guy who has done more drugs. Than, james has experience actually running anything. Don’t look at his history and that he lived with his parents until 2024. Or that they bought him his house. But pay attention to the old guy, because he knows, better”.
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Watch Willie endorse the radical leftist Senate candidate here:
BREAKING: @WillieNelson endorses James Talarico:
“I’ve gotten to know James Talarico. He’s a good man, who will be a good senator for the state of Texas. Please vote and vote for James Talarico.“ https://t.co/FD2nYpVrSU
— Team Talarico (@TeamTalaricoHQ) October 8, 2026
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video
