2026年2月2日，美国东部时间晚上9:34发布 / 来源：CNN
作者：爱德华-以撒·多弗
美国参议院民主党候选人、得州州议员詹姆斯·塔拉利科（D-奥斯汀）于2026年1月24日星期六在得州乔治敦举行的得州劳工联合会政治教育委员会会议上，与得州议员贾丝明·克罗克特（D-Texas）进行辩论。
鲍勃·登姆里希/得州论坛报/Pool/AP
距离选举日仅剩一个月，得州参议院民主党初选变得异常紧张。一名TikTok用户的指控使这场竞选活动陷入混乱，并在反对声中引发了重要的支持。
事件始于周日晚上，摩根·汤普森发布了一段视频，回忆她所说的1月份詹姆斯·塔拉利科在一次私人谈话中对她的评论：他称自己的前对手、前美国议员科林·奥尔雷德为“平庸的黑人男子”。
塔拉利科的竞选团队周一发布了一份候选人声明，称汤普森的说法是“对一次私人谈话的误解”，并解释道：“我描述的是众议员奥尔雷德的竞选方式平庸，但他的生活和服务并不平庸。”汤普森承认她没有录音，并且他们之前同意将这次谈话视为非正式的（即不对外公开的）。
但这一指控在周一给塔拉利科的竞选活动带来了冲击，助手们忙得不可开交，同时促使在参议院竞选中退出的奥尔雷德——他退出是因为贾丝明·克罗克特议员临时决定参加竞选——尽管他在2024年12月曾因克罗克特的参选而感到不满（认为她是在驱赶自己），但他最终还是为汤普森背书，支持她在激烈的竞选中胜出。这一事件也重新引发了关于身份政治和选举能力的质疑，这些问题长期以来一直困扰着民主党和这次初选。
汤普森声称，身为白人的塔拉利科说：“我报名竞选的是一个平庸的黑人男子，而不是一个强大、聪明的黑人女性。”
塔拉利科在声明中否认了汤普森转述的原话，但表示：“我理解我的评论可能会被解读为对一位议员的批评，尤其是考虑到这个国家痛苦的种族主义历史，我非常关心我的言论对他人的影响。”
周一晚间接受CNN采访时，奥尔雷德表示，他认为竞选团队的声明“实际上是承认他说了那些话”，并对自己没有直接收到塔拉利科的道歉感到惊讶。
“我不仅代表我自己，还代表全国的黑人候选人进行回应，”奥尔雷德说，“即使你在总统候选人那里领先六个百分点，你仍然会被称为‘平庸’。”他提到了自己在2024年参议院竞选中的表现，对比了卡玛拉·哈里斯在该州的支持率（奥尔雷德比哈里斯高出约五个百分点）。
塔拉利科被指控的言论
汤普森告诉CNN，去年秋天，一位朋友让她关注塔拉利科的竞选活动，她更喜欢塔拉利科而非奥尔雷德。参加他在达拉斯的一次活动后，她开始利用自己的社交媒体影响力为他造势。她说，塔拉利科的工作人员联系了她，询问她在集会上发布的视频情况，随后便开始向她提供筹款数据和他“庆典”在线辩论的片段等信息，以帮助她宣传。
“这就像一种共生关系。我根本没有从竞选活动中获得报酬，”汤普森表示，“但我一直在与竞选团队保持密切沟通。”
汤普森说，当她收到塔拉利科的筹款短信，署名是民主党策略家詹姆斯·卡维尔（他一直敦促民主党人远离身份政治）时，这种关系开始出现裂痕。汤普森认为这是对黑人女性的隐性批评，当她向竞选团队表达不满时，一名助手提出可以让她与塔拉利科进行对话——要么公开录制视频让她发布，要么“非正式地”私下交谈。
她说，她选择了更随意的私下交谈，没有录音。但她清楚地记得1月12日在普拉诺举行的市政厅会议前后台的对话。汤普森说，她对与卡维尔的关联表示担忧，并暗示他可能在追逐大牌，这促使塔拉利科说：“所以你担心我是个叛徒？”她告诉塔拉利科，他忽视了自己无意中触及的种族问题，他回应说：“我有盲点。”
竞选发言人JT·恩尼斯证实了与汤普森的联系——“塔拉利科竞选团队与得州的许多创作者合作，让他们了解竞选动态”——并且他们确实在普拉诺活动前进行了交谈。但恩尼斯告诉CNN，塔拉利科不记得说了这些话，他的说法得到了一位助手的支持，两人都表示该助手在场，但该助手未接受采访。
当汤普森提到她在网上看到有人希望塔拉利科转而竞选州长（他在启动参议院竞选之前曾考虑过这一选项，并且在克罗克特后来加入竞选时被敦促重新考虑）时，对话转向了这个话题。
“就在那时，他说，‘我报名竞选的是一个平庸的黑人男子，而不是一个强大、聪明的黑人女性’，”汤普森说，“这是他的原话。”
汤普森还指控塔拉利科的竞选团队试图让她闭嘴，称她的Instagram账号在她发布有关指控的视频后几分钟内消失，Threads账号也被暂停。汤普森承认她不知道这是如何发生的，因为竞选团队没有人有她的密码，但“这里面有太多的因素在起作用。太反常了。发生的时间太快了。”
至于汤普森关于社交媒体账号被关闭的说法，恩尼斯回应道：“不。我们没有这种权力，也永远不会这样做。”
奥尔雷德的回应
在汤普森的视频走红后不久，奥尔雷德发布了自己的视频，猛烈抨击塔拉利科。
“詹姆斯，让我给你一些坦诚的建议，”奥尔雷德说，“如果你想称赞黑人女性，就直接称赞。不要一边称赞一边又贬低黑人男性。”
他还表示，身为长老会神学院学生的塔拉利科在竞选活动中讨论基督教以及民主党人如何与宗教选民建立联系时，受到了不公平的关注。
“我们不需要你（的这种表述），”他说，“你说的内容并没有什么新意，你只是用了那种方式来说。”
参议院初选将于3月3日举行。奥尔雷德当天也将出现在选票上，参加在众议院初选中对阵朱莉·约翰逊议员的竞选，这是他退出参议院竞选后重新参加的另一场竞选。
Texas Senate candidate James Talarico’s campaign roiled as he denies referring to ex-rival as ‘mediocre Black man’
Published Feb 2, 2026, 9:34 PM ET / Source: CNN
By Edward-Isaac Dovere
U.S. Senate primary candidate, Texas state Rep. James Talarico, D-Austin, participates in a debate with Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, during the Texas AFL-CIO Committee on Political Education Convention, Saturday, Jan. 24, 2026, in Georgetown, Texas.
Bob Daemmrich/Texas Tribune/Pool/AP
With now just a month to go until Election Day, the Democratic primary for US Senate in Texas has become so fraught that a TikToker’s accusations have roiled the race and prompted a major endorsement in the backlash.
The incident started Sunday night when Morgan Thompson posted a video recounting what she says was a comment Texas state Rep. James Talarico made to her in a private conversation in January: that he called his onetime opponent, former US Rep. Colin Allred, a “mediocre Black man.”
Talarico’s campaign released a statement from the candidate on Monday calling Thompson’s claims “a mischaracterization of a private conversation,” going on to explain, “I described Congressman Allred’s method of campaigning as mediocre — but his life and service are not.” Thompson acknowledged that she didn’t have a recording and that they had previously agreed to treat their conversation as off the record.
But the accusation slammed Talarico’s campaign on Monday, sending aides into a flurry and prompting Allred — who dropped out of the Senate race when Rep. Jasmine Crockett decided to make a last-minute entry — to endorse her in the intense race, despite frustrations he had in December that she had chased him out of the race by getting in. It also renewed the questions about identity politics and electability that have riven the primary and the Democratic Party more broadly.
Thompson alleges that Talarico, who is White, said: “I signed up to run against a mediocre Black man, not a formidable, intelligent Black woman.”
Talarico, in his statement denying the exact wording as Thompson relayed it, said, “I understand how my critique of the Congressman’s campaign could be interpreted given this country’s painful legacy of racism, and I care deeply about the impact my words have on others.”
In an interview on Monday evening, Allred told CNN he felt the campaign’s statement is “an admission that he said what he said,” and expressed surprise that he hadn’t heard from Talarico directly.
“I responded not just on my behalf, but on behalf of Black candidates around the country that even if you run six points ahead of your presidential candidate, you’re still called ‘mediocre,’” Allred said, referring to his results in the 2024 Senate race as compared to Kamala Harris in the state. (Allred outperformed Harris by about five points.)
What Talarico is accused of saying
Thompson told CNN that she had been turned on to Talarico’s campaign by a friend last fall and preferred him over Allred. After attending an event of his in Dallas, she started using her social media following to boost him. Talarico’s staff reached out about her video from the rally, she said, and was soon feeding her information like fundraising numbers and clips from his “Jubilee” online debate to help.
“It was like a symbiotic kind of thing. I wasn’t paid by the campaign at all,” Thompson said, though, “I was in constant communication with the campaign.”
Thompson said the relationship started to break down after she got a fundraising text for Talarico, signed by the Democratic strategist James Carville, who has been urging Democrats to start moving away from identity politics. Thompson said she saw that as an implicit critique of Black women, and that when she raised her frustrations with the campaign, an aide offered her to have a conversation with Talarico — either on camera for her to post, or “off the record,” as what was meant to be a private conversation.
She says she opted for the less formal conversation, without a recording. But she says she remembers the exchange, which took place backstage before a town hall in Plano on January 12, very well. Thompson said she raised concerns about the association with Carville and suggested that maybe he was chasing a big name, prompting Talarico to say, “So you’re concerned about me being a sell out?” She said she told him he was overlooking the racial dynamics he’d tipped into, prompting him to say, “I have blind spots.”
Campaign spokesman JT Ennis confirmed the association with Thompson — “the Talarico campaign works with lots of creators in Texas to keep them updated on the campaign,” he said — and that they did speak before the Plano event. But Ennis told CNN Talarico does not recall making either of those statements, and that his version was backed up by an aide whom both said was in the room but was not made available for an interview.
The conversation turned, Thompson said, when she mentioned to Talarico online chatter she was seeing from people wishing he had run for governor instead — an option he had considered before launching the Senate run and was urged to reconsider when Crockett jumped into the race late.
“That is when he said, ‘I signed up to run against a mediocre black man, not a formidable, intelligent Black woman,’” Thompson said, “That is a direct quote.”
Thompson also accused Talarico’s campaign of trying to silence her, claiming that her Instagram account had disappeared and her Threads account had been suspended within minutes of when she posted a video about her claims. Thompson does not know how this would have happened, she acknowledged, given that no one on the campaign has her password, but “It’s just too many factors in play. It’s just too many abnormalities. The timing of it was so fast.”
As for Thompson’s claims about the social media accounts being closed, Ennis said, “No. We do not have that kind of power, nor would we ever do that.”
How Allred responded
Shortly after Thompson’s video went viral, Allred posted his own video ripping Talarico.
“Let me just give you some free advice, James,” Allred said. “If you want to compliment Black women, just do it. Just do it. Don’t do it while also tearing down a Black man.”
He also suggested Talarico, a Presbyterian seminarian, was getting unfair attention for his discussion on the campaign trail of Christianity and how Democrats can make inroads with religious voters.
“We don’t need you,” he said. “You’re not saying anything unique. You’re just saying it looking like you do.”
The Senate primary is March 3. Allred is also on the ballot that day, in a House primary against Rep. Julie Johnson that he entered after leaving the Senate race.
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