Students attending the event, whether in protest or to support Talarico’s campaign, held conflicting views over whether Talarico and his opponent Ken Paxton’s Christian values will be the deciding factor in the ballot box.
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Red “Make America Affordable Again” campaign signs waved throughout a packed Mark & Paula Hurd Grand Ballroom Wednesday night as Democratic U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico took the stage at Baylor. According to the Talarico campaign, 1,100 people RSVP’d for the event.
We live in a time and country with no shortage of things worth caring about. Yet too often, an issue does not seem to matter until its consequences are relevant, immediate, visible or catastrophic. A war thousands of miles away is an easy headline to scroll past; a local decision can happen without most of the people it affects ever knowing; an injustice can continue quietly for years if it never becomes dramatic enough to command national attention.
Trump encouraged voter turnout and touts policy victories, saying, “Pretend I’m on the ballot.” He also announced that if Republicans win the House and Senate, every adult U.S. citizen would receive a $5,000 dividend.
As James Talarico and Ken Paxton campaign for the U.S. Senate, both candidates have made Christianity a prominent part of their political identities. But the two candidates draw very different conclusions about how their faith should shape government, from the separation of church and state to the role of Christian values in public policy.
Baylor’s student body has had the opportunity to react to various political events on campus over the past year. Tables add color to Fountain Mall day in and day out, and may or may not be political in nature. One constant remains, however: Baylor University is not, and ought not to be, directly political.
Following the announcement that Democratic U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico will visit Baylor’s campus, members of the Baylor community have begun discussing the event both on-campus and online.
James Talarico will host a campaign event at 7 p.m. Sept. 16 at the Mark and Paula Hurd Center. Baylor extended invitations to Talarico, the Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate, and Republican candidate Ken Paxton, the Texas attorney general. Paxton’s campaign was unable to accommodate Baylor’s available dates.
Tensions continued to grow over the summer between political adversaries as Texas state Sen. James Talarico called on Attorney General Ken Paxton to release internal records related to a controversial child sexual abuse case involving former Waco attorney and Baylor Law graduate Adam Hoffman.
A lack of reading in our country reflects more than the low literacy rates, but also the lack of understanding that drives the ever-growing economic, political and educational divides and high tensions that seem inescapable.
In the aftermath of national attention over Baylor hosting Turning Point USA on campus, statements made at the closed event have ignited controversy amongst students and faculty.
The postwar order is ending in real time. The people running the world are old, and they won’t be around to live with the consequences of the choices they’re making now.
Before Baylor’s stop on the Turning Point USA tour, which started 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, volunteers in white Turning Point USA shirts with black text reading “Freedom” lined the aisles while pop songs and red, white and blue lights filled the room.
As of Wednesday morning, TPUSA’s “This is the Turning Point” tour is a closed event and will not allow media coverage access. Six members of The Lariat were denied credentials to the tour in an email from TPUSA’s press office.
The event, originally featuring Executive Vice President Donald Trump Jr., “Border Czar” Tom Homan and Political Commentator Benny Johnson, will now host Attorney General Ken Paxton, Homan and Johnson. Turning Point USA Baylor posted a new graphic Tuesday morning with Paxton, Homan and Johnson.
The U.S. Congress must represent the nation, which, in turn, is always developing. Every new generation is associated with new problems, new difficulties and new solutions. Congressmen should not be able to serve forever. A term limit will help the country to move in tandem with the changing society.
What might it look like if students attended All Are Neighbors, then walked together to the Quadrangle for prayer and, from there, continued on to the Turning Point USA event? What conversations might emerge not in isolation, but in movement — in the shared experience of listening, reflecting and then listening again?
The Iran war is now in its 46th day. Iran responded by restricting access to Hormuz, which carries about a fifth of the world’s seaborne oil, and moving to toll vessels transiting the strait. Waco drivers are already feeling it. The local average hit $3.38 a gallon last week, up 21 cents in seven days and 75 cents year-over-year, according to AAA data.
Wherever you stand politically, it’s clear that President Donald Trump’s tactics are far different from those of any other president regarding the Iran conflict. He doesn’t stop at ultimatums or negotiations; rather, he humiliates, profanes, libels and threatens. And Iran isn’t the only victim.
Classrooms are supposed to be spaces where students learn how to think, not what to think. But when professors introduce their own political views, especially in classes unrelated to politics, it can blur that line. For many students, it creates an uncomfortable dynamic where disagreeing doesn’t feel like a real possibility.
As Turning Point USA prepares to visit Baylor, a coalition of student groups are organizing an alternative event focused on unity, dialogue and inclusion.
President Donald Trump addressed the nation Wednesday from the White House, declaring that the U.S. is “on track to complete all of America’s military objectives shortly” in Iran — a message aimed at reassuring a public paying more at the pump and growing skeptical of his handling of the economy.
For the Texas Senate seats, Republican Sen. John Cornyn is in a primary runoff against Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton on May 26. Cornyn led the March 3 primary 43% to 41%, but neither cleared the majority threshold. Trump has not endorsed either candidate. Democrats have not won statewide in Texas since 1994. Democratic state Rep. James Talarico won his party’s nomination over Rep. Jasmine Crockett. A March Impact Research poll showed Talarico leading Cornyn 43% to 41% and Paxton 44% to 43% among likely voters.
Led by Baylor’s Intercultural Engagement Office, Civil Discourse Week ran from Monday to Friday and included panels, lectures and discussions to help students talk through issues people may not agree on, according to Dr. Kevin Villegas, dean of intercultural engagement.
Moving from discussions in Baylor Science Building classrooms to conversations in federal agency meetings, Austin senior Miriam Daniel has seen firsthand how healthcare policy takes effect.
The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, which the House passed in February and the Senate has debated since March 17, would require documentary proof of U.S. citizenship to register to vote and photo identification to cast a ballot in federal elections.
TPUSA is coming to Baylor, and students have varying reactions. Some argue that Baylor is expanding free speech, while others argue that Baylor is making a clear political statement by inviting the organization onto campus.
Voters have demanded one thing: change. From Trump to Talarico, the antiestablishment wave has reshaped both parties. This November in Texas, with outsider candidates on both sides of the ballot, the future of American politics is on the line.
Jim Jaska has been the mayor of Ross, Texas, for 40 years. But in four decades at the helm of the 250-person community just north of Waco, he’s never seen a situation like this: plans for a $10 billion data center are underway right in the little town’s backyard, threatening its rural identity — and he wasn’t told anything about it.
Gas prices in Texas have surged more than 70 cents per gallon since the U.S. went to war with Iran three weeks ago. The near-total shutdown of the Strait of Hormuz has driven oil prices up more than 40%, pushing the national average to its highest point since 2023 and sending diesel past $5 for the first time in three years.

