Axios Austin

May 04, 2026
It's Monday.
⛅ Today's weather: Partly sunny, with a high in the low 80s.
🎧 Sounds like: "Witch Dance" by Florence and The Machine, who perform at Moody Center tonight.
🎂 Happy birthday to our Axios Austin member Ashley Jelinek!
Today's newsletter is 1,039 words — a 4-minute read.
1 big thing: Why Dems could pick Talarico for VP in '28
State Rep. James Talarico (D-Austin) is an underdog for U.S. Senate, but his name is already being whispered as a potential 2028 vice presidential candidate.
Why it matters: The mere suggestion reflects just how stratospheric Talarico's rise has been — and how desperate Democrats are to win Texas' electoral votes.
What they're saying: "If Talarico wins the seat against the Republican nominee, I think he's likely or very likely to be the vice presidential pick in 2028," NYU marketing professor Scott Galloway said on "Pivot," the podcast he co-hosts with journalist Kara Swisher, following Talarico's March primary victory.
- Last year, influential podcaster Joe Rogan suggested Talarico should aim for the White House.
Flashback: Barack Obama's Senate run in 2004 — including a galvanizing keynote address at the Democratic National Convention that summer — established his national profile ahead of a successful presidential run in 2008.
- Current Vice President Vance had not served two years in the U.S. Senate before Donald Trump named him as his running mate in the 2024 election.
Zoom in: Talarico's campaign declined an Axios request for comment.
Between the lines: Selecting Talarico as a running mate — should he win in November — would "send a message that whoever was the presidential candidate ... would be reaching out and cares about the electorate that Talarico had resonated with," Joel Goldstein, a scholar of the vice presidency, tells Axios.
- "It's about who's picking and what they see their needs are. He would certainly be in the conversation," Goldstein adds.
Context: Talarico has carved out a new lane in Texas politics: a Christian Democrat who appeals to Hispanic voters and suburbanites — both key constituencies.
Follow the money: His campaign has been hauling in record amounts of cash, building a donor base around the country that would be attractive to any White House run.
The intrigue: A Talarico Senate win would immediately raise the question of whether he could help deliver Texas' 40 electoral votes to Democrats in 2028.
- Choosing Texas running mates (U.S. Sens. Lyndon B. Johnson in 1960; Lloyd Bentsen in 1988) has been a way for northern Democrats to reach into the South as they aim for ticket balance.
2. ... And why he might not get the nod
If Talarico wins the 2026 Senate race and if he's named to a White House ticket and that ticket wins — a string of very big "ifs" — he would resign his Senate seat, likely in early January 2029, before being sworn in as vice president.
- The governor would then be empowered to appoint his successor, who could be of either party.
Reality check: No Democrat has won a statewide election in Texas since 1994.
- Talarico will face either U.S. Sen. John Cornyn or Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who are vying for the GOP nomination in a May 26 runoff and who are trailing Talarico in recent polling.
Between the lines: If Talarico does manage to pull off an upset in Texas, national Democrats will be reluctant to give up his seat with a (likely) Republican governor — Greg Abbott — appointing his successor.
- "When push comes to shove in those conversations, that's often a decisive factor — you don't want to mess with a 50-50 Senate or one that's 51-49. You don't want to shake that up with other viable (running mate) options available, which there will be," Adam Schiffer, a scholar of American politics at TCU, tells Axios.
The bottom line: For every James Talarico, even if he wins in 2026, there could be a Jon Ossoff, the Democratic U.S. senator running for reelection in Georgia, or a Seth Bodnar, now running in Montana as an independent for the U.S. Senate.
3. 🤠 The Roundup: Wrangling the news
⚽️ Austin FC defeated St. Louis City SC 2-0 at Q2 Stadium yesterday, as stalwarts Brandon Vazquez and Owen Wolff returned to the field from injury. (Austin American-Statesman)
🎸 Willie Nelson made the New York Times' list of the 30 greatest living songwriters. (New York Times)
🏡 Single-family housing units built to be rentals are becoming a growing share of Austin's real estate market. (Austin Business Journal 🔒)
🦴 Texas de-extinction company Colossal Biosciences says it's aiming to revive another species: the bluebuck. The bluebuck is a member of the antelope family, hunted to extinction more than two centuries ago. (Axios)
4. 🗓️ Social calendar
Here's what's in store this week.
Monday
🎶 Dance to Raye at Moody Amphitheater. 6pm, general lawn starts around $90.
Tuesday
🇲🇽 Join the Mexic-Arte Museum for a Cinco de Mayo luncheon, featuring Raul A. Ramos, an associate professor and director of graduate studies at the University of Houston. $175, 11am-1pm.
📖 Hear from Jess Cannon, in conversation with authors Ali Hazelwood and Johnny Compton, to celebrate Cannon's book "Zoom with a View" at Book People on North Lamar Boulevard. Free, 7pm. Reserve your spot online.
Wednesday
🎭 Catch "Bridgerdown," the story of a widow and her daughter who arrive in London just in time for the social season, at The Vortex. $30, 8-11pm.
Thursday
🤠 Listen to Austin alt-country artist Megan Lacy's album release show at Meanwhile Brewing. Free, 7:30pm.
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5. 🙏 1 chart to go: Religious resurgence stirs Gen Z

New polling shows an uptick in religious fervor among young men, even as overall U.S. levels remain near historic lows.
Driving the news: A recent Gallup poll found that 42% of young men between the ages of 18-29 now say religion is "very important" in their lives, up from 28% a few years ago.
Zoom in: Churches, synagogues and mosques around metro Austin are engaging Gen Z.
- "The Great Awakening is happening right here in Austin with Gen Z," Joy512, a Christian radio station posted on Instagram last week. "Hundreds show up at Barton Springs to watch many get baptized."
Thanks to Astrid Galván and Bob Gee for editing this newsletter.
🥮 Asher might have to pick up some of these Austin goodies, by way of Portugal and Hawaii.
🎸 Nicole has Kacey Musgraves' new album on repeat.
Congrats to Friday news quiz winner Kimberly L., a retiree who loves living in downtown Austin. The answers: Ben McKenzie's new documentary is about cryptocurrency; Lammes Candies is closing down; UT had ousted KUT's fest from campus.
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