Democrats running for Texas Senate are railing against billionaires and corruption as part of their efforts to win a statewide seat for the first time in more than 30 years. 

State Representative James Talarico, D-Austin, entered the race Tuesday and made it the focal point in his campaign launch video. In an interview with CBS News Texas hours after he jumped into the primary, he said, "I've decided to take my fight against billionaire megadonors from the State House to our nation's capital." He said billionaires have too much power and influence on politics and policy, and he accuses them of dividing the country. 

Talarico said he's not just criticizing Republican billionaires, but Democrats too. "I am out here calling out billionaire megadonors regardless of what side of the aisle they're on because they have way too much influence in our politics. Not that they don't deserve every seat. And right now, they own all the seats at the table, and there's not enough room for regular Texans."

Talarico pledged not to accept any donations from corporate PACs. During a rally in Round Rock Tuesday night, he announced he raised $1 million during the first 12 hours of his campaign. When asked what he believes are the biggest problems facing the country and what his solutions would be, Talarico criticized the reconciliation bill passed by Republicans called the "One Big Beautiful Bill." 

Talarico said, "In that big ugly bill, they gutted our health care, they defunded schools, and they did all that to cut taxes for their donors. So, when you're doing the people's business instead of your donor's business, you fight for things like I've fought for at the state capitol, lowering the cost of prescription drugs, I passed the first-ever cap on insulin co-pays in the state of Texas. I passed a major bill to bring down the costs of childcare across Texas." Republicans point out that the legislation prevented income tax rates from rising for everyone. 

An increasingly crowded primary

Talarico joins former Dallas Congressman Colin Allred and retired NASA Astronaut Terry Virts in the Democratic primary.

Allred entered the race July 1, and he has been campaigning across the state ever since. He recently unveiled his platform to take corruption out of politics. He told CBS News Texas his plan is designed to give every day Texans more power over the agenda in Washington. 

"There's the commitments I've made to folks which is that I have never taken a dime of corporate PAC money, and I won't," said Allred. "I never traded stocks and believed that we should ban every member of Congress from trading stocks." 

Allred also said he wants to end gerrymandering. "We've seen that here in Texas, with this stealing really of seats here, just blatantly saying we're just going to do it. You can't stop us. Well, it's possible for us to ban that and I want to do that. I want to see every state have nonpartisan commissions that draw the districts in every state. Let's get away from this idea of politicians picking their voters." 

Last month, Texas Republicans passed newly drawn Congressional maps that will take effect for the midterm elections next year. While Democrats are challenging the new maps in court and say they violate the Voting Rights Act, Republicans say the maps and redistricting in the middle of the decade are perfectly legal. 

Polls show the economy and inflation remain top concerns. When asked how his plan will lower costs for people Allred said, "When I think about lowering costs, I think about the areas where I know that we can help working people. To me that's housing, that's childcare, and elder care. That's healthcare. That's the cost of education. These are all areas where I know we can have concrete steps, and I have concrete plans for what we can do to lower folks' costs and to give them a chance to get ahead." 

Former El Paso Congressman Beto O'Rourke and current Congressman Joaquin Castro of San Antonio are still considering entering the Democratic primary for Senate.

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