DAVID MARCUS: In Dallas, Talaricos firewall is starting to show some real cracks

I met Mark, in his late 50s, at an upscale restaurant in downtown Dallas. He is a lifelong Democrat and an immigration attorney, and, in general, is the kind of voter Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico needs not only to vote for him but to be excited to do so.

"My dad worked the railroad, made me go to college, we were LBJ [Lyndon B. Johnson] Democrats, and well, lets just say, Talarico is obviously very different from Johnson, or even Ann Richards [Texas last Democratic governor, who served in the 1990s]."

Mark declined to tell me who he was voting for, or even whether he would vote, but I suspect Talarico can count on him, especially given Marks less-than-favorable view of Republican Ken Paxton. But there was no excitement when he talked about the race. Like so many others I spoke with, he said, "This isnt like when Beto [ORourke] ran."

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If enthusiasm is a potential weak point for the Talarico campaign, then an even more worrisome one is his lagging support in the Black community, long the bedrock of Texas Democratic politics.

Jay and Darryl are two Black men in their 50s whom I met while they were having breakfast near the AT&T Discovery District. They each have very different ideas about what is going to happen Tuesday, when voters have their final say.

Jay told Fox News Digital of the Senate race, "Actually, I dont think it's going to be close, hes going to kill it, because he can get people to flip over," adding, "He would have had a harder time with [Sen. John] Cornyn."

Darryl, however, seemed less convinced, arguing that in Texas, "Conservatives arent loud, they dont march, they dont act up, they paint their hair, but I think they are the silent majority."

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Both men agreed that Talaricos failure to mend fences with his primary opponent, Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, is a problem for Talarico, but they differed on how significant a problem it was, with Jay arguing, "Shes still helping, just down-ballot."

Carlos, who lives in Dallas and works in a hotel, told me over a cigar that looking "at the trajectory of America… I just dont feel represented in any way." He went on to say, "I really wanted to believe it, the whole thing about no wars… my gas is super expensive from the people who said there was not going to be a war."

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This is good news for Talarico, in part because Carlos is a Joe Rogan fan who, though not a President Donald Trump voter, was open to the possibility that Trump could sway him, something that has not happened.

On the other side of the ledger for Talarico, or perhaps I should say for Paxton, is Debbie, a suburban mother who told Fox News Digital, "Im a moderate, I have voted for Democrats, I voted for Beto, but Talarico just says so much crazy stuff, it's too much for Texas."

Had these conversations taken place across the Lone Star State, it might be good news for Talarico, but all of these people are in the Dallas area, where he needs to rack up major numbers to offset GOP dominance in rural areas.

On Tuesday, I spoke with GOP consultant Vinny Minchello before we appeared on "The Will Cain Show." He said, "I do not like what I see in the early voting for Paxton