There is a managerial dynamic in organizations that’s not hard to spot if you’re looking for it, which occurs when a successful business manager hires someone who’s clearly not up to snuff, but the manager has so much confidence in his managerial abilities and his ability to develop the new hire that he ignores all of the red flags. The psychology behind this is that the manager tries to prove to himself and others that his team’s success is largely due to his managerial abilities and not the combination of his leadership and the skills and talents of his people. This is how a lot of very incompetent people are hired.
That’s what I think is going on with Mark Cuban’s endorsement of Texas Democrat Senate candidate James Talarico.
Ever since Cuban inserted himself into the nation’s political conversation, he seems to always be looking for a way to make it about him. He’s got to be “the bride at every wedding, the corpse at every funeral,” as the saying goes. He’s an attention junkie.
In the run-up to this year’s midterm elections, a handful of races have taken center stage, three of which are Senate races: one in Maine, one in Michigan, and the one right in Cuban’s backyard in Texas.
Opportunistically, he’s tried to seize on the Texas race to make sure he gets his share of the headlines. Since the welcome mat has been rolled up on him by the Republican Party, that leaves only James Talarico (D-Texas) as his candidate of choice. No worries, though; Cuban has enough confidence in himself to compensate for both of them.
Never mind that the flavor of woke Talarico is selling is everything Texans aren’t. Never mind that Talarico, on policy matters, is as dumb as a brick. Never mind that on matters of morality and values, Talarico is as much of a psychopath as Hannibal Lecter.
For more voters than you’d like to think, this is all they need. They believe politicians based on their words and whether the politicians look like they really mean what they’re saying. Cuban knows that a large share of the electorate takes candidates’ words at face value, and that’s enough for him. He can work with Talarico.
So, what’s in it for Cuban? I think he’s convinced himself that if he campaigns for Talarico, he’d be the one to put the candidate over the top if Talarico were to pull out a victory. Cuban will convince himself it was all about him, that Talarico now owes him, and that he was an effective mentor and a kingmaker. He may even think this, finally, would make him a player in national politics, one of the only realms that he hasn’t yet conquered in American society.
And so, Cuban, who calls himself politically independent, is hitting the campaign trail with his young squire.
The Dallas Morning News covered a recent live podcast in which Cuban sat on stage alongside Talarico. It reported: “Cuban, the former majority owner of the Dallas Mavericks, is no stranger to politics. He said he agreed to join the podcast event after Talarico called for breaking up healthcare monopolies to lower prescription drug prices and other medical costs."
"James nailed it," Cuban said. "So here I am."
Cuban never mentioned Republican Ken Paxton, Talarico’s opponent, by name. But he repeatedly contrasted Talarico’s character and ethics with those of the attorney general.
"I believe very strongly that character is destiny," Cuban said. "When people are tested, when it hits the fan, that’s when real character emerges. When you see somebody like James, who truly is ethical, you can believe in him. You can trust him."
Texas Democrat James Talarico promises to raise taxes on hardworking Americans:
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) August 29, 2026
“If you are okay with getting taxed more, if you’re okay with me limiting your influence in politics, you are welcome to join this movement…” pic.twitter.com/Xj1PzgtcCh
You can say a lot of things about Cuban and be correct, but “unperceptive” is not one of them. That means that when Cuban emphasizes character as a reason he’s climbed aboard the Talarico train, he’s being blatantly disingenuous. To any intelligent person who’s been paying attention to this Senate race for longer than five minutes, one thing Talarico can’t count among his strengths is his character.
His whole campaign is a lie. Like Cuban himself, who was raised in a highly affluent suburb of Pittsburgh, Talarico is as "un-Texan" as it gets.
This campaign ad drew a ton of criticism because his handlers had to go out and rent this pickup truck to try to convince Texans that he’s one of them.
Talarico in Texas has released a new campaign ad!
— C-Reason🇺🇸 (@CreasonJana) July 30, 2026
First and foremost, it’s NOT his pickup truck … so yes, he’s trying to be something he’s not.
Second, he claims to have been raised by a single mother who instilled Christian Values.
So let’s explore his idea of Christian… pic.twitter.com/6nZkCrchlT
In a social media post for the campaign, it looks like his handlers had to hit up Amazon to buy Talarico a nice, clean cowboy hat and get some stubble on that face in a failed attempt to “Texanize” the theater kid. Some on social media have even speculated that his facial hair in the shot was digitally added. I can’t tell.
The more I think of this picture the more I have to laugh.
— Snarknado ⚓️ 🇺🇸 (@ZannSuz) June 2, 2026
Democrats are straight up delusional. They are tanking hard with men so their solution is to shove forward this limp wristed Talarico clown who hates everything real Texas stands for.
Now they slap a pristine cowboy hat… pic.twitter.com/s7aDYU0rYm
When you hear Cuban talk about Talarico’s character, keep in mind that these are things Talarico actually said:
- “God is both masculine and feminine and everything in between. God is non-binary.”
- The Daily Wire reported, “When asked to name something he loved other than his family or friends, the Democrat hoping to turn a Texas Senate seat blue said ‘trans children.’”
- LifeNews.com reported that in 2022, Talarico gave a sermon to a presumably Christian congregation in which he said, in the wake of the Dobbs decision, in which the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, "This summer, more than half our population became second-class citizens. Every one of our neighbors with a uterus became the property of the State. And nothing is more un-Christian.”
Is it that difficult to call a mother a mother?
The term “morally and intellectually ambiguous” comes to mind, and this is the candidate in whom Cuban wants you to have faith to move America forward.
Of course, with Cuban, there’s always a little “what’s-in-it-for-me” at play. In 2022, he founded Cost Plus Drug Company, which claims to help cut the cost of generic prescription drugs. It just so happens that the Talarico campaign’s “Breaking Up Big Medicine” plan will attempt to reduce prescription drug prices. The two are on the same page not only from a policy standpoint, but perhaps from a business perspective as well.
One of the biggest and most common mistakes Cuban makes when he gets into politics is consistently picking a loser. He’s out of step with the voters so consistently that if you were to bet on a political campaign, just pick the one he opposes and you’ll do OK.
In 2016, he endorsed Hillary Clinton for president. He did the same for Joe Biden in 2020 (we all know he lost) and again in 2024. He then campaigned for Kamala Harris in her losing bid against Trump. He supported Colin Allred in his losing campaign against Ted Cruz in the 2024 Senate race. He supported John Deaton (R-Mass.) in his losing attempt to topple Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) in 2024.
None of this bodes well for Talarico. A well-known, heavyweight political loser is now in his camp. An egotistical media personality who sucks the air out of every room he enters will now spend at least some of his time competing with his own candidate for attention. Cuban’s compulsion to take credit for every contribution he makes will likely diminish, in the eyes of the public, the candidate’s ownership of his own message.
Behind the scenes, I’m guessing that there will be a tug-of-war between Cuban and those shadowy leftist handlers with the big money who are in charge. For Cuban, this is a hobby in which he dabbles. For them, it’s a high-stakes operation in which control of the U.S. Senate hangs in the balance.
All of this helps Paxton. And all of it just reinforces something that should now be known as “the Cuban effect” in politics. Trust me, the one thing you don’t want if you’re running for office is Mark Cuban on your team. It’s a recipe for disaster.
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