As he prepares to take federal office in January, U.S. Sen.-elect James Talarico, D-Texas, met with his Republican predecessor Monday to discuss the transition of Texas’ first new senator in over a decade.
“(U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas) has served our state honorably, and I’m grateful for his advice and guidance,” Talarico wrote in an Instagram post. “Now is the time for us to come together — Democrats and Republicans — to deliver for Texas.”
Talarico’s conversation with Cornyn is part of a larger transition for the state and UT’s representation in the U.S. Congress. Along with Talarico, U.S. Rep. Greg Casar, D-Texas, was elected Nov. 3 to represent Texas’s 37th congressional district, which includes the University and surrounding areas. Texas will send 14 new people to Congress in January, after many Texans’ representation changed following last year’s congressional redistricting.
Here is what students need to know about Congress’s lame duck period, the time between an election and when new congress members take office.
What are new members doing right now?
New member orientation has started in both Congressional chambers in Washington, D.C. In these orientations, new members learn chamber rules and policy basics as they prepare to take office, said associate government professor Alison Craig. As a new member, Talarico is an orientee, but as a member who has represented a different part of Texas since 2023, Casar is not.
The challenge for the freshman senator will be learning the specific rules, Craig said.
“There are pages upon pages of rules and precedents that govern Senate procedure, and a freshman senator isn’t going to be able to learn all of that during the lame duck period, so they get a crash course in Senate procedure,” Craig said.
Talarico and Casar will also set up new offices and hire more staff, since Talarico needs to scale up his smaller state legislative office to represent the whole state, and Casar will have to transition to representing new territory.
The two will also vote on their chamber’s leadership. Casar will vote on who will be speaker of the House — the person second-in-line to the presidency — following the vice president. Talarico will vote on whether Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-NY, will remain the leader of his caucus.
Why does a change in representation matter?
Members of the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate have the constitutional power to vote on laws that can affect the entire country. They also field constituent phone calls and help people with federal services.
Congress also votes on the federal budget, which includes grants to universities like UT, which puts congressmembers in a position to negotiate for their state or district, wrote Joshua Blank, research director for the Texas Politics Project, in an email.
“If a state’s representatives, its house delegation and senators, aren’t negotiating for their district and their state, no one is,” Blank wrote. “Ultimately, there are some representatives who are better at extracting benefits for their districts and/or their states than others.”
Craig said Congress’ rules give senior members more power to influence their preferred policy areas than new members. Blank wrote, however, that the caucus may give Talarico more opportunity because he holds a consequential seat.
“The first challenge facing Talarico is that he enters as one of (100) Senators, and at the very bottom of the seniority list,” Blank wrote. “While this limits how much he can do, and certainly how much he can do on day one, it’s reasonable to expect that the Democratic leadership will be looking for chances to give him the opportunity to succeed given the importance of Texas to Republican political power.”
