James Talarico picked at the brisket with his bare hands and polished off a rack of pork ribs. Sausage links and “Texas Twinkies” — stuffed jalapeño peppers wrapped in bacon — crowded the butcher paper on his overflowing tray of smoked meats. The best bite, he said, was a lemony concoction of pork chunks called “brakes.”
Welcome to the US Senate race in Texas.
In an election season expected to hinge on weighty matters such as affordability concerns and the war in Iran, a non-pocketbook issue has emerged early in the campaign: whether Talarico, the Democratic nominee, is a vegan. ...
