Everything was ready for Dan Kleban to launch his candidacy for Senate in Maine: He had informed top Democrats about his decision, hired staff to run his campaign and picked an early summer day in 2025 to make the public announcement.

And then a call came in from Washington. It was a warning from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.

“They were basically like, don’t launch,” said one person with direct knowledge of the situation. “We’re telling you: ‘Don’t launch.’”

Kleban’s campaign was stunned. Kleban was a politically active owner of a well-known brewery, and he hadn’t kept his plans a secret. Just a week earlier, Kleban and his aides had told the DSCC that they were announcing their campaign shortly after the July 4th holiday and received no pushback, according to two sources with direct knowledge of the situation.

Now, he and his campaign were left with the impression that if he ran, Democrats in Washington would make it difficult because they were holding their support for Maine Gov. Janet Mills.

The two sources also viewed the call as a fresh signal that Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, who controls the DSCC, was opposed to their candidacy, a worrying development given his yearslong dominance in Democratic politics.

A separate source familiar with the campaign categorically denied that the DSCC issued any threat, saying that the committee had made clear from the start that it would back Mills’ potential candidacy. The source, who also disputed that Schumer would be so involved in the race to have an opinion about Kleban’s campaign, said the brewery owner ultimately delayed his decision to announce because his advisers didn’t think he could win a primary without the committee’s support.

Talarico’s candidacy is an object lesson in what happens when liberals speak forcefully on behalf of what they truly believe—and here the Times poll sheds some light. For instance: Majorities of Texas voters say Talarico has “good character” and “the right moral values,” whereas majorities don’t say that of Paxton. And more see Paxton as extreme (49 percent) than see Talarico (43 percent) that way.

What should we make of this? Paxton and the entire GOP-MAGA apparatus are spending enormous sums of money to tar Talarico as unmasculine based on his previous positions on gender and religion. Talarico has walked back some of them. But, critically, he hasn’t done this fearfully and defensively.

Instead, Talarico has characterized the criticism as ludicrously trivial, and has highlighted how absurd it is for Paxton—who has a long trail of corrupt and adulterous conduct—to criticize the manhood of others. His tone toward Paxton has been one of incredulity: This corrupt lowlife is claiming he’s a man’s man and a good Christian? This guy? Seriously?

Meanwhile, Talarico has offered up a vision of masculinity that’s rooted in rectitude and integrity, in showing loyalty to neighbors (including immigrants—i.e., showing loyalty when it’s politically hard), in selflessly serving the community, and in protecting the vulnerable, all of it rooted in his own Christian faith.

Along those lines, here’s another striking Times finding: Talarico is leading by 27 points, 58–31, among independents. That’s probably too rosy, but it’s instructive. The real GOP game plan is to smear Talarico as a vaguely alien (read: homosexual) figure who isn’t one of “us” Texans. Talarico’s response is to be forthright on what he really believes—to say what he means and mean what he says—while tarring Paxton as the person of truly low character. For now, it’s appealing to independents. The poll also finds Talarico winning 9 percent of Trump voters.