用法学习: 1. White House ousts Kimberly Guilfoyle as US ambassador to Greece: "When Ms. Guilfoyle was preparing to leave private life for public service, she did what any professional does and tried to close out her outstanding receivables 未收账款. Asking a client to pay for work already done is not corruption. It is the opposite of corruption," her lawyers wrote. It is unclear what will happen with the investigation following her ouster. According to a source familiar with the workings of inspector general offices, it may depend on whether the Department of Justice opens an investigation into her alleged misconduct. If not, the State Department inspector general may continue its work, but its findings could take a year or so to complete. 2. "She should have been doing murder boards for two weeks before going up there," one Trump adviser told CNN, before critiquing Zacharia's performance. "The best thing she did was break the news about [Ambassador to Greece Kimberly] Guilfoyle — at least that takes the focus off of her performance." A murder board—also known as an evidence board, conspiracy board, or crazy wall—has two distinct meanings: a pop-culture and investigative tool for tracking crimes, and a high-pressure review panel in professional settings. Detective and Pop-Culture Evidence Boards: A physical pinboard or wall covered with photographs, notes, newspaper clippings, and suspect profiles linked together with red string or yarn to map out a criminal case. While visual link charts or mind maps are used in complex investigations (such as financial or multi-jurisdictional crimes), the static, string-laced corkboard left on display in a police station is mostly a dramatic cliché. Real detectives rely more on digital databases, case management software (like Palantir or Analyst Notebook), or whiteboards that are frequently erased for security and privacy.The concept inspires a popular genre of true-crime and detective tabletop games, such as Hunt A Killer or Murder Mystery Party Case Files, where players pin up physical clues to solve fictional cold cases. The Professional and Military "Murder Board": A rigorous practice or interrogation committee set up to aggressively grill someone before a major high-stakes event, oral defense, or government/military promotion board. A panel of experts fires unvarnished, sharp questions and picks apart proposals without pleasantries to expose blind spots, weaknesses, or flaws. The term originated in the U.S. Pentagon and space program (popularized at NASA by Hans Mark) to stress-test high-risk technical missions and preparations. Companies use similar panels before major actions like multi-million dollar mergers, acquisitions (such as Procter & Gamble acquiring Gillette), or massive product launches (like Apple evaluating the iPhone). wiki: A murder board, also known as a "scrub-down", is a committee of questioners set up to critically review a proposal and/or help someone prepare for a difficult oral examination. The term originated in the U.S. military, specifically from the Pentagon, but has spread to academic and government appointment contexts. NASA contends the murder board was created by Hans Mark, Director of Ames Research Center from 1969 to 1977, derived from the earlier concept of the tiger team. In highly risk-averse, technical endeavors where extreme efforts are taken to prevent mistakes (e.g. satellite operations), murder boards are used to aggressively review, without constraint or pleasantries, a situation's problem, assumptions, constraints, mitigations, and the proposed solution. The board's goal is to kill the well-prepared proposal on technical merit; holding back even the least suspicion of a problem is not tolerated. Such argumentative murder boards consist of many subject matter experts of the specific system under review and of all interfacing systems. In project management, a murder board is a process where a committee asks questions from project representatives as part of the project selection process. 3. brains trust UK old-fashioned = US brain trust a group of experts who give advice to a leader or organization, especially advice relating to planning: A brains trust of scientists will staff the university's new biosciences institute. He became part of the president's brain trust during his first presidential campaign. Democracy Now! is a brains trust of people committed to the idea that the media should be a sanctuary of dissent, and dissent is what will save us. indefatigable [ˌɪn.dɪˈfæt.ɪ.ɡə.bəl] 不知疲倦的, 打不死的(unflagging) always determined and energetic in trying to achieve something and never willing to admit defeat. You use indefatigable to describe someone who never gets tired of doing something. His indefatigable spirit helped him to cope with his illness. He was indefatigable in his efforts to secure funding for new projects. She worked indefatigably and enthusiastically to interest the young in music. For many years Annie has been an indefatigable campaigner for human rights. Annie was an indefatigable campaigner for better community services. 4. certified mail = UK recorded delivery If a letter is sent by certified mail, the person who receives it must sign their name to show that it has been received. If you send a letter or package by certified mail, you send it using a mail service which gives you an official record of the fact that it has been mailed and delivered. We recommend that you send your certificates by certified mail. Registered Post: If you're sending something important within Australia, Registered Post gives you extra peace of mind as it comes with Signature on Delivery. Registered mail 挂号信 (= registered post) is a postal service in many countries which allows the sender proof of mailing via a receipt and, upon request, electronic verification that an article was delivered or that a delivery attempt was made. a way of sending letters or packages by using a service that deals with them in a special way and makes sure they do not get lost: You'd better send the check (by) registered mail. 4. a mug's game 纯粹是骗傻瓜的, 傻子才会玩的, 骗傻子的 [British, informal, disapproval] an activity that will not make you happy or successful. If you say that an activity is a mug's game, you mean that it is not worth doing because it does not give the person who is doing it any benefit or satisfaction. I used to be a very heavy gambler, but not any more. It's a mug's game. Dieting is a mug's game. She decided that freelancing was a mug's game. 5. treat I. to use drugs, exercises, etc. to cure a person of a disease or heal an injury: be treated for He is being treated for a rare skin disease. treat a symptom Western medicine tends to treat the symptoms and not the cause. II. to buy or pay for something for another person. If you treat someone to something special which they will enjoy, you buy it or arrange it for them. She was always treating him to ice cream. Tomorrow I'll treat myself to a day's gardening. If you want to treat yourself, the Malta Hilton offers high international standards. treat someone (to something) Put your money away - I'm going to treat you (to this). treat yourself to something I'm going to treat myself to 奖励 (= buy for myself) a new pair of sandals. If you give someone a treat, you buy or arrange something special for them which they will enjoy. Lettie had never yet failed to return from town without some special treat for him. If you say that something is your treat, you mean that you are paying for it as a treat for someone else. III. to put a special substance on material such as wood, cloth, metal, etc. or put it through a special process, in order to protect it from damage or decay. If something is treated with a particular substance, the substance is put onto or into it in order to clean it, to protect it, or to give it special properties. be treated with 处理过的 The material has been treated with resin to make it waterproof. About 70% of the cocoa acreage is treated with insecticide. It was many years before the city began to treat its sewage 处理污水. IV. When a doctor or nurse treats a patient or an illness, he or she tries to make the patient well again. Doctors treated her with aspirin. The boy was treated for a minor head wound. An experienced nurse treats all minor injuries. look/work a treat If you say, for example, that something looks or works a treat, you mean that it looks very good or works very well. The first part of the plan works a treat. The apricots would go down a treat. 6. The dark forces driving discontent across the developed world: Populist leaders, experts at whipping up fury 煽动仇恨, 煽动愤怒 for personal gain, are in the ascendancy despite offering little in the way of solutions. While the catalysts in each country may differ, the root cause largely is the same: the economy. The compact — the unwritten agreement — between workers and the democratic state is fraying. And as prices continue to surge, central banks have responded in unison by 不约而同地 raising interest rates, piling further pressure on those already most affected. The cost of inequality is beginning to manifest itself 展现出来. There was the post-pandemic inflation hangover piled on top of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which sent energy prices into orbit, that's now been followed by America's war in Iran. The combination has not just obliterated 抹平了 income growth. It has sent it into reverse. It's a story writ large across the Western world. Just how intractable the problem has become is on full display right here at home. The opposition and a large posse of economic commentators point to federal government spending. It's firing up inflation, they argue, and driving interest rates higher. That's not entirely true. For a start, there are huge global forces at work. From 2013 to the pandemic, Australia, a resource-exporting nation, ran up deficits during the greatest resources boom in history. This year's budget, meanwhile, targeted welfare payments to the wealthy, which, given our circumstances, should have been a no-brainer. The hugely generous discounts to capital gains tax and the loophole created by negative gearing were wound back, along with a tightening of the generous tax arrangements surrounding family trusts. Five months later, and the outcry against the changes continues. Tax concessions may not seem like spending, but, in essence, they are. That's because they cost the budget as revenue is foregone while the benefits accrue to ( accrue [əˈkruː] I. 累积 to increase in number or amount over a period of time. to increase over a period of time, or to get an amount of something gradually over time: accrue on Interest will accrue on the account at a rate of seven percent. accrue to Little benefit will accrue to the city (= it will receive little benefit) from the new transport links. Interest on this savings account accrues at the rate of 4 percent. Interest accruing at 18% or more a year can quickly drain your future purchasing power. II. to allow something to increase in amount over a period of time: By the time they leave, they'll have accrued a year's holiday pay. She has accrued $80,000 of student debt in her educational pursuit. III. if a payment or an advantage accrues to you, you receive it or have the right to receive it: accrue to sb Building societies are mutually owned, and benefits accrue to members rather than shareholders. The school district is being criticized for allowing $74 million in vacation pay to accrue to school administrators and other nonteachers. ) a targeted cohort. Other taxpayers, paying the full rate, end up subsidising the beneficiaries. And it is wealthier households that overwhelmingly benefit from those concessions. When did the rot set in? Some point to the global financial crisis (GFC). Governments and central banks bailed out the culprits while workers were left to fend for themselves. What followed was mass unemployment and an acceleration of the globalisation trends that sent much of the world's manufacturing industries to China. Inflation all but disappeared and interest rates, in what now appears to be an aberration, plummeted. Stock markets boomed and real estate soared, giving a false impression of rapidly rising national wealth across the Western world. The gap between the have-mores and the have-nots grew ever wider but was largely ignored. But the GFC was merely a flashpoint when the tectonic forces that had been building for years finally snapped. For decades, the great economic experiment of the 80s appeared a resounding success. Reagan and Thatcher pushed through financial deregulation and allowed market forces to dominate, liberated debt markets, allowed trade to flow freely, increased wealth and raised living standards across the globe. There was a dogmatic application of the theory of free markets and globalisation as detractors were denigrated and discarded. For more than 30 years, it seemed to work, until it all blew up. 7. intransigence [ɪnˈtræn.sɪ.dʒəns] formal disapproving the quality of refusing to change your opinions or behaviour. If you talk about someone's intransigence, you mean that they refuse to behave differently or to change their attitude to something. He often appeared angry and frustrated by the intransigence of both sides. Officials yesterday blamed council intransigence for the failure to reach a deal. The underlying reason for the prolongation of the war is intransigence on all sides. "Because Annie has continued to violate her discovery obligations and forced this case to a halt through her intransigence, the Court has run out of options and, thus, dismisses her claims with prejudice," he said in his written order. Discovery obligations (also known as disclosure) are the formal legal duties of parties in a lawsuit to identify, preserve, list, and produce documents and information relevant to the issues in dispute. intransigent [ɪnˈtræn.sɪ.dʒənt] 固执己见, 顽固不化 refusing to change your opinions or behaviour: They put pressure on the Government to change its intransigent stance. The worry is that the radicals will grow more intransigent. Unions claim that the management continues to maintain an intransigent position. 8. 美国足球新星: As he sits down to talk, a beaming smile spreads across Adri Mehmeti's face. The 17-year-old is relaxation personified 具象化, 本尊, 本人, holding an air of confidence usually limited to veteran athletes who have been there and done it all. Importantly for the precocious teenager, though, he's been able to translate that calmness and poise to the pitch, where he's quickly developed into one of the most promising players to ever come out of North America. Despite his tender age, the midfielder has established himself as a regular starter for the New York Red Bulls and, last month, made his senior debut for the US Men's National Team (USMNT). But when the youngster takes his place in the center of the pitch, he looks totally at home – his socks worn low and his six-foot frame gliding around the turf. His willingness to demand the ball in tight spots shows the trust he has in his own technique, and his discipline to dictate 控制节奏 the tempo of the game is a sign of true class. He name-checks( name-check to publicly mention someone's name, for example to thank them. In the video he namechecked all the sponsors of the trip. The band namechecked Guns N' Roses as their biggest influence. noun. an occasion when someone publicly mentions another person's name, for example to thank them: a namecheck of all the band members. Even Tommy Cooper gets an unexpected namecheck. ) the likes of Barcelona's Rodri and Pedri, as well as Manchester City's Elliot Anderson, as players he looks up to and wants to one day emulate. "I'm trying to look at every little detail every single day, so it helps me get that 1% better," Mehmeti tells CNN Sports. That drive combined with his obvious talent is what makes him such a lucrative player in world soccer, so it can be no surprise that teams from across Europe are reportedly looking with interest at how he keeps developing. But for now, the humble youngster is very happy where he is and US soccer can revel in yet another talent who joins the likes of Cavan Sullivan, Julian Hall and Justin Ellis as the future of the national team. 9. price point 价格定位 a point on a scale (= ordered set of numbers) of possible prices for a product. the price that is chosen for a product, usually when there are several different prices to choose from: The computer's price point 定价 will disrupt the low-end notebook computer market. It's obvious we're not yet at a price point where people are going to park their cars and drive less. The quality reflects the high price point. It's worth noting that Russian bathhouses are generally a higher price point than L.A.'s Korean spas across admission, treatments and dining. Unlike City Spa, which offers co-ed hours on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays, Voda is co-ed every day. Voda Spa pairs traditional Russian bathhouse rituals with a contemporary approach. The sleek facility, which has a $110 admission fee for nonmembers, offers a sauna, pool, body scrubs and hot-and-cold therapy — all staples of the Russian banya experience plus a smoothie bar. It marries state-of-the-art technology with Old World wisdom, offering facials and poolside green tea masks. 10. read up [on] I. to acquire information about (a subject) by reading intensively. to learn about something by reading: I don't know much about Malawi – I'll go home and read up on it. I never learned much about politics in school, so I've started reading up to have a better understanding of how it all works. Tom's been reading up on the principles of Feng Shui, and he says he wants to start implementing them in the layout of our home. The more I read up on the political candidate, the more I distrusted him. II. 读以前的. 读一下前面的. To read previous or higher-up messages in a chat; to backread. I just got here, what are you talking about? — It's about the new movie announcement. Read up for the context. read-up adj. Informed, educated, or well-versed in a particular subject because of extensive reading. I am only sparsely read-up in fields outside my profession. I don't know how read up you are on Bible, but .... well-read Well informed and knowledgeable through having read extensively. You've been through all of F. Scott Fitzgerald's books. You are very well-read. It's well known. dog 纠缠, 不放过 I. to follow someone closely and continuously. to follow someone closely and continually. If problems or injuries dog you 问题不断, 麻烦不断, they are with you all the time. To be consistently bothered by something is to be "dogged by" it. The problems that have dogged him all year are just a temporary setback. His career has been dogged by bad luck. The scandal seems likely to dog 甩不脱的, 甩不掉, 摆脱不掉 him for months to come. Reporters dogged him for answers. Ferry rides to the new Sydney Fish Market are still at least a year away with construction of wharf facilities still dogged by delays 不断后延, 不断延后. II. to cause difficulties: Technical problems dogged our trip from the outset. dogged [ˈdɒɡ.ɪd] 下定决心的, 坚决的, 决心不改的 (persistent, pertinacious, tenacious, unyielding, resolved) I. marked by stubborn determination. very determined to continue doing something, or trying to do something, even when this is difficult or takes a long time. If you describe someone's actions as dogged, you mean that they are determined to continue with something even if it becomes difficult or dangerous. They have gained respect through sheer dogged determination. ...his dogged insistence on their rights. She would fight doggedly for her rights as the children's mother. Most of my accomplishments came as the result of sheer doggedness. She was a dogged advocate of the struggle against injustice. He is dogged in his pursuit of his dreams. a dogged competitor. dogged devotion. II. used with words that mean 'continued effort' to emphasize the quality of not stopping or giving up. The campaigners' dogged persistence 坚定的, 坚定不移的 is finally paying off. He inspired dogged devotion in his followers. dog eat dog 尔虞我诈, 不择手段, 勾心斗角 informal a situation in which competitors are willing to harm each other in order to be successful: It is dog eat dog on Las Vegas's world-famous Strip as huge casino complexes compete for attention. The fast-growing telecom industry was a dog-eat-dog world where firms were either looking to expand or ripe for takeover. eat your own dog food 使用自己的产品, 自产自销 informal if a company eats its own dog food, it uses the products that it makes in its own business activities, rather than using products made by other companies: The company, which makes high-tech equipment, could not have grown as fast as it has without eating lots of its own dog food. go to the dogs informal = US go to hell in a handbasket/handcart to get into a very bad situation: The economy seems to be going to the dogs. Signs of a global recession inevitably conjure up thoughts of the last time we went to hell in a handbasket: the Great Depression of the 1930s. that dog won't hunt US informal used to say that a plan will fail. dog's dinner/breakfast 一团乱麻, 一团糟 [British, informal, disapproval] You describe something as a dog's breakfast or dog's dinner in order to express your disapproval of it, for example because it is very untidy, badly organized, or badly done. The whole place was a bit of a dog's dinner, really. Our own Board are going to make a dog's breakfast out of it if we aren't careful. to let sleeping dogs lie 惹事, 自找麻烦 If someone tells you to let sleeping dogs lie, they are warning you not to disturb or interfere with a situation, because you are likely to cause trouble and problems. Why can't she let sleeping dogs lie? 11. repechage = repêchage [ˌrɛpɪˈʃɑːʒ] 补充赛, 复活赛 a practice in series competitions that allows participants who failed to meet qualifying standards by a small margin to continue to the next round. A well-known example is the wild card system. a heat of a competition, esp in rowing or fencing, in which eliminated contestants have another chance to qualify for the next round or the final. in some sports, a race or game in which players or teams who fail to get through to the next stage of a competition, but have come close to doing so, can win a chance to continue, or the system in which this is done: The Irish runner won the first 1,500m Olympic repechage and got his semi-final slot. She will have to go through the repechage to avoid elimination, after finishing seventh in her first round heat. in repechage It will be interesting to see how the team do in repechage. the repechage system. First Round: LSE faced King's College, Cambridge. Repechage Round: LSE played against St John's, Cambridge, where David Worley buzzed in to answer a starter on "Charleston," though St John's won the match 220–100. 12. "chips lined up just right" means that every detail, resource, or circumstance has perfectly fallen into place to guarantee success. It is a variation of common phrases like "the stars have aligned" or "having your ducks in a row."( the stars align = the fates align = the constellations align 天遂人意, 时机成熟, 机会来了 used to say that a situation is very good or lucky, or becomes completely right in order for something to happen: The stars aligned when they met and fell in love. I thought all the stars had aligned for him to finally get another win. It looked like the fates had aligned to bring the two sides together. The constellations were aligning against the Tory party. ) It takes the concept: "Having your chips lined up": Sourced from gambling or strategic planning, this means organizing your assets, advantages, or arguments so you are completely prepared to make a move. When someone says the chips are lined up just right, they mean that luck, preparation, and conditions have all converged in the best possible way. "Let the chips fall where they may": To do something and accept the consequences, no matter what happens. "When the chips are down 患难时候, 低谷时期, 低潮期, 在困难时刻, 在危急关头": A time of extreme difficulty or a critical crisis. If you say that something happens when the chips are down, you mean it happens when a situation gets very difficult. when you are in a very difficult or dangerous situation, especially one that makes you understand the true value of people or things: True friends will stand by you when the chips are down. One day when the chips are down, you will know who your true friends are. When the chips are down, she's very tough. "Holding all the chips": Being in the dominant, controlling position where you are bound to win. chip up To crack, break, or knock small fragments off of something. People leave their chains on their tires well after winter, which really chips up the pavement. Packing and unpacking always seems to chip up my nail polish, so I'm just going to get my nails done at the resort. Do you want to chip up your teeth or get a concussion? Yeah, I didn't think so—put in your mouthguard.
"Do you have ferritin [ˈfɛrɪtɪn] face?" a young woman asks on TikTok, pointing to dark circles 黑眼圈, washed-out skin and brittle hair, alongside before-and-after style photographs. The content creator puts these features down 归结于 to her iron levels. Users list pale or grey-looking skin, dark under-eye circles, dry or cracked lips 嘴唇干裂, hair shedding 掉头发 and weak nails, while others share portraits claiming stark visual differences. The phrase "ferritin face" has spread widely across social media, with videos attracting millions of views. Pale skin, hair shedding or brittle nails can accompany low iron, but can also be signs of other conditions, she told BBC News. What is ferritin? Your ferritin levels show how good your body's iron stores( store noun. I. a place where you can buy goods: If you are not happy with your purchase, please return it to one of our stores for a refund. His clothing range is on display in all the big stores in London. Increasing competition may force the company to close stores this year. retail store. wholesale store. in stores Their products are available in stores and online. Note: In UK English, store refers to a large shop where many different types of goods are sold, but in US English store can mean either a large or a small place where different types of goods are sold, or only one type. II. the store US I. a grocery store (= a shop selling food and small things that are often needed in the home): I'm going to the store — do you need anything? II. a website that offers goods for sale: Experts advise caution when ordering from an online store. To sell your goods, you can create your own website or you can build your store on a third-party marketplace. III. an amount of something that is being kept for future use. A store of things is a supply of them that you keep somewhere until you need them. I handed over my secret store of chocolate biscuits. Dolly's store of drinking glasses had run out. store of He has an impressively large store of wine in his cellar. Food stores 存货, 存量 are reported to be running dangerously low in the capital. figurative My grandmother's store of memories was shared over the dinner table. IV. a building in which things are kept until they are needed: a grain/weapons store. V. If you have a store of knowledge, jokes, or stories, you have a large amount of them ready to be used. He possessed a vast store of knowledge. Jessica dipped into her store of theatrical anecdotes. set a lot of, great, little, etc. store by something ( put store by = lay store by) to have regard or esteem for; value. to consider something to be of great, little, etc. importance or value. to believe that something is very important: Martina sets great store by physical strength and fitness. She's setting a lot of store by 看重, 看轻, 重视 this job interview - I only hope she gets it. in-store 店里的, 店内的 happening or existing inside a large shop, or available for customers to use or buy inside a large shop: The supermarket has a fish counter and an in-store bakery. Instore cafes and modern music help attract younger people. Select in-store pickup to save on shipping. Online sales are catching up with in-store sales. in-store marketing/promotion. Take advantage of in-store displays to try before you buy. II. 在实体店里. in a shop, and not, for example, on the internet: The designer's limited edition collection can be bought in-store only. The offer is only available in-store, so please call ahead to check availability. Our summer range is now available in store, online, and via mail order. Motorists will be able to pay at the pump or instore. available for customers to use or buy inside a large store, or provided by a large store: Look for regular in-store offers. the supermarket chain's in-store magazine. in store for going to happen soon: You never know what's in store for you. There's a shock in store for him when he gets home tonight! verb. to put or keep things in a special place for use in the future: be stored on The data is stored on a hard disk and backed up on a CD. store something in something I stored my possessions in my mother's house while I was living in Spain. store something (away) I've stored my thick sweaters and jackets (away) until next winter. store (up) Squirrels store (up) nuts for the winter. ) are, while haemoglobin [hiːməgloʊbɪ] 血红蛋白, 血红素 is the protein in red blood cells which carries oxygen. When haemoglobin is low, the blood cannot carry as much oxygen - a condition known as anaemia [əˈniː.mi.ə] 贫血 ( = anemia). But iron stores 铁含量 can become depleted before that happens, meaning someone can be iron-deficient and have symptoms without being anaemic. "You've got no stored iron but you're maintaining your haemoglobin. That's the big disconnect," said consultant haematologist Dr Drew Provan. Dr Sue Pavord, also a consultant haematologist, said iron deficiency is common and often under-diagnosed in women. UK guidelines from the British Society of Gastroenterology say ferritin below 15 micrograms per litre indicates absent 不足量的 iron stores, while below 30 generally indicates low iron stores. In 2021 she developed heart palpitations, fatigue and hair loss. After being told her blood tests were normal and being diagnosed with generalised anxiety disorder, a later test showed her ferritin was 12 micrograms per litre. Lucy said she looked "grey" and her hair had become dull and brittle. Videos about "ferritin face" often encourage viewers to look for a combination of physical signs - from dark circles and pale skin to dry lips, thinning hair and brittle nails - and compare them with their own appearance. People who are significantly anaemic may look pale, he explained, while fatigue can contribute to dark circles, but these visual signs are "subjective and unreliable". In people with darker skin, changes in skin colour may be less obvious, Sesay added, meaning someone looking specifically for the signs described online could miss iron deficiency. Blood tests matter not only to confirm iron deficiency, Provan and Sesay said, but to establish the cause and guide treatment. Both said treatment should also address the cause 解决根本. Heavy periods, low dietary iron, gastrointestinal blood loss and problems absorbing iron through the gut can all play a role. Iron deficiency is commonly treated with oral iron. Pavord said iron tablets are best taken on an empty stomach, ideally first thing in the morning, and advised avoiding tea or coffee around the time they are taken because they can inhibit 阻碍, 影响 iron absorption.
James Talarico has Democrats dreaming big after decades of dashed hopes in Texas: Democrats have been dreaming big in Texas for decades, awash in optimism that this could finally be the year to win a US Senate seat. In the final three weeks of the fall campaign, Talarico is seeking to build a coalition of voters to break a 38-year streak of Democrats falling short in their bid for Senate. He's hoping to tap into the dissatisfaction of voters like Nodecker, who twice voted for Donald Trump, while motivating Democrats to believe in his ability to defeat GOP nominee Ken Paxton. The modern ritual of Democratic optimism in Texas dates to at least 2002, when the party put together a 'Dream Team' ticket led by former Dallas Mayor Ron Kirk, who ran for Senate. In 2014, Democratic state Sen. Wendy Davis drew national fanfare as she ran for governor after a high-profile filibuster against abortion restrictions. Four years later, Beto O'Rourke shattered fundraising records and drew massive crowds as he challenged Republican Sen. Ted Cruz. Through it all, Democrats came up short — and sometimes very short. O'Rourke remains the high-water mark, losing to Cruz by less than 3 percentage points. This year's Senate contest has become one of the marquee races in the fight for control of the chamber, a leading example of how Republicans are scrambling to defend deeply red terrain 深红地区. The seat almost certainly would not have been competitive if Paxton hadn't defeated Sen. John Cornyn in the May primary runoff. In one conversation after another, Democratic voters in Texas were upbeat 乐观的 at Talarico's prospects over Paxton, even as some acknowledged an air of caution that the state's long pattern of voting GOP could dash Democratic hopes. Paxton has accused Talarico of undergoing a political makeover to hide his true views from Texans. Republicans are scrambling to unify their ranks 团结自己人 against Talarico. Paxton said in a speech Friday that there are 'a lot of apathetic Republicans' right now, suggesting it was due to the Iran war, and Trump has said he is 'worried' about the race. 'I'm trying to remain as optimistic as I can without being totally let down,' Franklin said, recalling the devastation she felt in 2024 when Trump won a second term. 'I don't want to set myself up for that disappointment again, but I think this time we finally have the right formula to move forward.' The grandson of a pastor and a seminary student himself, Talarico talks far more about faith than most Democrats. As he campaigns, he sprinkles in verses from the Gospel of Luke, along with the argument that love is a stronger motivating force than hate. 'His faith is important to him, and that's something we don't always see in Democratic candidates,' said Jill Fox, a Democratic voter from River Oaks. 'I think that's an interesting dynamic that's attracting some independents and maybe even some crossover Republicans.' He quickly established himself as an advocate for public education and other bread-and-butter issues. However, he found himself competing for more liberal voters after Republican redistricting forced him to seek reelection in 2022 in an Austin-based district. Marvin Rodak, who owns a coffee roasting and auto repair business in Fort Worth, said he was carefully following the Senate race and remained undecided as the campaign entered the home stretch 冲刺阶段, 收官阶段. He said he was frustrated by the tariff whiplash from the Trump administration and record diesel prices, but also uncertain that he wanted to see Democrats control the Senate.
