Texas Democratic Senate nominee James Talarico told an undercover supporter his positions on transgender issues "hasn't changed" — just four days after telling Fox News he'd oppose trans athletes in girls' sports. Ordinary voters now have it on tape: a candidate moderating his pitch to win statewide office while privately promising to govern as the same gender ideologue Austin always knew.

The stakes are straightforward. Talarico is asking Texas to send him to the U.S. Senate. His legislative record — voting against bans on child gender procedures and against protecting girls' sports — is clear. What's new is the video proof that his public pivot was theater.

According to Breitbart News, the recording was captured September 13 at Houston's Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church. A woman posing as a supporter asked Talarico whether he'd defend her trans niece's ability to compete in women's sports. Talarico's answer was unambiguous: "Always. The way I fought for trans kids in the legislature is how I will fight for them in the U.S. Senate. And my position hasn't changed." He added that sports eligibility should be handled "locally, sport by sport, athlete by athlete" and claimed he holds "the most inclusive policy of any candidate who's running."

Four days earlier, Talarico sang a different tune on Fox News. "Every sport has to be safe and fair," he said. "And so, I will oppose trans athletes playing in girls' sports if it risks safety or fairness." He also walked back his past claim that there are six biological sexes and pledged to "absolutely" support a national ban on gender-transition surgeries for minors.

His record tells you which version is real. As a state representative, Talarico voted against Senate Bill 14, the 2023 Texas law restricting gender procedures for minors, and against Senate Bill 29 in 2021, which would have tied school athletes to the sex on their birth certificates. He previously called such restrictions the product of a "Christofascism movement."

And he's not hiding the strategy from his own people. Jennifer Miranda, a manager with Texas Together and the Texas Democratic Party, said on separate undercover footage that Talarico's shift is strategic: "Right now he's trying to target a wider net, which unfortunately means being more palatable to Republicans here in Texas. He does believe the things that he's said before." Rev. Babs Miller, a minister at Talarico's longtime Austin church, predicted he would revert to his true positions after the election.

HotAir noted that Talarico has made a habit of running two campaigns — one for Austin, one for everywhere else — and that his own pastor, Rev. Jim Rigby, welcomes atheists to his congregation. In previously unearthed audio, Talarico described himself as "a Christian who hates Christianity." The outlet framed the candidate as fundamentally deceptive, arguing that Texas voters are being sold a "Bowdlerized version" of who he actually is.

Breitbart focused more narrowly on the video evidence and the contrast between Talarico's Fox News appearance and his private assurances, letting the candidate's own words do the work.

Paxton campaign spokeswoman Madison Cercy responded plainly: "James Talarico can't outrun his own radical record, and this bombshell video proves it. Now, even he admits his position 'hasn't changed.'"

The pattern is the story. A politician tells voters what they want to hear, tells activists the truth, and counts on the press to call the first version courage and the second version irrelevant. Talarico faces Republican Ken Paxton in November. The only question now is whether Texas voters believe the candidate who showed up on Fox, or the one who showed up at church.