Texas Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico spent years pushing the most aggressive woke positions in the state legislature — and now that those positions face a statewide electorate, he's running from every one of them.
In a Fox News exclusive this week, Talarico backtracked on his claim that there are six biological sexes, distanced himself from his statement that "God is nonbinary," and said he'd vote to ban gender surgery for minors. The full-scale retreat proves what skeptics have always argued: these were never convictions. They were performances for a progressive bubble, and sunlight destroyed them.
The most striking reversal came on the sex question. In 2021, Talarico told the Texas House Public Education Committee there are six biological sexes. Asked by Fox News correspondent Brooke Taylor whether he still believes that, Talarico said: "No, I've missed the mark on some of my past statements. I will be the first to admit it." He then confirmed there are two sexes — "Absolutely" — and blamed his previous phrasing on an attempt to acknowledge genetic abnormalities. According to Breitbart, he then pivoted to economic concerns, accusing Republicans of focusing on culture war issues to avoid talking about "$6 diesel."
That pivot is telling. Talarico doesn't explain why he made the six-sexes claim in the first place — only that he now wishes he hadn't.
The same pattern holds on women's sports. In 2021, Talarico called the issue of biological men competing in women's athletics a "manufactured problem" and voted against bills requiring athletes to compete based on their biological sex. This week, he told Fox News: "I oppose trans athletes playing in girls' sports if it endangers safety or fairness." The New York Post reported that he also opposed a 2021 bill keeping men out of women's sports while declaring on the House floor that "God is both masculine and feminine and everything in between." That theological claim went unaddressed in his Fox interview.
On gender surgery for minors, Talarico now says he'd vote for a national ban — "Absolutely" — and claims he supported an amendment to narrow a 2023 Texas bill to surgical restrictions only. But the record shows he voted against SB 14, which prohibited gender surgeries, puberty blockers, and hormone treatments for minors, while supporting all 18 Democratic amendments that ultimately failed. He framed his opposition as legislative nuance: "Sometimes there's stuff in it that's really harmful, and I have no choice but to oppose the bill as a whole."
That's the politician's classic escape hatch: I supported the principle, just not the bill.
Meanwhile, the free-speech fight around Talarico's campaign took another turn. Jimmy Kimmel announced Wednesday that his interview with Talarico won't air on broadcast television and will move to YouTube instead. According to Variety and Newsweek, Kimmel said the Trump FCC under chairman Brendan Carr has threatened ABC, its affiliates, and its station licenses over editorial decisions including guest bookings. CBS previously barred Stephen Colbert from airing a Talarico interview in February under similar FCC pressure over "equal time" rules. That Colbert YouTube clip still drew 9.5 million views and raised $2.5 million for Talarico in 24 hours, Variety reported. ABC has sued the FCC, calling it an "extraordinary assault" on free-speech rights.
A government agency threatening broadcast licenses over candidate interviews is a First Amendment problem — regardless of which party controls the FCC. The Founders didn't break from British rule so Washington bureaucrats could approve which candidates appear on television.
At the RNC's midterm convention in Dallas, President Trump mocked Talarico's 2022 "non-meat campaign," in which the candidate vowed to buy only vegan products. "He ran a campaign to beat meat. He called it 'beat meat!'" Trump said, per The Gateway Pundit. "I don't know what the hell he meant by that. But it was bad for his image, so he started eating meat!"
Talarico is running against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in a race that Fox News polling shows is surprisingly close. A Republican loss in Texas would threaten the GOP's Senate majority.
The question for Texas voters is straightforward: if Talarico's woke positions collapsed the moment they faced real scrutiny, were they ever principles — or just convenient lines for a friendly audience?
