JAMES TALARICO

Democratic

On ballot as: JAMES TALARICO
Current role: Texas State Rep
Background: B.A. in government,
M.Ed.
M.A. theological studies,
Experience: Taught Middle School – 4 yrs.
Executive Director education nonprofit – 1 yr.
No employment listed for remaining years.
Top priorities: Fighting corruption and "billionaire mega-donors"
Protecting democracy
Taxes and cost of living
Public education
Health care, – reversing ACA cuts, lowering drug costs
Freedom, family and faith
Tidbits: Abortion: Pro Abortion
Immigration: Border – Legislation he voted against includes: Border Security funding; – a Texas Border Protection Unit; – Making illegal entry a crime & authorizing removal; – Expand Border Patrol authority.
Guns: Stated that assault-weapon ban, large-capacity magazine ban, limits on large purchases, & handgun design standards are priorities.
Health care: Expand Medicare to all
Claims and the record
Ad Claim: “Paxton let a pedophile off”. Facts: Paxton's office tried Adam Hoffman on a felony that carried 25 to 99 yr sentence. Jury hung 7-5. Victim, a boy, refused to testify in a second trial. Paxton team said that without the victim's testimony there would be no conviction but would not force the child to go through more trauma. Victim's mother initially agreed to the Plea Bargain then changed her position at sentencing, explaining plea was too lenient; expressed frustration with Paxton. Plea Bargain resulted in a sentence of 60 days, Hoffman served 29, with good behavior, the forfeiture of his law license, and a guilty plea that labels Hoffman a sexual abuser & predator for the rest of his life. Paxton’s only other option was to force the child to testify against his will further traumatizing him. Paxon chose not to do that. Had Hoffman rejected the plea bargain he would have walked a free man, with no jail time, with his law license intact and without the life-long stigma of a child abuser. Paxton couldn’t prosecute Hoffman again, without the child’s testimony, due to Hoffman’s constitutional right to confront his accuser. Although Hoffman didn’t have to register as a sex offender in Texas he has had to register as one in Nebraska, where he was born and raised and where he moved to immediately after getting out of jail in late May 2026.
The victim's family expressed a desire they “no longer be used as a political tool” in the campaign. Talarico made the Hoffmann ad central to his campaign, ignoring the family’s wishes.
Ad Claim: “Paxton is the most corrupt politician in Texas and is now worth $27 million”. Facts: Paxton and his estranged wife are worth $10-13 million. Most of that wealth came from increases in the value of long-held assets.
NY Times reports Frontier Media is paying dozens of internet accounts to post thousands of positive messages about Talarico. There are no FEC filings by Frontier, so funding source is unknown. Some of Talarico’s grassroots support appears manufactured.
Stated that there are “six biological sexes". Later said there are “two sexes, with a small percentage of people having genetic abnormalities”.
Said "God is nonbinary" on the Texas House floor in 2021. Later stated, "God is beyond gender."
In 2021 posted "radicalized white men are the greatest domestic terrorist threat in our country."
In 2021 stated: “I always think of myself as a Christian who hates Christianity.”
In 2023 Sermon: “God is not a Presbyterian. God is not a Christian. God is not a noun at all. God is a verb.”
Said – cutting meat consumption “existential” for fighting climate change. In 2026 Senate Race said his campaign runs on Bar-B-Q.
Called the American flag a “complicated symbol.”
Called ICE “secret police,” that was “terrorizing our country,”
Named Alyssa Edwards, a Texas RuPaul’s Drag Race performer, as a favorite drag queen
Endorsements: Texas AFL-CIO COPE
David Maxwell, former director of law enforcement for the Texas Attorney General's Office
Dan Cogdell, Houston attorney
Campaign website: jamestalarico.com

JAMES TALARICO

U.S. Senator

James Talarico