When a Texas jury on Tuesday sentenced 19-year-old Karmelo Anthony to 35 years in prison for murdering 17-year-old Austin Metcalf, some Democrats in the state raced to decry the verdict, claiming the black teenager who stabbed Metcalf at a high school soccer game was a victim of racism.
But one Texas Democrat was surprisingly absent from the chattering crowds: Senate nominee James Talarico.
Talarico’s silence comes amid the candidate’s larger rebrand. It’s a different tact than both Beto O’Rourke and Wendy Davis before him, who latched on to every liberal issue as they cruised to crushing defeats in statewide Texas elections. As he heads into a general election fight against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, Talarico is trying to convince voters he’s a moderate — and not the radical, pro-trans, anti-border security leftist that his opponents have painted him as.
Unfortunately for Talarico, his rebranding effort might fail. Because a radical leftist is precisely what he is.
Consider Talarico’s claim just this week that he does not support transgender surgeries for kids.
“I oppose gender reassignment surgeries for minors,” he said on Monday during an interview with lawyer Dan Cogdell, who asked him if he was “too liberal” for Texas.
That stance would surprise the Talarico of just three years ago, who voted against a bill to ban transgender surgeries in Texas. The bill banned procedures like removing the breasts of girls who identify as boys.
“What he’s doing right now with this change in his public position is he is telling the world that these surgeries are incredibly unpopular,” American Principles Project President Terry Schilling told The Daily Wire. “James Tallarico is one of the most progressive Democrats we have ever seen.”
The record from Talarico’s time in the legislature shows that during debate on the measure protecting kids in the Texas state House, he claimed the proposal was about discrimination.
“I think it’s clear that this is not about science or medicine, and certainly not about keeping kids safe,” he said on May 12, 2023. “I think this is about discriminating against people who are transgender.”
Talarico attacks bill to protect kids from transgender procedures.
At one point during that debate, Talarico pushed for Republican Rep. Tom Oliverson, who sponsored the legislation, to add an amendment to his proposal that would allow kids to get transgender procedures if two or three doctors signed off on the proposal. Talarico also attempted to add a provision to the bill that would “sunset” protections for children if “high-quality, long-term studies” could purport that transgender procedures were safe for kids.
Talarico’s campaign now claims the candidate only opposed that bill because it “stripped critical healthcare away from Texas children suffering from rare genetic diseases that have nothing to do with being transgender.”
But in August 2023 — just months after voting against the bill — Talarico said on a podcast that the thing he loved most in the world apart from family or friends was “trans children.”
“I love, I’m just saying this because it’s all on my mind, the trans children who showed up yesterday at the state capitol to advocate for their humanity,” Talarico said in the footage, first unearthed by The Daily Wire. “They shouldn’t have to, but it was an inspiration to watch,” he said on the “A Superbloom” podcast.
Paxton, who helped negotiate a settlement with Texas Children’s Hospital to create the first ever “detransition” clinic, quickly attacked Talarico’s pivot on the issue.
“In an attempt to make himself appear like less of a radical freak James Talarico is trying to walk back his position on child mutilation,” Paxton said on Monday. “Texans remember.”
Political commentators have noted that Talarico’s rhetoric on the issue showed just how unpopular transgender procedures are with most Americans and how the electorate has shifted in recent years.
Schilling, whose organization released ads targeting swing state voters on the issue of transgenderism during the 2024 election, said that the data showed most voters don’t support gender surgeries for kids. Even the Democrat Party’s own autopsy of the 2024 election acknowledged that President Donald Trump’s attack on Kamala Harris on the issue was effective.
“For him to admit that this is a political vulnerability, should send a warning sign to every single Democrat that’s running in a competitive race this year,” Schilling said of Talarico. “He’s trying to win over these people in the middle and these Republicans, but I don’t think anyone’s going to buy it. He’s just been too much of a radical during his time in the Texas legislature.”
Schilling noted that Talarico’s comment left the door open for support for puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones, both of which can have permanent impacts on bone density, heart health, and fertility.
Neeraja Deshpande, a commentator with the Independent Women’s Forum, told The Daily Wire that Talarico’s rhetorical shift reflected a broader cultural shift against transgender procedures for kids, which was in part triggered by detransitioners speaking out against the harmful procedures done on them as children.
“I think it’s a permanent change on this issue,” she told The Daily Wire. “I think it was a blip that was, you know, predicated on emotional manipulation, and political manipulation, and a media environment that had really tight control.”
Deshpande noted that both the American Medical Association and American Society of Plastic Surgeons have publicly backed away from support for transgender procedures for kids. She added that Talarico’s shift was likely a cynical political move, but that it was good that support for transgender surgeries was now seen as a political liability.
“I think there’s also just fewer Democrats willing to go to bat for all the like trans kids bulls***,” she said. “I think they recognize that it’s bulls**t.”
Talarico is also attempting a moderate pivot on illegal immigration.
“I’m a border security Democrat,” Talarico said Monday. “I believe we’ve got to have a sane, orderly process to ensure that we know who’s coming into our country,” he said. “And I’m all for welcoming immigrants who want to work hard and live the American dream, who want to make us richer and stronger as immigrants have always done. But I also think we have to keep out folks who mean to do us harm. And public safety is the most important thing the government does.”
That’s a far cry from the Democrat’s previous argument for placing a “giant welcome mat” at the southern border and his protesting of immigration enforcement raids by the Trump administration. Just recently, Talarico told a group of religious leaders that there should be no mass deportations.
“We have to ban ICE agents from wearing masks, from kidnapping people off our streets without a warrant,” he said. “We have to require them to identify themselves like any law enforcement official. And we have to end this policy of mass deportations that again is terrorizing our communities across Texas and across this country.”
Andrew Arthur, a resident in legal policy and law at the Center for Immigration Studies, told The Daily Wire there was a major disconnect between Talarico’s purported support for border security and his anti-ICE advocacy.
“Border security is not sustainable without deportations,” he said. “Because there are no consequences for entering the United States illegally, people will continue to do it.”
Arthur noted that the Biden administration’s policies that resulted in the release of some 8 million illegal immigrants into the United States led to a major backlash against open border policies. He said the catch-and-release policies put in place by Biden had a huge negative impact on Democrats during the 2024 election. He noted that a recent Harvard/Harris poll found that a majority of Americans still say they support deporting all illegal immigrants and that Democrats are increasingly weary of open borders rhetoric.
“It makes sense that Democrats like Mr. Talarico are now distancing themselves from the Biden administration’s policies, which were very unpopular nationwide,” he told The Daily Wire. “So James Talarico is simply singing from the same playbook that most congressional Democrats ended singing from ever since Trump’s election in 2024.”
Arthur noted that the impacts of Biden’s illegal immigrant surge were still being felt in border communities in Texas while the border had turned into a non-issue for much of the country because of Trump’s successful efforts to secure the border.
Talarico’s political rebrand includes claiming to support the oil and gas industry and the Second Amendment despite his previous climate activism and gun control advocacy. But his pivot is not contained to political issues. It appears to be changing how he characterizes his religious beliefs as well.
While his pastor and mentor Jim Rigby denies the historical resurrection of Jesus Christ and promotes using so-called inclusive language for God, Talarico recently claimed to believe differently in an interview with the New York Times.
Schilling said Talarico was attempting to mask his true beliefs in his efforts to turn Texas blue.
“He’s a trans Texan, and people should see right through it,” he said. “ He does not have your best interest in heart.”
