Summary
- Texas Senate candidate James Talarico is shifting his positions to appear more centrist.
- His statements at a CNN town hall conflicted with his past statements on ICE, abortion and God being nonbinary.
- He criticizes money in politics while being bankrolled by a billionaire associate of Jeffrey Epstein.
When Democrat state Rep. James Talarico tells you who he is, you should believe him. Or maybe not.
Talarico is one of the most radical leftists in Texas politics, but from his recent campaign stunts, you’d never know it. Suddenly, he has flip-flopped away from his radical past on ICE, abortion, and transgenderism.
When CNN hosted a town hall last week, Talarico played the nice guy. He stood open to questions from voters on his controversial statements, including the Bible’s supposed silence on abortion, abolishing ICE, and his claim that God is nonbinary.
In true politician form, Talarico gave smooth answers—but they don’t add up with his past.
For instance, when asked if he supports abolishing ICE, Talarico denied it.
“No and I never have. We need Immigration and Customs Enforcement in this country,” he said. “But that’s not what we’re seeing.”
This softened response is an about-face from Talarico’s past statements, especially while campaigning in the Democrat primary.
“It’s time to tear down this secret police force,” Talarico said in a primary debate earlier this year. He has also argued in favor of replacing ICE with an agency that is “actually going to promote public safety.” While this may not technically be abolishing ICE, one could argue he is splitting hairs.
The Daily Signal asked Talarico’s campaign how he reconciles his recent claim that he does not support abolishing ICE with his previous statements calling to “tear down” and replace the agency, but the spokesperson did not respond in time for publication.
Also during the town hall, Talarico seemed to temper his stance on abortion. When a Catholic voter asked about his support for abortion, she asked how she could trust a leader who refused to protect some of the most vulnerable.
“I can respect anyone who is consistently pro-life,” Talarico opined. “But what I think we can do is come together on reducing the number of unplanned pregnancies and the number of abortions, because if we treat this issue as a public health problem and not a culture war problem, then we can actually make progress together.”
“I also want to see fewer unwanted pregnancies,” he added. “I want to see fewer abortions.”
A remarkably agreeable stance—unlike his previous arguments that the Bible supports abortion, or that Christians have no biblical basis to be pro-life.
To justify abortion, he even pointed to the biblical account where the angel Gabriel told Mary she would give birth to Jesus. “To me, that is an affirmation in one of our most central stories that creation has to be done with consent,” he said. “You cannot force someone to create.”
But now, Talarico the seminarian supposedly wants to see fewer of something he argued the Bible endorses.
Also during the town hall, he called to end “big money in our politics” and to ban corporate PACs and super PACs.
Meanwhile, Talarico’s own campaign is backed by the super PAC “Lone Star Rising,” whose biggest donor, LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, is a close associate of Jeffrey Epstein. Hoffman is bankrolling the super PAC, propping up Talarico’s campaign, to the tune of at least $11.5 million.
Talarico’s head-spinning inconsistencies go even further.
In a September interview with Fox News, Talarico tried to backtrack on claims about transgenderism. He even claimed he would support a national ban on transgender procedures for minors, and that he would “oppose trans athletes playing in girls’ sports if it endangers safety or fairness.”
This is quite the difference from the Talarico of the past, who in 2023 voted against Senate Bill 14, which protected minors from gender procedures, puberty blockers, and cross-sex hormones. Not to mention his viral statements that he loves “trans kids” and that “God is non-binary.’
Talarico appears to be following a political playbook as old as time: embrace a radical agenda during the primaries, then rebrand as a centrist in hopes of winning the general election. But if Texas voters look beyond the campaign rhetoric and examine his record, they’ll see he’s anything but a political centrist.
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[ H/T The Daily Signal ]
