The Talarico Two Step

by David Shephard, ©2026

(Jun. 2, 2026) — Over the weekend I watched James Talarico’s interview on CBS with Ed O’Keefe. O’Keefe, a fellow Democrat, almost apologetically asked Talarico about some of his previous statements. A seemingly and slightly uncomfortable O’Keefe justified asking such impertinent questions, telling Talarico, “Republicans are going to bring it up”; indeed, they already have, with a great hard-hitting ad. Despite the fact that it was a typical CBS softball interview of a Democrat, it was still useful to watch, because it was indicative of Talarico’s strategy going forward, which is to try to minimize his past comments and then attack his opponent. In fact, in the interview, at the end of every question, no matter the question, Talarico attacks Paxton.

Back in 2021, as a state representative, James Talarico argued against a bill which would prevent biological boys, if they self-identified as girls, from playing on the girls’ sports teams in Texas schools. Talarico, a man who claimed to be very knowledgeable of the Bible, invoked the name of God and claimed that God would oppose this bill because “God is non-binary.” How has Talarico arrived at this conclusion?

He cites Galatians 3:28, where Paul writes: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” Talarico clearly misunderstands this passage – this is probably what you get nowadays when you go to a liberal Presbyterian seminary as he did. It is clear Paul is not denying that there are different genders (male and female) any more than he is denying the fact of slavery or that there are Jews and Greeks. His point is that first and foremost we are all children of God. In his interview with O’Keefe, Talarico didn’t back away from his heresy; he simply said that he did say it to be “provocative.”

He also made previous statements about white people spreading the virus of racism, and how his Christian faith helped deal with his “whiteness and masculinity.” He described the American flag as “being a complicated symbol.” He never explained what he meant by these thoughts, but he did say that “there are some statements that I have made that I certainly regret. There are statements that I have made where I have missed the mark. I will be the first to admit that.”

As far as Talarico dealing with his whiteness and masculinity, well, he is indeed white; you can’t miss that, but stylistically, he has a certain Joel Osteen quality: I am not sure if it is in his oddly svelte frame, or angel-like accent, or the fact that he has no part in his hair, but I don’t see the masculinity coming from him.

Another one of his past statements which is coming back to haunt him took place during a legislative hearing, uttered while he was wearing a mask many months after even Dr. Fauci said the pandemic was over. Talarico made the bizarre claim that “there are many more than two sexes. In fact, there are six.” In his interview with O’Keefe, he did clearly back away from that claim. He told O’Keefe that there really are only two, and by six he simply meant that there are some rare and odd hormonal abnormalities.

The other past statements and position which probably finishes him off deals with a major industry, indeed, a way of life for Texans.

Texas is the leading cattle state in America. Texas has over 4 million cows, and the state produces over 6 billion pounds of beef a year, yet James Talarico has said that we must give up meat and go vegan because it is “necessary to fight climate change.” He also, in 2020, while running for office, said that “our campaign has become officially a “meatless campaign,” telling an audience at a campaign rally that his campaign will only “buy vegan products” presumably for volunteers and campaign staff. Lucky them!

Well, safe to say that won’t hunt in Texas, so now Talarico claims that he always eats meat, and he added that “his campaign runs on Barbeque.” He is lying and everyone knows it.

But how can he bridge the gap between the need to give up meat to save the environment and go to “I always eat meat”? If the earth really is at stake, and if a person like Talarico believes that giving up meat will save our earthly home, why wouldn’t that person give up meat and just eat veggies? How can Talarico say the earth is at stake, but yet he plans to continue to do damage to the earth and eat tasty meat? Well, he is either a hypocrite, or he doesn’t really believe the environmentalists’ propaganda, or he is a political opportunist who is lying because he knows that a vegan can’t get elected in Texas. A vegan in Texas is the definition of someone who is all hat and no cattle.

I don’t think he can reconcile this contradiction, and his past wacky and heretical statements, while none alone will sink him, the cumulative effect will be that he is too far left to win statewide in Texas.

But Democrats will raise a lot of money for him. And Talarico is not a bad candidate; he seems to have his strategy of deflecting and attacking down pretty well. Will the strategy work? Well, I doubt it. In fact, I think Texans have the perfect expression for a plan that won’t work – that dog won’t hunt.

---

David Shephard is a native and very proud Virginian.  Raised in Fairfax County, David graduated from George Mason University and majored in Government and Politics. He spent decades in politics, campaign consulting, raising money and lobbying.  He is also a longtime conservative blogger writing for numerous blogs.  He is also the host of “The Virginia Gentleman Podcast.”

David is the author of Elections Have Consequences, A Cautionary Tale, and his latest book, Norton’s Choice: An Inside Politics Exposé.