Do we like James Talarico?
Our score: 7 out of 10. A record that backs workers, public schools and LGBTQ+ people, held back by a late pivot on trans athletes and a disputed private remark.
Talarico is a former English teacher who taught on the west side of San Antonio, in one of the city's poorest postcodes. He went on to UT Austin, Harvard and a seminary degree, and was elected to the Texas House at 29. He says his grandfather was a Baptist preacher in south Texas who taught him Christianity is a simple religion.
His faith is the engine of his politics, but it's the not-theocracy kind. He fought the Ten Commandments in classrooms bill and says the most dangerous form of government is theocracy. He has also said he was told that to be a Christian you had to hate gay people, which is not the line he took. In the House he passed laws on cheaper insulin, tax relief for child care centres and Narcan in every public school.
The wobble came in September 2026, mid-campaign. On Fox News he said he opposes trans athletes in girls' sport if it risks safety or fairness, and that “There are not six sexes, there are two.” He had voted against GOP bills restricting trans student athletes, calling them overly broad. Equality Texas said it expects more from him, and Paxton called it a flip-flop. Where you land depends on whether you read it as smart politics or as selling people out.
The messiest personal stoush came in February. A TikTok creator alleged that in a private chat Talarico said he'd signed up to run against “a mediocre Black man”, meaning Colin Allred. Talarico called it a “mischaracterization of a private conversation”, said he meant Allred's campaigning method, and said he would never attack him over race. Allred said Talarico “should not be our nominee”, and endorsed Jasmine Crockett. Nobody has independently confirmed the exact words.
Another claim came from conservative site The Federalist, which alleged he moved his voter registration to his mother's address too late to meet the Texas residency rule. Paxton's campaign accused him of voter fraud. The San Antonio Current reviewed records showing a change of address 368 days before the election, plus a moving truck receipt from that day. His campaign called the claim baseless, and no official finding or action was reported.
His winning pitch was economic: blame the billionaires. He promised to repeal tax breaks for the top 1%, raise the minimum wage, cancel medical debt, fund universal childcare, and ban super PACs and congressional stock trading. Paxton's side hammered his past remarks on gender and climate, and that wasn't enough. The Texas Tribune reports he is the first Democrat to win this seat since 1988.