Talarico, who represents a deep-blue district in the State House, has excised the word ‘progressive’ from campaign site
Texas Democrat James Talarico’s website once promoted his support for “trans kids” and “bold, progressive ideas.” That was then. Around the time he launched his Senate campaign in a state that hasn’t elected a Democrat to the upper chamber since 1988, that changed, a Washington Free Beacon review found. Today, as Talarico tries to break the Texas Democrats’ dry spell, his campaign website makes no mention of his “progressive” values.
As a state lawmaker representing a deep-blue Austin district, Talarico was not shy about broadcasting his left-wing views. On his site’s homepage, the 37-year-old said he was “not afraid to stand up to Republican extremism” and boasted about leading “the fight against their efforts to bully trans kids, ban books, whitewash our history curriculum, gut public education with a private school voucher scam, and force their Christian nationalist agenda onto the people of Texas.” The site’s “Accomplishments” section, meanwhile, presented Talarico as a champion of “Bold, Progressive Legislation.”
“I’m committed to building momentum for bold, progressive ideas—no matter how long it takes,” Talarico wrote, according to an archived version of the site from August 2025, less than a year ago. “I’ve introduced ambitious legislation to give every Texas teacher a $15,000 raise, legalize marijuana, combat climate change, and repeal anti-union laws that keep workers from organizing.”
The site got a makeover in early September, when Talarico launched his Senate campaign, archives show. The homepage credits Talarico with fighting “billionaire mega-donors” rather than “Republican extremism.” A “Meet James Talarico” section touts the Democrat’s efforts to “expand job opportunities for young adults” rather than fight for “trans kids.” And the site’s “Why I’m Running” page says the “biggest divide in this country is not left vs. right” but “top vs. bottom.” The word “progressive” has vanished.
The revisions reflect the challenges Talarico faces as he attempts to swap a State House seat in the liberal enclave of Austin for a U.S. Senate seat in a state that has not sent a Democrat to the upper chamber since 1988, when Lloyd Bentsen was elected to serve a fourth term. Kamala Harris won Talarico’s Austin district by nearly 50 points in 2024, when President Donald Trump won Texas by nearly 14 points. In his earlier races, Talarico presented himself as a “Democrat,” with endorsements from left-wing groups like “Liberal Austin Democrats,” who’s “fighting back against Republican extremism.” Now, he says he’s an “eighth-generation Texan, former middle school teacher, and Presbyterian seminarian” running to “take his fight against corruption to Washington.”
Talarico, whose campaign did not respond to a request for comment, secured the Democratic nomination in March, when he defeated congresswoman Jasmine Crockett by 6 points. He has spent much of the campaign since then repudiating the left-wing positions that catapulted him to national prominence.
Last month, for example, he walked back a controversial comment in which he argued that “God is non-binary,” telling CBS News that the “cringey” statement “missed the mark.” He went on to tell a Texas attorney and podcast host that he “oppose[s] gender-reassignment surgeries for minors.” As a state representative, Talarico voted against a bill that would have banned the procedures and argued in a floor speech that it was “about discriminating against people who are transgender,” though Talarico has not said where he stands on hormone treatment for children. He has also said he supports Texas’s enormous oil and gas industry, though he introduced bills in the State House that would have required climate change lessons in Texas public schools and implemented statewide green energy mandates, the Free Beacon reported.
There are other elements of Talarico’s campaign site that contradict his rhetoric on the trail. During a February interview with the New Yorker, Talarico swore off super PACs, saying he would not accept their support even if they guaranteed his victory and comparing his doing so to Jesus Christ’s resisting the Devil’s temptation while fasting in the wilderness. Talarico’s updated website, however, includes a buried page that tacitly coordinates with super PACs by laying out instructions about what media markets to run ads in and what messages to include in them, the Free Beacon reported. A billionaire-funded super PAC led by Talarico’s first chief of staff has run ads that are perfectly aligned with the page’s instructions.
Talarico has served in the State Legislature since 2018. During that time, he also worked as an “equitable education” consultant for a firm, MAYA Consulting, that develops DEI plans for public schools in Texas and describes its work as “rooted in our diversity, equity, and inclusion philosophy,” the Free Beacon reported. Though Talarico says he has never supported defunding police, the firm contributed $5,000 to a group working to defund the Austin Police Department while Talarico worked there.
Talarico has stood behind at least some aspects of his state legislative career. His girlfriend, Brianna Menard, a self-described “committed vegan” who accused cops of committing “genocide” against black Americans, served as his chief of staff from January 2022 to January 2023. Talarico has said he and Menard have been together for four years, suggesting the pair began dating when Talarico was Menard’s boss.
Talarico’s State House and U.S. Senate campaigns also share donors, most notably Talarico’s mother, Tamara Talarico, with whom Talarico shares a checking account. She has contributed thousands of dollars to federal Democrats since 2023, including $650 to Talarico’s Senate campaign, and contributed $5,000 to his campaign for state representative in 2021. That same year, she and Talarico’s adoptive father, Mark Talarico, covered Talarico’s “moving expenses” at a cost of $1,437.84, records show. Talarico was 32 years old.
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