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Talarico Caught on Tape Pledging to Fight for Trans Children in Senate
Confirmed
In Short: Texas Democratic Senate nominee James Talarico told an undercover reporter he would fight for transgender children despite recent shifts in his public stance.
Texas Democratic Senate nominee James Talarico told an undercover reporter at Houston’s Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church on September 13 that he would fight for transgender children, despite recent shifts in his public stance.
In the video, Talarico assured the woman posing as a supporter that his views on transgender issues had not changed.
Talarico maintained that each sport should be evaluated on a case-by-case basis to ensure safety and fairness.
Talarico also pledged to oppose transgender athletes playing in girls’ sports if it risks safety or fairness, aligning his comments with his voting record.
The Daily Wire reported that Talarico’s comments in the video match his voting record, including his opposition to Senate Bill 14, which restricts certain sex-transition procedures for minors.
Rev. Babs Miller of St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, a lesbian minister and longtime friend of Talarico, suggested his media-driven shift is a political stunt.
Jennifer Miranda, a manager with Texas Together and the Texas Democratic Party, also shed light on Talarico’s misleading shift.
Talarico’s recent comments on Fox News emphasized potential restrictions on transgender athletes, contrasting with his more inclusive stance in the undercover video.
What's confirmed
- The recording, captured at Houston’s Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church, shows the Democrat responding to a woman who asked whether he would defend her “niece who is trans” and her ability to compete in women’s sports, the Daily Wire reported.
- “I still think these should be local decisions, sport by sport, athlete by athlete, and I think I have the most inclusive policy of any candidate who’s running,” Talarico said.
- “James Talarico can’t outrun his own radical record, and this bombshell video proves it,” Cercy said.
- “And so, I will oppose trans athletes playing in girls’ sports if it risks safety or fairness.” During the same appearance, Talarico walked back his past claim that there are six biological sexes and pledged to “absolutely” support a national ban on gender-transition surgeries for minors.
What's still developing
- “Every sport has to be safe and fair,” Talarico said in the interview.
- The footage was captured days after Talarico went on Fox News earlier this month to revisit his most extreme past positions, insisting he “missed the mark” as Republicans rallied in Dallas to boost Texas Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton.
- Rev. Babs Miller of St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church was caught agreeing with Talarico’s “God is nonbinary” declaration before saying he was receiving political advice from national party consultants to change his tune.
- Miranda said Talarico “does believe the things that he’s said before” and characterized his new approach as an effort to become more acceptable to Republican voters.
- In 2021, he opposed Senate Bill 29 while serving on the Texas House Public Education Committee.