Texas Democrat James Talarico is trying to recast himself as a border hawk and moderate on transgender surgeries as Republicans dig up a record of past comments that could haunt him in a bruising Senate race against Ken Paxton.
The Democratic Senate nominee took aim at former President Joe Biden’s immigration record during a Monday appearance on the “Cogdell Law Uncensored” podcast, months after taking a much softer tone on the border during his primary campaign.
Back in January, Talarico said during a debate against Democrat Jasmine Crockett that the southern border should have a “giant welcome mat out front.”
Now, with the general election against Paxton ahead, he is using very different language.
“I called out Joe Biden for failing to secure our southern border and I got a lot of heat in my own party for doing that,” Talarico told host Dan Cogdell.
“But I remember talking with my colleagues in the legislature who represent border communities and they told me about the utter chaos caused by President Biden’s policies and the Democratic Party,” he added. “And so, I’m a border security Democrat.”
The shift comes as Talarico, who defeated Crockett in March for the Democratic nomination, faces a Republican campaign eager to paint him as far outside the Texas mainstream.
Cogdell, a prominent attorney who has endorsed Talarico, pressed him on one of the GOP’s biggest lines of attack: whether he supports sex-change surgeries for minors.
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Cogdell said he had heard repeated claims that Talarico is “way too liberal for Texas” and asked him to answer the charge that he is “pro sex surgery for minors.” Talarico rejected that label.
“Well, just on that particular accusation, I oppose gender reassignment surgeries for minors,” Talarico said.
That answer immediately drew scrutiny from Republicans, who pointed to his past support for transgender-related care and his voting record in the Texas Legislature.
The Republican National Committee’s RNC Research account accused Talarico of lying about his position and claimed he had “literally voted in favor of child gender mutilations.”
James Talarico lies and says he is a "border security Democrat."
Talarico said "we should treat our southern border like our front porch," called to defund law enforcement, slanders ICE as "secret police," and thinks Obama's failed border policy was too extreme. pic.twitter.com/Pk7ttjKVh3
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) June 8, 2026
Talarico had previously described such treatment as “life-saving health care” while discussing legislation involving transgender minors.
During a May 2023 episode of “A Superbloom Podcast,” he praised transgender children who came to the Texas Capitol to oppose a bill restricting care.
“I love — I’m just going to say this because it’s on my mind — the trans children who showed up yesterday at the state Capitol to advocate for their humanity,” Talarico said.
He said Democrats delayed a bill that would have denied transgender children “life-saving health care” and described activists, children and parents being removed from the gallery after a protest.
“We were going to debate a bill that would deny trans children life-saving health care, and ultimately we didn’t get to the bill because Democrats called a point of order and were able to delay the bill a few days,” he previously said.
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) June 8, 2026
“But we had trans activists, trans children, trans parents of trans children in the gallery, and they also launched their own peaceful protest and were removed from the gallery. And in fact, there’s video of one of the law enforcement officers violently throwing down one of those trans activists outside the House chamber.”
As a state House representative, Talarico voted against a broad bill banning gender-affirming treatments for transgender children.
The Senate hopeful also used the podcast to swat down another attack that has followed him around Texas politics: the claim that he is vegan.
Cogdell asked about the rumor, and Talarico leaned hard into his Texas roots. “I’m an eighth-generation Texan. I know Ken Paxton is not from Texas, but my family’s been here since it was Mexico,” Talarico said.
Democrat James Talarico is trying to rebrand himself as a Texas BBQ lover after previously bragging about running a “non-meat campaign” in 2022.
The photo-op comes after Senate hopeful Talarico faced a barrage of vegan accusations when resurfaced video showed him embracing a… pic.twitter.com/AFfDni4I5O
— Fox News (@FoxNews) June 8, 2026
Then he turned Paxton’s legal history into a punchline. “So I’ve been eating barbecue since Ken Paxton’s first indictment,” Talarico claimed.
He added, “If the best they have is lying about me being a vegan, I feel pretty good about our chances in November.”
Cogdell’s role adds another political twist to the race. He is now backing Talarico after previously serving as Paxton’s defense attorney during the Texas attorney general’s 2023 impeachment trial.
James Talarico: "I am proud to say that our campaign has officially become a non-meat campaign. We are only buying vegan products from our local vegan businesses." #TXsenpic.twitter.com/SkZZ05IXMj
— Lone Star Liberty PAC (@LoneStar_PAC) May 27, 2026
But the border and transgender surgery comments are not the only past positions Talarico has had to explain.
A resurfaced 2021 clip of Talarico saying “God is nonbinary” has become one of Paxton’s most potent attacks.
During a Texas House debate on transgender issues, Talarico argued that Christianity supported his defense of transgender children.
"God is nonbinary"
– The Democrat nominee for Texas Senate pic.twitter.com/TVtqTLMim4
— Brandon Gill (@realBrandonGill) March 4, 2026
“God is both masculine and feminine and everything in between. God is nonbinary,” he began.
“In Genesis 1:26, God speaks of God’s self in the plural, saying, ‘Let us make human beings in our image to be like us.’ That’s the infinite multitude of God. The masculine, the feminine, and everything in between,” Talarico continued. “Trans children are God’s children made in God’s own image. There’s nothing wrong with them. Nothing at all. They are perfect. They are beautiful, and they are sacred.”
The clip has circulated widely during the 2026 race, with Paxton using it to argue that Talarico’s views on gender and Christianity are out of step with Texas voters.
Talarico later softened the statement during an interview with CBS’ Ed O’Keefe, saying he had been deliberately provocative.
CBS News: “In 2021, in a speech during debate over tr*nsgender issues, you said, ‘God is non-binary.’ What did you mean by that?”
James Talarico: “I think I was being intentionally provocative with that statement, but what it means is that God can't be defined by human… pic.twitter.com/Ir4zufFpOJ
— RedWave Press (@RedWavePress) May 27, 2026
“I was being intentionally provocative with that statement. But what it means is that God can’t be defined by human categories. The apostle Paul in his letter to the Galatians says that in Christ there is neither male nor female,” he said.
He also accused Paxton of “intentionally clipping [his] cringey comments to distract from his career of corruption.”
Talarico offered a similar explanation during an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper.
“I understand that that comment is a little provocative. I said it on the House floor when the extremists in the Republican legislature were picking on school kids who were different. But I don’t think it’s controversial theologically. Most Christians would acknowledge that God is beyond gender,” he commented.
