Ted Cruz put radicals, communists and Islamists at the center of his RNC midterm convention speech, warning that a “red-green alliance” is gaining power inside the Democratic Party as Republicans look toward what he called “the most consequential midterms of our lifetime.”
The Texas senator used his Thursday night address in Dallas to cast the elections 54 days away as a fight over American freedom, with Democratic socialists Hasan Piker, Zohran Mamdani, Abdul Al-Sayed and James Talarico all landing in his line of fire.
Cruz told the crowd those forces may come from different movements, but he argued they are bound together by the same hostility.
“They are united because they share the same enemies,” Cruz said. “They hate Christians, they hate Jews, they hate capitalism, they hate the Constitution, and they hate America!”
The GOP senator reached into his own family’s flight from communist Cuba while describing authoritarian rule as a present danger rather than a distant chapter.
Cuba and Venezuela, the Soviet gulags and Mao’s China all came into Cruz’s argument before he moved to radical Islamism and rejected any place for Sharia law under the Constitution.
“Hear me now: Sharia law has no place in America,” Cruz said. “Sharia law is fundamentally inconsistent with the Constitution, and we need to stand together and stop it now.”
Cruz urged Republicans not to dismiss left-wing statements as empty rhetoric.
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“A simple truth. When people tell you who they are, believe them,” Cruz said.
He cited Piker saying America deserved 9-11, Mamdani saying he wanted to seize the means of production, Al-Sayed saying he had an “obligation” to comply with Sharia law and Talarico saying he wanted to dismantle capitalism.
His final appeal framed America as the place freedom cannot afford to fall.
“If we lose our freedom here, where do we go? We go nowhere,” Cruz said. “Together, arm in arm, we must save America.”
Talarico’s place in Cruz’s list matched a larger convention push to make the Texas Senate race a referendum on gender, religion, energy and the Democratic left.
The Texas state lawmaker is running in November against Attorney General Ken Paxton for the seat held by Republican Sen. John Cornyn.
Vice President JD Vance used the Dallas stage to ridicule Talarico’s earlier comments about gender and God.
“But this Talarico guy, he will not shut up about how there are six genders,” Vance told the crowd. “He will not shut up about how, quote, ‘God is non-binary.’ I don’t know what the hell that even means, my friends.”
Vance on Talarico: A guy that age who was so obsessed and focused on transgender children. I don't know about you, but I never want to see that guy's web browser history. pic.twitter.com/TcQGbDf3mA
— Acyn (@Acyn) September 11, 2026
Republican attacks on Talarico have focused on his criticism of Christian nationalism and his state House vote against a ban on transgender student athletes competing in girls’ sports.
Vance added a more personal jab, tying Talarico’s public positions to transgender children.
“He won’t shut up about having traditional Christian values makes you a bigot, and I gotta say, a guy that age who is so obsessed and focused on transgender children — I don’t know about you, but I never want to see that guy’s web browser history,” Vance said. “It’s not a good place. We’d rather be here.”
Talarico went on Fox News Wednesday and backed a national ban on gender surgery for minors, while arguing that his opposition to the Texas bill was about the bill’s scope.
“Absolutely,” Talarico said when asked whether he would vote for a federal ban as a U.S. senator.
“I’ve been consistent on this issue,” he added.
Talarico said he had tried to change the Texas measure through an amendment that would limit it to surgery bans for minors, but that effort failed.
“As a lawmaker, my job is to try to sift through everything the bill does,” he said. “And sometimes there’s stuff in it that’s really harmful, and I have no choice but to oppose the bill as a whole.”
On transgender athletes, Talarico told Fox News that girls’ sports should be safe and fair and that he would oppose participation when either concern is at risk.
“Every sport has to be safe and fair,” Talarico said. “As a former public school teacher, I care a lot about our student athletes. I care a lot about our students. And so, I will oppose trans athletes playing in girls’ sports if it risks safety or fairness.”
His 2021 statement that “God is both masculine and feminine and everything in between. God is non-binary” also came up in the Fox News interview.
Talarico said the line, delivered on the Texas House floor while he opposed a bill to keep men out of women’s sports, was meant to provoke.
“I was being provocative with that statement. I get that,” Talarico told Fox News.
He said he had been trying to argue that human categories cannot define God, and pointed to Charlie Kirk and Pope Benedict as having made the same point.
Paxton, who has President Trump’s endorsement, had already made Talarico’s comments part of his own convention pitch Wednesday night.
“This guy is really obsessed with transitions,” Paxton told the crowd, claiming Talarico wanted to “transition your kids” and “transition Texas off of oil and gas.”
“How about we transition him and his crazy ideas right out of Texas?” Paxton added.
Talarico countered the Republican convention attacks Thursday by announcing endorsements from 21 current and former Republican officials and party leaders.
Former members of Congress, Texas state lawmakers and other officials were part of the group, with several citing Paxton as the reason they crossed party lines.
“I’m proud to welcome Republicans into this campaign to take power back for working people — because the real fight in this country is not left versus right, it’s top versus bottom,” Talarico said in a statement.
The Senate race also received a new polling snapshot Thursday from AARP.
The survey of likely Texas voters put Talarico at 48 percent and Paxton at 44 percent.
Among Texas voters age 50 and older, Paxton led by 13 points.
