Democratic Texas Senate candidate James Talarico now says he supports banning gender surgery for minors and opposes transgender athletes in girls' sports, positions he voted against repeatedly as a state lawmaker.
In an exclusive interview with Fox News at a campaign food drive in Dallas on September 9, Talarico told correspondent Brooke Taylor he would vote as a U.S. senator for a national ban on gender surgery for children. He also said he opposes transgender athletes competing in girls' sports "if it endangers safety or fairness." And he conceded that his prior claim about there being six sexes was wrong.
The reversals land less than two months before the November 3 general election, with Fox News polling showing Talarico's race against Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton is surprisingly close. For Texas voters trying to figure out where Talarico actually stands, the interview raises a straightforward question: Which version of the candidate should they believe, the state legislator who cast the votes, or the Senate hopeful now scrambling to revise the record?
Start with gender surgery for minors. Talarico told Fox News, "Absolutely," when asked whether he would vote for a ban. He added: "I've been consistent on this issue."
The legislative record says otherwise. In 2023, Talarico voted against SB 14, the Texas law that prohibited certain gender surgeries, puberty blockers, and hormone treatments for minors. He justified the vote by calling the bill "overly broad" and saying he supported a narrower amendment that would have limited the ban to surgeries alone. Democrats proposed 18 amendments to SB 14. Talarico voted for all 18. Every one failed.
His explanation to Fox News:
"As a lawmaker, my job is to try to sift through everything the bill does. And sometimes there's stuff in it that's really harmful, and I have no choice but to oppose the bill as a whole."
That framing asks voters to treat a "no" vote on a child-protection bill as a procedural disagreement rather than a substantive one. But the bottom line is simple: the bill banned gender surgery on kids, and Talarico voted against it. His record on this issue tells a different story than the one he is selling now.
Talarico now says he opposes transgender athletes playing in girls' sports when safety or fairness is at risk. But in 2021, when the Texas Legislature took up that exact question, he fought the effort.
SB 29, which would have required public-school athletes to compete based on the biological sex listed on their birth certificate, drew Talarico's opposition. He called the entire issue a "manufactured problem." When a companion bill, HB 25, enacted similar restrictions into law, Talarico voted against that one too.
Two bills. Two votes. Both times he sided against the position he now claims to hold. His current stance, that he opposes transgender athletes in girls' sports "if it risks safety or fairness", adds a qualifier broad enough to drive a truck through. Whether that hedge means anything in practice, or whether it is designed to sound moderate while leaving room to vote the other way, voters will have to judge for themselves.
Talarico's earlier rhetoric went well beyond procedural objections. In 2021, while opposing the bill to keep biological males out of women's sports on the Texas House floor, he declared: "God is both masculine and feminine and everything in between. God is non-binary." He has also previously labeled restrictions on child gender procedures "Christofascism", language that is difficult to square with his current posture of moderation.
Asked about the "God is non-binary" remark, Talarico did not retract the theology. He reframed it.
"I was being provocative with that statement. I get that. What I was trying to say is that you can't use human categories to define God, and that's not controversial theologically. In fact, the late Charlie Kirk, the late Pope Benedict all said the same thing."
Talarico's invocation of "the late Charlie Kirk" is notable; the information provides no independent confirmation of Kirk's death or of the specific claim Talarico attributes to him. Pope Benedict XVI died in December 2022, but the information provided does not verify that Benedict made a comparable statement. Both references are Talarico's own assertions, offered without documentation.
Talarico also addressed his prior claim that there are six sexes, a statement that drew widespread ridicule. He told Fox News he got it wrong.
"I've missed the mark on some of my past statements. I will be the first to admit it. What I meant is that there are two sexes, and then there's a small percentage of people with genetic abnormalities."
He then pivoted to economic messaging:
"Obviously didn't say it correctly. There are not six sexes. There are two, and I think the reason that politicians in that convention center across the street want to talk about six sexes is because they don't want to talk about $6 diesel."
The "convention center across the street" was a reference to the first-ever GOP midterm convention, which kicked off in downtown Dallas the same day. Talarico staged his "Love Thy Neighbor" grocery drive just miles away, a bit of campaign choreography designed to draw a contrast. But the deflection to diesel prices does not explain why Talarico made the six-sexes claim in the first place, or why it took years and a competitive Senate race to correct it.
Talarico's broader campaign pitch centers on affordability. He told Fox News that everywhere he goes across Texas, "people are struggling to survive in this economy" and "struggling to afford the basics: groceries, gas, utilities, healthcare." He pledged to make that his focus through Election Day.
Yet even on economic ground, his record raises questions. In November 2019, when the Texas Legislature passed a measure to permanently ban a state income tax, and Texas voters overwhelmingly approved it, Talarico voted against it. He called the ban "redundant" and "government waste at its worst." Now he says flatly, "We should not have a state income tax." Whether that represents a genuine change of mind or another election-year convenience, voters can decide.
Talarico spent a significant portion of the interview attacking his opponent. He called Ken Paxton "the most corrupt politician in Texas" and alleged that Paxton's acquittal in the Texas state Senate was bought. His claim: "Two of his billionaire megadonors gave the lieutenant governor a $3 million check to buy his acquittal." Fox News Digital reached out to the Paxton campaign for a response, but no reply was captured.
Talarico also took aim at the U.S. Supreme Court, calling it "infected" with corruption and saying it "needs to be overhauled." He pledged to vote for binding codes of conduct, term limits for justices, and said he is "open to a discussion about expanding the number of justices", the kind of court-packing language that plays well with the progressive base but tends to alarm the moderate voters Talarico now appears to be courting.
The contradictions pile up. Talarico wants to ban gender surgery for kids but voted against the ban. He opposes transgender athletes in girls' sports but voted against the bills that addressed it. He says there are two sexes but previously said six. He says Texas should not have a state income tax but voted against the measure that banned one. And he calls his "God is non-binary" statement merely "provocative" rather than wrong.
Meanwhile, Democratic strategists have warned that coalition fractures could undermine Talarico's bid. His repositioning may win over some swing voters, but it risks alienating the progressive base that embraced his earlier positions.
That tension has already surfaced on the trail. Talarico has faced hostile crowds at town halls as Democratic voters confront him over shifting positions. And prominent Democrats, including Rep. Jasmine Crockett, have refused to campaign for him, deepening the rift within his own party.
Talarico told Fox News that his past comments "are being clipped out of context to try to distract from Ken Paxton's career of corruption." But context does not change a floor vote. It does not uncast a ballot. And telling voters you "missed the mark" is not the same as explaining why you held the position in the first place, or why they should trust the new one.
When a candidate's record and his rhetoric point in opposite directions, the record is the one that counts.