James Talarico is the Democrats' latest Beto O'Rourke, another attempt to get a leftist elected in Texas. Today the NY Times has a new article doing its best to defend Talarico from his critics, including letting him walk back some of his own public statements. Here's how the story opens:
James Talarico, in one of his first interviews since winning the Democratic nomination for Senate in Texas, attacked the use of Christianity to promote conservative politics, saying his candidacy was part of a broader mission to counter what he sees as a partisan takeover of the American church.
Mr. Talarico, a state legislator and seminary student, used unsparing language to describe what he called “Christian nationalism,” saying such beliefs were “fundamentally un-Christian,” a “perversion” of his faith tradition, “unbiblical” and “heretical.”
Those are essentially the same charges that have been leveled against Talarico himself by many of his critics. The Times admits as much.
Hours before his victory last Tuesday, prominent politicians, activists and pastors began assailing what they called Mr. Talarico’s “blaspheming tongue.”They blanketed podcasts, social media platforms and right-wing media outlets with video clips of him using the story of Jesus Christ’s conception to defend abortion rights, saying “God is nonbinary,” and finding spiritual truths beyond Christianity to support religious pluralism. Such positions, they argued, were an “abuse of Scripture” that disqualified him as a Christian leader.
The story eventually gets around to the real problems Talarico has, starting with videos of his speaking, like this one where he claims God is non-binary:
Democrat Nominee for U.S. Senate in Texas James Talarico: “God is nonbinary”
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) March 5, 2026
pic.twitter.com/NkWDJzsXY6
And this tweet from 2020 where he describes white supremacy as a virus being spread by white people.
The only cure is diagnosing the virus within ourselves and taking dramatic actions to contain the spread. The first small step is proclaiming loudly and unequivocally that #BlackLivesMatter.
— James Talarico (@jamestalarico) May 8, 2020
Now Talarico would like to walk some of those statements back.
Mr. Talarico said he regretted the way he had articulated some of his progressive views on gender and race, which are now being seized upon by Republicans to paint him as an out-of-touch liberal.
“The principles that I was articulating that racism is immoral and wrong, that trans people deserve dignity and equality, those are certainly principles and values that I still hold, and that stem directly from my faith,” he said. “But I probably would have said them differently.”
How would he have said them differently? He doesn't say and the NY Times doesn't really care. Two paragraphs later, he's admonishing Christians who lead with their politics:
“What’s happening increasingly in the American church is that people are starting with their politics and their faith is growing out of that — it’s a fundamental reversal,” he said. “People are baptizing their partisanship and calling it Christianity.”
That is precisely how I would describe James Talarico. He's a man who has turned his politics into a faith of his own devising.
Talarico: They’re going to call me a radical leftist.
— Western Lensman (@WesternLensman) March 5, 2026
Also Talarico: Trans abortions, God is non-binary, six genders, no prisons.
So, yeah. pic.twitter.com/XlswxR1X5A
The clip that has convinced me that Christianity isn't his main concern more than any other is this one in which he quotes from a Gnostic gospel during a sermon.
Texas senate hopeful James Talarico uses the gnostic 'Gospel of Thomas' to prove that Jesus was a feminist, offering that men must not be male, but must be female, and vice versa. pic.twitter.com/QjGOMPympG
— Protestia (@Protestia) March 4, 2026
Christians may have differences over how to apply biblical commands to national political issues, but there is literally no Christian denomination that believes the Gospel of Thomas is part of the mainstream Christian tradition. In fact, Christians have been warning about the Gospel of Thomas since the 2nd century. That Talarico doesn't know this or doesn't care would probably be part of this story if the authors knew anything about Christianity.
Yesterday, the Times published an opinion piece by David French which similarly seems to be aimed at defending him from critics.
Talarico is a political and religious progressive. I am a political and religious conservative. But focusing on those disagreements misses the reason I’m asked about him so much.
Talarico isn’t just making arguments. He’s giving people hope, and I think I know why.
Put simply, if the primary American divide is between right and left, then Talarico isn’t that interesting. There’s a long history of progressive religious activism in the United States, just as there is a long history of conservative religious activism. White evangelicals might be overwhelmingly Republican, but American Christians are remarkably diverse politically, and we’ve been arguing with one another for a long time.
Yet if the primary American divide is between decent and indecent, then the equation changes. Talarico shines.
Or, to put it another way, Talarico is one of the few openly Christian politicians in the United States who acts like a Christian, and by acting like a Christian he reveals a profound contrast with so many members of the MAGA Christian movement that’s dominated American political life for 10 years.
In what ways does Talarico act like a Christian? French says that comes down to the "fruit of the Spirit."
Indeed, in the book of Galatians, the Apostle Paul says that the fruit of the spirit is a set of virtues — “love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.”
Where do we see this in Talarico's life or public statements? French offers on example, from a campaign speech.
...when Talarico won his Senate primary, he said, “I am tired of being pitted against my neighbor. I’m tired of being told to hate my neighbor. It’s been more than 10 years of this kind of politics. Politics as blood sport, politics as trolling and owning, politics as total war. It tears families apart. It ends friendships, and it leaves us all feeling terrible all the time.”
It's just one of the most generic possible statements in today's politics. I've heard similar statements from many politicians on both sides of the aisle. In fact, French notes that one of Talarico's Republican opponents is running the same kind of campaign. It's also noteworthy that he gets through his entire piece without mentioning Talarico's primary opponent, Jasmine Crockett, a Democrat who ran on the kind of partisan anger French is denouncing. He literally never mentions her once, probably because he knows a lot of Times' readers adore her crude attacks on Republicans.
Talarico isn't going to win with the voters in Texas but he's clearly winning with the writers at the NY Times.
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