James Talarico and the ‘Low-T’ Texas Two-Step

When most people think of Texas, what comes to mind is a gigantic state where alpha males rule the roost, riding horses to their hearts’ content, and consuming generous quantities of bourbon and the state’s signature Longhorn steaks. But beyond those basics, translating this to the political realm means candidates are expected to demonstrate at least a minimal standard of perceived virility, such as proudly owning a firearm, talking about football, and paying homage to the state’s legendary cattle industry. But this year, the Democrats have nominated a Senate candidate, James Talarico, who runs entirely counter to that typical profile, and he is attempting a Texas two-step to convince the voters in his state that he really is one of them.

The Texas Testosterone Test

The fundamental problem for the Texas Senate nominee is that his identity revolves less around the Lone Star State and more around a couple of progressive soulmates in the Midwest and northeast. And the success of this trio in Democratic Party primaries conducted in three very different regions all but answers the question of whether, after the disaster of 2024, rank-and-file Democrats across the country might turn toward the center and try nominating electable liberals or moderates. No, they are doing the opposite, doubling down on the extremism that cost them dearly in 2024. And they’re doing so in races critical to their hopes of capturing control of the Senate. 

Together with swing-state nominees Graham Platner in Maine and Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan, Talarico completes a trifecta of outspoken progressives seeking seats in the upper chamber. On what basis is Talarico being savaged by Republican Senate candidate Ken Paxton and the Texas GOP? Well, he faces a unique problem that could be as large as the Longhorn State itself. He has been labeled by his opponent as essentially not a real Texan or even a real man, but a wuss and a girly-man, to put it bluntly. Paxton’s first general election ad ends with the tagline “Radical Talarico: too low-T for Texas.” “Low-T” is short for low testosterone, an insult used against men for a lack of masculinity. Questioning a candidate’s manhood is not something we ordinarily witness in a federal election, but we’re talking about Texas, which has always played by its own set of rules.

At the same time, given his similarities to them in appearance, stature, and ideology, Talarico might best be depicted as a cross between Pete Buttigieg and Beto O’Rourke, both of whom are progressive darlings. O’Rourke, who tried and failed to become both a Senator and Governor in Texas, has called Talarico the “best I’ve seen” during his time in Texas politics. Is that a welcome endorsement or the kiss of death?   

Trying out a mea culpa, Talarico said recently: “I’ll be the first to admit that I missed the mark on some of those old statements, but what Ken Paxton is doing is clipping my cringey comments to distract from his career of corruption.” It’s not often that a candidate describes several of his own past statements as “cringey,” but Talarico evidently believes he can explain them away to the satisfaction of Texas’s famously rugged electorate, just as Platner in Maine tries to explain away his Nazi tattoo and self-description as a communist, and El-Sayed in Michigan defends his close relationship with an outspoken defender of Hamas.

Talarico and the LGBTQ God

During a 2021 Texas House floor speech rebuking Republican legislation on transgender youth sports, Talarico claimed that “God is nonbinary.” He later explains the statement was “intentionally provocative.” During another legislative debate that year, Talarico argued that modern science recognizes six different genders, or biological variations. This has led to another of Paxton’s provocative insults, calling Talarico “Six-Gender Jimmy.”  

Talarico once claimed that some atheists are “more Christ-like than” some of his Christian colleagues in Texas. And on the Joe Rogan Experience, Talarico claimed the Bible permits abortion, using reasoning that boggles the mind. In pointing to the Annunciation, when the Angel Gabriel visited Mary to announce that she would carry the Savior in her womb, Talarico argued that the angel asked Mary for consent to carry Jesus and characterized that story as a biblical affirmation of a woman’s personal autonomy.

And the beat goes on. In what is tantamount to fighting words in a state with the largest cattle industry in the nation by leaps and bounds, Talarico has been “accused” of being a vegan. While the charge has been proven untrue, it persists, probably because of a speech in 2022 when he advocated for reducing meat consumption to fight climate change. And when he ordered potato, egg, and cheese breakfast tacos during a visit to a taco joint with former President Barack Obama in early May, critics were all over him. “Potato egg and cheese? Homie is not beating the vegetarian allegations,” Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, posted on X. Only in Texas.

Like Platner and El-Sayed, James Talarico is a sign of the times in the Democratic Party. Ideological purity has supplanted sound electoral strategy. No matter the abject failure of the most progressive president in modern times, Joe Biden, and his left-wing acolyte, Kamala Harris, the activist/extremist left still dominates the stage, with reckless disregard for the electoral consequences.