As James Talarico sought the Democratic nomination for Senate in Texas last year, he invoked his long-standing support for LGBTQ+ rights as among the reasons his party’s voters should elect him in a heated primary.
Read more Trump’s ‘Super Intelligence Force’ wants safety without slowing innovation
The Austin-based state representative had spent years advocating for transgender people and other minorities in Texas, opposing Republican efforts to pass a bathroom bill and ban transgender girls from participating in girls’ sports, among other issues.
But since emerging as Democrats’ best chance of winning a Senate seat in Texas in nearly 30 years, Talarico has distanced himself from some of his past comments on issues related to transgender rights, including sports participation and access to gender-transition care for minors. He is under pressure in a red-leaning state, where his well-funded but scandal-plagued Republican opponent, Attorney General Ken Paxton, has bombarded voters with ads about those positions. Democrats nationwide increasingly see transgender rights as a topic on which to tread carefully.
In seeking support from LGBTQ+ groups and other allies, Talarico made specific commitments about what he would do in the Senate.
He pledged in writing at least twice during the primary contest to support the Equality Act if elected — a measure championed by LGBTQ+ rights advocates to amend the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and prohibit discrimination based on sex, sexual orientation and gender identity.
But Talarico has not discussed that same pledge on the campaign trail or in interviews, and the commitment does not appear among his policy positions online. When asked multiple times by The Washington Post whether he would sponsor or support the legislation in office, his campaign did not initially affirm his commitment.
“If elected, James will review every bill he’s asked to vote on and do what’s best for the people of Texas,” campaign spokesman JT Ennis said in a statement.
Talarico’s written commitments, which have not been previously reported, date back to last fall.
“If elected, Rep. Talarico would sponsor the Equality Act in the US Senate,” he answered on a candidate questionnaire from the Stonewall Democrats of Austin, his local chapter of the national pro-LGBTQ+ political group.
He reaffirmed his support on another questionnaire in January while seeking the endorsement of the Communications Workers of America.
“We must prohibit discrimination in all forms — including based on gender identity and sexual orientation,” Talarico wrote. “The Equality Act is essential to protecting our LGBTQ+ community members from discrimination.”
After publication of this article, Ennis provided an updated statement saying Talarico “stands by his support for the Equality Act as listed on the questionnaire.”
“Any assertion that James’ stance has shifted is inaccurate,” Ennis said. The campaign did not provide an explanation for why it would not initially affirm Talarico’s support for the federal legislation.
The Equality Act — whose roots stretch back to the 1970s — states that an individual cannot be denied access to a shared facility, including restrooms, locker rooms and dressing rooms, “that is in accordance with the individual’s gender identity.” A modern version has twice passed the House of Representatives.
Talarico voted against a Texas bill last year that restricted bathroom access for transgender people, requiring anyone in publicly owned buildings, including schools and universities, to use the restroom that corresponds to their sex at birth.
Asked what his position is on the issue today and whether Talarico believes that individuals should have the right to use facilities that correspond with their gender identity, his campaign did not directly answer.
“James voted against an overly broad bill that could have subjected young people to baseless searches of their bodies,” Ennis said.
Read more Democrat has edge over Susan Collins in critical Maine Senate battle, poll finds
Despite Republicans heavily outspending Democrats in the Texas Senate race, Talarico has continued to lead in polling over Paxton, who was impeached by the Texas House in 2023 but acquitted by the state Senate. His wife, state Sen. Angela Paxton, filed for divorce last year on “biblical grounds,” after Ken Paxton was accused of infidelity.
Talarico and his campaign have maintained that he has not shifted any of his stances. But he said on Fox News last month that he “missed the mark on some of my past statements” when asked about a 2021 comment that there are six genders. Talarico made the remark while opposing a state bill to require that students play on sports teams that correspond to the sex listed on their birth certificate.
In the same Fox News interview, Talarico said he “will oppose trans athletes playing in girls’ sports if it risks safety or fairness,” and that he would “absolutely” support a federal bill to ban gender transition surgery for minors.
In the legislature, Talarico voted against a bill that banned gender transition surgery and access to puberty blockers for minors. He filed an amendment that would have exempted physicians from the bill’s restrictions if complying interfered with their Hippocratic oath. Talarico also voted in favor of a Democratic-sponsored amendment to limit the bill to a ban on surgeries.
Talarico’s attempts to distance himself from some of his past positions have landed poorly among some LGBTQ+ activists and leaders. Robert Vargas III, the leader of the Texas Stonewall Democrats, issued a statement titled “Transgender Texans Deserve Better Than Political Ambiguity” and said Talarico’s remarks “represent a significant shift in his position, and that shift deserves a serious conversation.”
“We expect better,” Brad Pritchett, the CEO of Equality Texas, said in a statement after Talarico’s Fox News interview last month.
But those same leaders are still sticking with Talarico, explaining that his past record in support of LGBTQ+ rights is strong and that he is a better choice than his opponent, who as Texas attorney general has worked to restrict transgender rights.
“There are primary politics, and then there are general-election politics,” Vargas said. “Right now, James Talarico needs to win the election, and we trust in the integrity and in the positions that he’s taken in the past enough to know that when James Talarico gets elected, that he’s going to stand behind our community.
“I believe that if he said that he’s going to sponsor the Equality Act — there’s been no indication, there’s been no statement, there’s been no policy change that I’m aware of that says he’s not going to do that.”
Republicans for several years have attacked Democrats for their support of transgender rights, focusing in particular on participation in sports and on gender transition surgeries for children. Polling has shown that most Americans are uncomfortable with transgender athletes participating on sports teams that are different than their sex at birth, and Democrats have increasingly sought to clarify that they support some restrictions.
On Thursday — just days after President Donald Trump called her a nickname using an anti-trans slur — the Democratic Senate nominee in South Carolina, physician Annie Andrews, appeared in an ad in her white coat saying she does not support “gender surgery for minors.”
“I want you to hear me loud and clear. I don’t support biological men playing women’s sports,” the pediatrician also said.
Days after Talarico’s interview on Fox, at a fundraiser in Houston sponsored by Pritchett and other LGBTQ+ leaders, including the Human Rights Campaign, the candidate told attendees that the full context of his comments wasn’t clear and that the interview was clipped.
During a briefing with reporters Monday, Kelley Robinson, president of the HRC, said people who attended the Houston event told her Talarico explained that transgender kids can participate in sports without interfering with safety or fairness. He also clarified his position on gender transition care, saying politicians shouldn’t interfere in decisions made in doctor’s offices, she added.
But in an ad released last week, Talarico emphasized his opposition to gender transition surgery for minors, an issue Republicans have used to attack him.
Read more The politics of prediction markets
“No, I don’t support sex change surgeries for kids,” Talarico said.
