James Talarico Is The Real Deal

The Texas story the national takes keep missing.

Sep 17, 2025

Over the last year, as chatter heated up around James Talarico’s potential Senate run, I found it interesting to discover that many of my friends in political spaces don’t actually read my newsletter. Because if they had been reading my newsletter for any considerable amount of time, they’d know that during the Legislative Sessions, James Talarico was a legislator whom not only I shared clips of but have been discussing for several years. Yet, the conversations have frequently been, “Talarico seems okay, but I’m not sure about all this Jesus shit. How do we know he’s a true progressive?”

This week, there has been some similar online discourse. Concerns that perhaps Talarico seems like a progressive because he can hit the Republicans back with their own bible-thumping talking points, but will his policies really have substance? Medicare for All? Workers rights? Climate action? True progressive policy?

Last week, Left Reckoning asked the same question. And we’ll get to that, because this is far from the first bone I’ve picked with them. But first, I want to show you the moment that I knew Talarico was the real deal.

If you have never seen this clip before, I would say it’s a must-watch for understanding who Talarico is, as his faith is never brought into the conversation. It’s from 2021, when Republicans passed the CRT-ban, which restricted teaching certain history in school, and Representative Talarico exposed Steve Toth as a white supremacist (Toth is now running for TX02).

It was at that moment, in 2021, that I realized James Talarico, then perhaps only 30 or 31, was not only a competent legislator but also on the path to great things in his career.

Talarico also fought hard against Republicans in the Legislature for immigrant rights.

While admittedly, I don’t have every single clip of every single time Talarico fought with Republicans on human rights or economic freedom for Texans, I have a few saved up and they are well worth checking out if you want to see who Talarico was before he filed to run for Senate, not including all of the “Jesus shit” that keeps going viral.

Like this exchange between him and David Spiller, the author of the inhumane “Show Me Your Papers” bill (2023). Just like the debate between Talarico and Toth, Talarico makes Spiller look like an awful person after refusing to codify language in the law about killing immigrants. (This debate came shortly after the allegations of Abbott instructing border patrol to push immigrants back into the river.)

Check it out:

Here is another instance, from this latest legislative session, when Talarico exposes Republicans for handing our taxpayer dollars to the wealthy. He keeps the frame on fairness and fiscal responsibility, and the GOP fails miserably.

Talarico corners Brad Buckley into defending a version that can send public funds to high-income families already in private schools, and he highlights the broader political machinery behind vouchers while contrasting it with neglected public-school needs. Buckley squirms. It’s glorious to watch, even if vouchers did pass.

There are years of legislative exchanges between Talarico and his Republican counterparts that prove he is a true progressive champion and have nothing to do with religion or his faith.

While I expect progressives outside of Texas to perhaps question whether or not Talarico is the “real deal” beyond the viral Jesus moments, for the progressives in Texas, I would say, “HAVE YOU NOT BEEN PAYING ATTENTION TO THE LEGISLATURE?”

Yes, the caps were intentional.

Are these clips enough?

Did you know that all of the legislators’ and congresspeople’s voting records are available to the public?

You can check out Talarico’s voting history on VoteSmart. Or you can see the money he took as a State Legislator. Or you can look up the bills he’s filed each legislative session.

The first time I interviewed Talarico was almost three years ago, while I was still working under Living Blue in Texas, and I have several times since.

Here’s what I’ve seen, before all the viral religious clips. (Although I think those are great too.)

I watched him in real time, in committee rooms and on the floor, doing the work Texans need. Actual work.

He went straight at whitewashing and power. The CRT fight was a young rep dismantling bad-faith propaganda and defending Black kids’ right to learn the truth. That’s anti-Blackness confronted, on the record, when it counted.

He went straight at cruelty. In the Spiller exchange, he pressed, line by line, to shut the door on inhumane border orders. Codify protections or admit you’re leaving room for abuse. That’s immigrant rights defended, not in a tweet, but in statute language.

He went straight for the money. On vouchers, he pinned Republicans to the most straightforward question in the world. Should millionaire families already in private schools siphon public dollars? They wouldn’t answer. He didn’t let them wriggle out. That’s oligarchy called by its name, and he fought it.

And beyond the clips? He filed real bills and passed real things.

A $15,000 across-the-board teacher raise is on the table. An insulin copay cap of $25. Early childhood quality reforms. Javier Ambler’s Law ending reality-TV policing in Texas. Cannabis legalization/regulation, reproductive freedom, and independent redistricting. Clear, progressive planks.

And Left Reckoning asked, “Can Talarico show substance beyond the religious framing?”

My recurring bone to pick with Left Reckoning is that I wish they would plant more of their flag in Texas. Not to say that I’m ideologically aligned with them. I’m not. They’re socialists, actually. But the niche is wide open, and they’re already to the left of the Texas Democratic Party (which, for the record, is the most progressive state Democratic Party in America). Texas is starving for more Texas-grounded commentary across the spectrum, including the left. We’re talking about labor, grid, vouchers, abortion, border cruelty, corporate giveaways, the whole mess. Instead, they mostly jump into the national pool of noise with a million other voices.

Credit where due. They were one of the few online leftists who actually gave the Texas Democratic platform its flowers. Because here’s the truth every red-state leftist knows in their bones. Blue-state left and red-state left are not the same project. Our fights look different. Our opponents hit harder. Our margins are thinner. And if more red-state leftists don’t start leading the conversation on red-state issues, the national discourse will keep missing the plot.

Left Reckoning (and other progressives) asking for “substance beyond the religious framing” is fair, if you’re only seeing the viral “Jesus” clips.

James Talarico’s state-level record speaks for itself. He’s the one pinning authors to their own language and forcing them to say out loud what their bills do. The CRT takedown was over four years ago, long before he thought about a Senate run. The Spiller exchange was a statutory guardrail for immigrant life and safety.

The receipts are there.

Talarico succeeded in passing a bill to cap insulin copays at $25. It was important to him because he has diabetes. He also authored Javier Ambler’s Law, which ended reality-TV policing in Texas (you may remember that case from 2019).

For the record, this isn’t an official endorsement, not yet. I really liked James Talarico. And while I disagree with Colin Allred on policy, he’s a super nice guy. I haven’t met Terry Virts yet, but I think astronauts are cool and Interstellar is my favorite movie.

If Talarico turns out to be our Batman, who would be our Robin?

I mean, governor. Maybe we have that person already, and I don’t see it yet. Maybe it’ll be Joaquin Castro? Or Beto? Or someone, perhaps, we haven’t even discussed.

Last week, some interesting DNSs were filed.

Here’s a closer look:

Now, that would be a race that would light a fire in Texas. With the right campaign, if the top of the ticket coordinated rallies all year round, it could be truly remarkable. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves, because I’ve heard rumors she may run for other offices as well. Sometimes people buy these things to start rumors.

The world may be on fire, but Texas progressives look unusually aligned.

The coalition is there, and if we get a strong top of the ticket that coordinates a policy-first, year-round, grassroots campaign, Texas Democrats can set the state on fire (in a good way).

Or maybe I’m delusional. But Texas changes when the people finally show up. Read the bills, dig through their pasts, and know who your candidates are. And then knock on doors, volunteer, and help fund them (if you can).

Remember, Texas isn’t a red state. We’re under-organized, under-enthusiastic, and non-voting. We can fix it, but we have to fix it together.