James Talarico rode viral video fame to the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate in Texas. Now Republicans want to turn years of candid on-camera musings against him.
Conservatives are digging through Talarico's social media history and finding a trove of progressive commentary on hot-button cultural issues like race, gender, religion and immigration. They hope it will torpedo his candidacy in a red state like Texas that Democrats have spent decades struggling to turn blue.
Talarico was a state legislator barely known outside his district before he started building a national profile by making himself ubiquitous. He sat for lengthy podcast interviews and posted heavily on social media. The grandson of a Baptist preacher and a seminary student himself, Talarico often makes a Biblical case for progressive policies, using a gift of gab that many Democrats believe will help him connect with voters across Texas.
It's also given his critics hours and hours of material to mine. And after he defeated Rep. Jasmine Crockett in the Democratic primary on Tuesday, conservatives started uploading an arsenal of video clips.
“God is nonbinary,” Talarico once said during a legislative floor speech. He later explained that he was being “a little provocative” to make the theological point that “God is beyond gender.”
“Our southern border should be like our front porch. There should be a giant welcome mat out front,” Talarico said in a clip that cuts off the rest of his sentence — “and a lock on the door.”
“Radicalized white men are the greatest domestic terrorist threat in our country,” Talarico wrote five years ago in a post lamenting mass shootings targeting Black, Hispanic and Asian Americans.
Republican consultant Chris LaCivita shared that post on social media and suggested it was “great ad copy" for his party. LaCivita is working for a super PAC supporting incumbent Sen. John Cornyn, who faces state Attorney General Ken Paxton in a runoff for the Republican nomination.
President Donald Trump even joined in, telling Politico in an interview that Talarico is “a terribly weak candidate” who is “more woke than even the very highly untalented Jasmine Crockett.” He predicted Talarico would be “much easier than her” to defeat in a general election.
"He is radically out of touch with Texans and they will not vote for this in November,” said Samantha Cantrell, a spokesperson for the National Republican Senatorial Committee.
During a victory speech Wednesday, Talarico primed his supporters for the onslaught of criticism, which he blamed on billionaires and political elites desperate to hold onto power.
“They’re going to throw everything they have at us,” he said. “They’re going to call me a radical leftist. They’re going to call me a fake Christian. They’ll call our movement un-Texan, un-American. They’ll call us a threat.”
The criticism is coming, Talarico said, “because we're a threat to their corrupt system.”
“Our campaign is building a movement poised to change the politics of this state and take power back for working people,” said Talarico spokesperson JT Ennis. “While they lob stale attacks to mislead Texans, we are uniting the people of Texas to win in November.”
Democrats are hoping that Republican runoff voters will favor Paxton, who has weathered allegations of corruption and infidelity and has his own history of controversial remarks.
Trump has promised to make an endorsement in the race, but he hasn't said when he'll announce a decision or who it will be. Republican leaders want him to line up behind Cornyn, who is seeking a fifth term.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani's successful campaign provides a recent model of a Democrat who overcame intense scrutiny for progressive statements that became a political liability. Mandani went on Fox News and apologized to New York Police Department officers for past criticism, such as a calling to “defund this rogue agency” in 2020.
Still, New York and Texas are worlds apart politically. Trump won Texas by nearly 14 points and lost the state of New York by nearly as much.
Texas Democratic Senate candidate Texas state Rep. James Talarico, D-Austin, meets with attendees after speaking for the first time since winning the Democratic nomination in Austin, Wednesday, March 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Sri Lanka began transferring more than 200 sailors from an Iranian vessel to shore Friday after the ship sought assistance while anchored outside the country’s waters, as tensions mounted in the Indian Ocean following the sinking of an Iranian warship by a U.S. submarine.
Sri Lanka navy spokesman Cmdr. Buddhika Sampath said the sailors of the IRIS Bushehr were being brought first to the port of Colombo and the ship will later be moved to an eastern port on the island.
“The disembarkation is in progress,” he said, adding the sailors would be taken to the naval base at Welisara, about 20 kilometers (12 miles) north of Colombo, after medical exams and immigration procedures.
The move by the Sri Lankan government to take over the vessel came after the U.S. sank the Iranian warship IRIS Dena off Sri Lanka’s coast Wednesday. The strike marked one of the rare instances since World War II in which a submarine sank a surface warship, and highlighted the expanding scope of the U.S.-Israeli military campaign against Iran.
The Dena had participated in naval exercises hosted by India before heading into international waters on its way home. At least 74 countries had joined the events, according to India's Defense Ministry, including the U.S. Navy, which conducted reconnaissance aircraft and maritime patrol drills.
The Indian navy said Thursday that it had initiated search and rescue operations after receiving a distress signal from the Dena, deploying two aircraft along with a sailing training vessel. By the time the response was launched, the Sri Lankan navy had already started its own rescue efforts, it said.
The Sri Lankan navy rescued 32 sailors and recovered 87 bodies after the attack.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the Dena had been carrying “almost 130” crew. The normal crew size for a warship of that class is 140.
Araghchi called the sinking an “atrocity at sea” and said the US would “bitterly regret” the attack.
Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake said late Thursday that authorities decided to take control of the Iranian vessel IRIS Bushehr after discussions with Iranian officials and the ship’s captain, after one of its engines failed.
“We have to understand that this is not an ordinary situation. It’s a request by a ship belonging to one party to enter into our port. We have to consider that according to the international treaties and conventions,” he told journalists Thursday night.
Separately on Friday, he wrote on X: “No civilian should die in wars. Our approach is that every single life is as precious as our own.”
The IRIS Bushehr had been described in previous Iranian media reports as a navy logistics ship that also had a helicopter pad on it.
The episode underscores how the conflict involving Iran is widening beyond the Middle East and spilling into the Indian Ocean, putting strategically located Sri Lanka in a delicate position as it tries to balance humanitarian obligations, international maritime law and its longstanding policy of non-alignment.
Dissanayake said some crew members would remain on board to help the Sri Lankan navy navigate the vessel to Trincomalee on the island’s northeast coast, about 265 kilometers (165 miles) from Colombo. The remaining sailors will be housed at a naval base, he said, adding that Sri Lanka was guided by neutrality while seeking to uphold humanitarian principles.
“We have followed a very clear stance. We will not be biased to any state not we will be submissive to any state,” he said.
Saaliq reported from New Delhi.
Iranian warship IRIS Dena is seen in the Bay of Bengal during International Fleet Review held at Visakhapatnam, India, Feb. 18, 2026. (AP Photo)
Iranian sailors, wearing t-shirts, who were rescued from IRIS Dena warship by Sri Lanka's navy, are escorted to a Judicial Medical Officer from the National Hospital, in Galle, Sri Lanka, Thursday, March 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)
Two Iranian sailors, center, who were rescued from IRIS Dena warship by Sri Lanka's navy are escorted to a Judicial Medical Officer from the National Hospital, in Galle, Sri Lanka, Thursday, March 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)
Two Iranian sailors, carrying green bags, who were rescued from IRIS Dena warship by Sri Lanka's navy are escorted to a Judicial Medical Officer from the National Hospital, in Galle, Sri Lanka, Thursday, March 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)
