Democrats haven't won a Texas Senate seat since Ronald Reagan was still in office.
Now they're betting everything on a man Ken Paxton just called a radical who wants to abolish ICE and thinks Christians are commanded to put boys in girls' sports.
Meet James Talarico – and you need to hear what he's been saying on camera for years.
James Talarico Won the Texas Senate Primary With This on Camera
Talarico won the Democratic Senate primary Tuesday night, beating Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett to become the first Democrat nominated for a Texas Senate seat in decades.
He's a Presbyterian seminarian who campaigns by quoting scripture.
He went viral on Joe Rogan's podcast, where Rogan told him he should run for president.
And in 2021, standing in the Texas legislature, he looked into the camera and said it out loud: "God is both masculine and feminine and everything in between. God is nonbinary."
https://twitter.com/realBrandonGill/status/2029031304126255588?s=20
The Senate Republicans' campaign account posted the clip within hours of his victory Tuesday night.
Talarico says he was citing the Apostle Paul – that in Christ there is neither male nor female.
Texas Republicans say that's a talking point, not a theology degree.
Cornyn's team was already rolling: "James Talarico said God is nonbinary. That statement is on the record. Texans can decide what that means."
They've barely started.
The Cornyn Paxton Runoff Just Handed Democrats a Real Opening
Here's what makes the Texas Senate race a genuine threat rather than a quadrennial Democrat fantasy.
The Republican side is a mess.
Senator John Cornyn and Attorney General Ken Paxton are headed to a May 26 runoff after neither cracked 50 percent Tuesday night. The two have spent over $64 million attacking each other in the most expensive Senate primary in U.S. history – and they have months of trench warfare left before a nominee emerges.
Paxton brings a full oppo file into a general election. He was impeached on corruption charges in 2023. His wife filed for divorce last year, citing her faith as the reason. He's consistently shown as the weaker general election candidate in polling.
Cornyn, meanwhile, has spent the primary fending off RINO attacks from the Trump base for his work on a bipartisan gun bill. His own numbers fell to 15 percent in prediction markets before he forced the runoff.
The University of Houston's Hobby School polled the race in February and found the Republican lead in November matchups ranging from just 1 to 4 points – before either side's general election campaign has started.
Talarico is polling within one point of Cornyn head-to-head.
Democrats haven't had numbers like this in Texas since Beto O'Rourke came within 2.6 points of Ted Cruz in 2018 – the closest any Democrat had come since Lloyd Bentsen won the seat in 1988.
Talarico was born the year after that.
What This Primary Win Means for the Senate Majority
Senate Republican leadership has been sounding the alarm for months.
The National Republican Senatorial Committee's communications director said Tuesday that Cornyn is "the only candidate that guarantees Senator Talarico never becomes a reality." The implication is plain: Paxton winning the runoff puts the seat in genuine play.
Chuck Schumer would love nothing more.
Texas is one of several races that could determine whether Republicans hold their 53-47 Senate majority in the midterms. A competitive Texas forces the GOP to spend money they'd rather deploy in Alaska, Maine, Ohio, and North Carolina.
Talarico raised $2.5 million in a single 24-hour period last month after CBS allegedly blocked his interview with Stephen Colbert from airing on broadcast television. Colbert claimed the network cited FCC guidelines. The controversy handed Talarico a national platform and four thousand new volunteers.
He's running a real campaign. He's got money. He's got a story that sells.
What he also has is a video record that's going to be on television from September through November.
That 2021 clip is just the opening bid. In a legislative hearing against a girls' sports protection bill that same year, Talarico argued there are six biological sexes – a claim he's since walked back. He opposes capital punishment in a state that leads the nation in executions. He called for defunding ICE's budget in favor of social services.
Cornyn's comment on Sunday said it all: both Talarico and Crockett "should be running for the Senate in California, not in Texas."
That framing – California liberal, wrong state – is exactly what fall advertising will hammer from Labor Day until Election Day.
Texas Republicans have been here before. They've watched Democrats recruit the next Beto, watched the national media declare Texas in play, and watched the votes come in red.
But this time the Republicans are fighting each other through May. This time the Democrat has crossover appeal, a nationally known profile, and a genuine campaign infrastructure.
And this time, the man carrying the Democratic banner said it on video.
God is nonbinary.
Texas will decide what that means in November.
Sources:
- Paul Steinhauser, "Rising Star Talarico Topples Progressive Firebrand Crockett in High-Stakes Texas Senate Democratic Primary," Fox News, March 4, 2026.
- "Paxton, Cornyn Head to Texas GOP Runoff After Wesley Hunt Finishes Third," Fox News, March 4, 2026.
- "Texas Senate Runoff Odds: Paxton 55%, Cornyn 45%," Kalshi, March 4, 2026.
- University of Houston Hobby School of Public Affairs, "Texas Primaries 2026," February 2026.
- "James Talarico Wins Texas Democratic Senate Primary as John Cornyn and Ken Paxton Go to a GOP Runoff," NBC News, March 4, 2026.