Democratic Texas state Rep. James Talarico has a long history of pushing his liberal vision on schools, including bragging that he taught his students about “global warming,” promoting legislation to require teaching diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) and opposing restrictions on child sex-change operations.
Talarico, a former public school teacher who also attends a seminary, defeated Democratic Rep. Jasmine Crockett of Texas in Tuesday’s Democratic primary for the party’s nomination for the United States Senate seat held by Republican Sen. John Cornyn of Texas. Talarico’s history of promoting far-left priorities goes back to at least 2012, when he posted about pushing “#liberalpropaganda” in his classroom on X, then known as Twitter.
“Took 10 minutes today to teach my kids about global warming. It definitely freaked them out. #liberalpropaganda,” Talarico posted on X on Jan. 6, 2012. When he was elected to the Texas House of Representatives, Talarico continued his efforts to push left-wing priorities on students.
Took 10 minutes today to teach my kids about global warming. It definitely freaked them out. #liberalpropaganda pic.twitter.com/NyyLSnTT
— James Talarico (@jamestalarico) January 6, 2012
“Yes — let’s meet soon and discuss! I have lots of ideas, but I don’t think we want the white guy to be developing a plan for our children of color on his own,” Talarico posted on Jan. 24, 2019, responding to posts that have since been hidden.
Talarico was also a fierce proponent of DEI, co-authoring legislation to mandate lessons in the subject.
“I’m co-authoring legislation to explicitly teach ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion’ in our schools,” Talarico posted on March 18, 2021. “I’ve also filed House Bill 4111 which would require school districts over a certain size to hire a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Officer.”
I’m co-authoring legislation to explicitly teach “diversity, equity, and inclusion” in our schools.
I’ve also filed House Bill 4111 which would require school districts over a certain size to hire a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Officer.
— James Talarico (@jamestalarico) March 18, 2021
“As a white man, I’m susceptible to the same radicalization,” Talarico posted earlier that same day. “Thankfully, I was exposed to diversity at a young age and explicitly taught the values of equality, inclusion, and justice. But not every young white boy is so lucky.”
That same year, Talarico opposed legislation to restrict child sex-change operations, declaring that “God is nonbinary.”
“In committee, I listened to 15 hours of testimony about this bill,” Talarico said during the debate in the state Legislature before he voted against the measure. “The worst part, for me, was the number of Christians who used scripture to justify hurting children. Even on this floor today, a member tried to justify a hateful amendment in the name of God’s law.”
“So, let’s talk about that,” Talarico continued. “The first two lines of the Bible, the first two lines of Genesis, use two different Hebrew words to describe God. One is the masculine Hebrew noun for divinity, the second is the feminine Hebrew noun for spirit. God is both masculine and feminine and everything in between. God is nonbinary.”
Talarico decried successful efforts to restrict teaching students about DEI and critical race theory in a Sept. 1, 2021, post during a special session.
“Today is a dark day in our state’s history,” Talarico said. “Texas women can’t get an abortion[;] Texas teachers can’t talk about race[;] Texas police can’t ask to see a permit for a handgun[.] Let this dark day be the day Texans decide to take our state back.”
In 2022, Talarico claimed that child sex-change procedures were not child abuse, arguing that “blocking Medicaid expansion” and “separating families at the border” were. Talarico sponsored legislation to prohibit so-called “race-based hair discrimination” in 2023.
“As a former teacher, this bill is important to me. No student should be forced to choose between their identity and their diploma,” Talarico posted. “Thank you @RhettaForHD113 for leading the effort to ensure this discrimination is illegal in our state.”
“John Cornyn, Ken Paxton, Greg Abbott and the billionaires who prop them up are scared of James Talarico for good reason: our campaign is building a movement poised to change the politics of this state and take power back for working people,” Talarico’s campaign press secretary, JT Ennis, told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “While they lob stale attacks to mislead Texans, we are uniting the people of Texas to win in November.”
Let me help you, @GregAbbott_TX.
Things that are child abuse:
✖️Letting children freeze to death
✖️Separating families at the border
✖️Blocking Medicaid expansionThings that are not child abuse:
✔️Gender-affirming health care https://t.co/2Ik6B0Kq4F— James Talarico (@jamestalarico) February 23, 2022
“You shouldn’t leave your kids around someone like James Talarico,” Republican National Committee spokesman Zach Kraft told the DCNF. “He has a creepy obsession with forcing his woke agenda into classrooms and speaking with young children about permanently mutilating their genitals. It is disgusting and way too radical for Texas.”
The Democratic National Committee did not respond to a request for comment from the DCNF.
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