Don’t Buy Talarico’s “Triangulation” in Texas Senate Race

In his bid to flip Texas blue, Democrat Senate nominee James Talarico has taken a page out of former President Bill Clinton’s book and attempted to “triangulate” his position on controversial social issues where he knows his party is hopelessly out of step with the electorate. But Talarico’s overtures to moderation now can’t erase his long history of shockingly radical views.

During a recent exclusive interview with Fox News, Talarico stunned many on his party’s left flank by claiming that he does not support transgender surgeries for minors or allowing men who claim to be transgender to compete on women’s sports teams.

“I oppose trans athletes playing in girls’ sports if it endangers safety or fairness,” Talarico said. “Every sport has to be safe and fair. As a former public school teacher, I care a lot about our student athletes. I care a lot about our students. And so, I will oppose trans athletes playing in girls’ sports if it risks safety or fairness.”

Talarico also said that he would support a ban on transgender surgeries for anyone under the age of 18. “I’ve been consistent on this issue,” he claimed, pointing to a 2023 vote in which he supported an amendment to a bill that would have prohibited certain gender surgeries for minors.

Talarico’s remarks are just the latest example of the Texas state representative attempting to walk back many of his past statements, including bizarre assertions like “God is nonbinary” and “God is not a Christian.” Talarico is notably a Presbyterian seminarian but describes himself as a “Christian who hates Christianity,” openly supports abortion, and has claimed that all religions have the “same truth” as Christianity.

But Talarico’s claim that he has been “consistent” is complicated by the rest of his record.

On June 8, months before his Fox News interview, Talarico similarly declared that he opposed gender-transition surgeries for minors. Just days later, he attended an Austin “Pride for Talarico” fundraiser featuring Dr. Dustin Reid, a surgeon who acknowledged that he had performed female-to-male chest surgeries on minors.

The debate also extends well beyond surgery. When recently asked to name his favorite drag queen, Talarico immediately answered Alyssa Edwards, a man who has publicly described himself as a “drag performer that works with children.”

In June 2021, Talarico was also a featured speaker at a Taylor, Texas Pride festival whose promotional materials advertised an 11-year-old drag performer known as “Kween Kee Kee.”

More consequential for public policy is Talarico’s record on the question of whether parents must affirm a child’s stated gender identity. During a 2019 Texas House hearing, Talarico said that denying a child’s gender identity could be “incredibly harmful” and added that, regardless of whether it was legally labeled abuse, “it’s abusive for sure.”

Texas lawmakers revisited that precise question last year. HB 1106 specified that “abuse” and “neglect” under state law do not include a parent or guardian refusing to affirm a child’s perceived gender, use a preferred name or pronouns, or affirm the child’s sexual orientation. Talarico voted against the bill on final passage.

That debate is not merely theoretical. A Massachusetts Catholic family is now fighting a custody case involving their 17-year-old daughter. The parents allege that state authorities removed her after they refused to affirm a male identity on religious grounds. Other similar cases have emerged in liberal states like New York and California, where parents say that the state government has taken their children away for refusing to “affirm” their gender confusion.

All of Talarico’s past positions are grossly out of step with the general public, particularly in a state like Texas – which is precisely why Talarico is now trying to “triangulate” his image.

That term was popularized by Dick Morris, Bill Clinton’s political adviser, after Republicans swept the 1994 midterms and captured both houses of Congress for the first time in 40 years. Morris later described triangulation as taking elements from both parties and constructing a “third way” above the traditional left-right divide.

Clinton used that approach as he prepared for his 1996 reelection campaign, moving toward Republicans on issues including welfare and balancing the federal budget.

Crucially, Clinton’s repositioning was accompanied by concrete policy decisions. He embraced the goal of a balanced budget and, in August 1996, signed landmark welfare reform legislation imposing work requirements and time limits on assistance – moves that angered parts of his own party.

Talarico’s situation presents voters with a different question. He maintains that his current positions are consistent with his record and says, for example, that he opposed Texas’s 2023 SB 14 because the legislation went beyond banning surgeries and restricted other transgender “treatments” as well.

Voters should weigh that explanation against his broader record. Texans shouldn’t be fooled by the sudden moderate makeover. Talarico is still the same politician who build his political career on being the most radical voice in the room.