James Talarico is the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate in Texas. A clip from 2019 has resurfaced, and it cuts against the moderate image he has been building.
Talarico was speaking at a Texas Legislature committee hearing about House Bill 1910. That bill would have stopped family courts from treating a parent's refusal to affirm a child's gender identity as evidence of child abuse in custody cases.
Talarico opposed it. He told the room he would not rule out an overlap.
"Whether or not we label it with the term abuse, it's abusive for sure," he said.
He went further in the same hearing. "Some of us I think really do consider this abusive behavior," he said, describing it as "abusive to the child, abusive and destructive."
That version of the bill died in committee. A stronger version passed the Texas House in May 2025 and became law. Talarico opposed that one too. He was one of 59 nay votes.
Two other votes complicate his record. He backed an amendment to sunset the law in 2030. He also backed an amendment that its author said would clarify that "rejecting a child's gender identity or sexual orientation is abuse" and "should be treated as such under Texas law."
His campaign says the record is being read wrong. Spokesperson JT Ennis said Talarico "believes parents have the most important say in decisions about their children," and pointed to a parental rights bill Talarico sponsored. Ennis also went after Attorney General Ken Paxton, saying Paxton "has endangered them by allowing pedophiles back on our streets."
The clip is public. So are the votes. Texas voters will weigh both.