Talarico Desperately Tries to Clean Up His 'Cringey Comments,' but Just Makes It Worse

Looks like the campaign for Texas Democrat Senate nominee James Talarico has finally realized they have a problem.

They seemed to go into hyperdrive after Tuesday's runoff primary in Texas to clean it up, but it's a bit late. All of his bizarre comments have been sitting out there for a while, and they've already made a big impression on people. I wrote about how even President Donald Trump hit on some of the weirdness and gifted Talarico with the perfect nickname.

After folks laughed at these first two pictures, saying it didn't look like Talarico was ready to take back much, the DNC released a picture of him in a Texas flag-themed shirt (yet again) and gnawing on a beef rib (as though to prove he ate meat).

Fired up. Ready to go.

It’s time to take back Texas. pic.twitter.com/BaFsUGOgSp
— Democrats (@TheDemocrats) May 27, 2026

Texas: James Talarico is the only candidate who will put you first. pic.twitter.com/5AZdWTl1Rl
— Democrats (@TheDemocrats) May 27, 2026

November, here we come. pic.twitter.com/ux1w1WzGNO
— Democrats (@TheDemocrats) May 27, 2026

Even anti-Trump ex-congressman Adam Kinzinger (IL-16) knew these social media guys were just digging themselves a bigger hole.

"No offense but you guys need new social media folks," Kinzinger advised them.

No offense but you guys need new social media folks
— Adam Kinzinger (Slava Ukraini) 🇺🇸🇺🇦 (@AdamKinzinger) May 27, 2026

Talarico Really Wants You to Know He Likes Meat

Talarico also did a CBS News interview with senior political correspondent Ed O'Keefe, spinning and walking back what he admitted were "cringey comments." Which past comments? There are so many bad ones. Please be specific.

Pro tip? When you're having to explain stuff like this, you're losing. And you know you're losing. This is a real effort to make him look like a moderate. But the problem is that it's so obvious.

Texas state Rep. and Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico responded to GOP attacks over his past remark that God is “non-binary,” telling @edokeefe that some of his previous comments “missed the mark.”

“There are some statements that I’ve made that I certainly regret,”… pic.twitter.com/VRsEXHo6ir
— CBS News (@CBSNews) May 27, 2026

"There are some statements that I've made that I certainly regret," he responded.

But then he tried to blame Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, the GOP Senate nominee, for "intentionally clipping" his "cringey comments." Um, my dude, Paxton isn't doing that - they're your comments that people are reporting on. Paxton didn't make them up. How dare he notice you said weird things? You said them, you thought them. And the only reason you're talking about them now is in the hope you can get around them and convince Texans that you aren't a weird radical.

Talarico tried to bring in dirt on Paxton, saying he had a "criminal record," while he, Talarico, had a legislative record. No, Paxton was not convicted of anything. Meanwhile, Talarico doesn't just have big questions about being weird, but big questions about missing votes while serving as a state representative in the Texas House of Representatives. If you're missing more than 800 votes, how will you be there in the U.S. Congress to put Texans first? Listen to him try to spin that.

James Talarico says that the criticism that he missed over 800 votes in the Texas House is a "Republican talking point" because he "broke quorum to protest redistricting."

Except, there cannot in fact be a vote in the House without a quorum present.pic.twitter.com/ufJ3SaCMYw
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) February 2, 2026

It wasn't just a GOP talking point - his Democrat primary opponent, Rep. Jasmine Crockett (TX-30), tagged him with this fact too.

Talarico even claimed he called out Joe Biden on the border crisis. But what I found was him saying something long after Biden had left the White House, when Talarico was already campaigning for the Senate. So he keeps spinning, but it's not working.

His justification for his theory that there are six sexes also doesn't really fly. Then, claiming his present campaign now runs on "barbecue," is bizarre when he claimed in 2022 that his campaign at that time was a "vegan campaign" because it was an existential question.

You say "vegan accusations" as if your boss isn't on camera saying it's "existential" that Texans reduce their meat consumption.

The Talarico campaign is a total joke.pic.twitter.com/UAqRpJxVOA https://t.co/vGbx7OIBaN
— Brandon Gill (@realBrandonGill) March 18, 2026

So what you have here is a desperate effort at remaking the candidate, with the help of CBS News. This is a rehab clip, not a questioning interview. If there's one thing that's worse than a weird radical leftist, it's someone who's a phony about his beliefs. If it was "existential" then, why isn't it now?

If on the first day of the general election campaign, you're already walking things back, you just may have a problem.

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