'Tired of Being Used': Family Hits Talarico Campaign

The party in power almost always loses seats in the midterm elections, and in the House of Representatives and the Senate, the Republican Party has managed to hang on to only a hair-thin majority. That's a little concerning (more than a little, but you get the point) with this being the midterm election year.

However, Republicans do have one thing going for them: Too many of the Democrats' male candidates are either sporting offensive tattoos and offensive habits where women are concerned, or they have the testosterone levels of a Power Puff Girl. In that last category, we have the Democratic candidate for the United States Senate from the great state of Texas, James Talarico. To his list of liabilities, we can now add "poor judgment."

Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico is facing blowback after the family of a child sex abuse victim whose case he invoked publicly contradicted his claim and said they are "tired of being used" in the election.
Talarico held a news conference July 9 outside the office of his Senate opponent, Texas Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton, at which he accused Paxton of giving an "Epstein-style sweetheart deal" to former Waco, Texas, attorney Adam Hoffman.
Pressed by reporters on whether he had personally spoken to the victim’s family, Talarico answered, "Our team has been in contact."

Except, they haven't.

However, Melissa Dieterich, a friend and spokesperson for the family, publicly disputed Talarico's assertion that his team had been in contact. Dieterich posted a "note from the victim's family" on Facebook, which said, "We have not given any statement to Talarico. We have not spoke (sic) to him."

Oops.

Talarico Senate Campaign Springs Pathetic Smear Job on Paxton With Deceptive Clip of Texas AG

To be fair, the family is insistent that they won't be used for the advantage of either candidate in this race, and we can scarcely blame them for that. The villain in this case was offered a plea deal when his trial ended in a declared mistrial. It's horrible, but that can happen in trials, and clearly, the family doesn't want to discuss it or have it used for the political advantage of either side.

Dieterich further noted that the family is "tired of being used in this election" and "we are tired of lies being told by both Paxton & Talarico, tired of the divide and just tired."
In response to a comment on her post saying, "I have yet to see any politician NOT use this case as a talking piece," Dieterich wrote, "Right, but someone said they have spoke to the victims (sic) mom and this and that and it isn’t true."
"That isn’t cool," she wrote.

No. It's not. And she's right. Neither should be using this as a campaign issue, unless the family approves, which they clearly don't.

So why did James Talarico's campaign apparently lie about his team having been in contact with the family? There's only a little wiggle room in his statement: "Our team has been in contact," in that the family's spokesman said, "...we have not spoke (sic) to him." But that, really, is a bit of a stretch.

The fact is, Talarico's people are as inept as he is. Let's hope they never get wise, because this is a Senate seat we have to keep in the Republican Party column.

Editor’s Note: The 2026 Midterms will determine the fate of President Trump’s America First agenda. Republicans must maintain control of both chambers of Congress.

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