Democrat Land Chief Contender Triggers
GOP Feeding Frenzy with Talarico Defense
Capitol Inside
June 29, 2026
A down-ballot candidate for the Democrats has the party faithful scratching heads in collective disbelief after coming to James Talarico's defense during the weekend at the Texas Democratic Convention in a speech that gave Republicans added ammunition for a smear campaign against the U.S. Senate nominee.
Bay City City Council member Ben Flores, who's depending heavily on Talarico for coattails as the party's nominee for land commissioner, discovered the pitfalls of getting cute when he referred in a speech to false claims that the GOP's Senate candidate Ken Paxton and other Republicans have made about the Democrat at the top of the Texas ticket this fall.
A pig farmer who wore a cowboy during the speech to delegates on Friday night, Flores sought to turn the Republicans' fantasy narrative on Talarico into a crowd-fueling tool for the sake of unity by mocking it. But Flores made the critical mistake of giving Paxton and the Republicans a hook they'd been missing for a concerted attempt by the GOP to cast Talarico as a man who's too effeminate to represent the Lone Star State in the U.S. Senate.
"Next time they say that James is trans ... we're all trans," Flores said, sparking cheers. "When they say James is a gay tofu-eating vegan ... we're all gay tofu-eating vegans. And when they say James is going to hell ... we'll say we're all going to hell."
Flores appeared to be trying to say that the Democrats are united regardless of what the Republicans say about them - true, false or wildly exaggerated. The problem for Talarico and the Democrats who has the burden of trying to carry is that the Senate candidate is not transgender, never has been or aspired to be. Talarico has said in the past that he loves people who are trans just as much as those who aren't.
Any Republicans who believes in being honest with themselves at least knows that Talarico is carnivorous. They're basing this on Talarico's words early in his career as a state representative when he declared his campaign as meat-free at one point. Multiple pictures on social media that show Talarico sinking his teeth into ribs at barbecue restaurants hasn't stopped the Republicans from peddling the caricature they've created with a strategy aimed at portraying the Democrats' Senate nominee as the antithesis of macho and unqualified for the post he's seeking as a result.
Republicans concocted the smear campaign against Talarico as a distraction from a debate on the nation's most pressing issues from a war that many believe Iran won to the economic woes it's fueled from record prices for gasoline, groceries and other goods.
Talarico appeared to be ignoring the bogus characterization during the state party convention that unfolded over the course three days before the curtain fell on Saturday. But Democrat in the land chief's contest drew attention to the phony depiction at the top of the ticket in the Senate race with the mind-jarring references that ignited a predictable feeding frenzy among the Republicans.
"CRINGE," the Republican National Committee said in a post on C at @RNCResearch on Sunday. "Texas Dems have lost their minds defending James Talarico."
Republican U.S. Rep. Brandon Gill of Flower Mound chimed in in a post that summed up Flores' words but misrepresented their intent. "I have to say: I truly didn't expect Texas Democrats to just come out and say that all of them are "transgender tofu-eating vegans bound for hell"," Gill wrote.
Governor Greg Abbott, who'd spent the weekend trolling the Democrats on social media, gave the impression in a tweet on Sunday that gave the impression that Talarico had been the source of the land commissioner candidate's lines on the stage.
"@GregAbbott_TX: “I am not trans. I’m not a vegan.” Nor are most Texans," Abbott said on his X page. "Don’t buy the bull Jimmy Talarico is selling."
The Democrats made it possible and easy for the Republicans to hang their support for LGBTQ+ rights on Democratic Senate nominee Colin Allred like an albatross that contributed more to his loss to U.S. Senate Ted Cruz two years ago than any other issue. But Flores, who's a newcomer to the big leagues in Texas politics, didn't realize that it would not be smart to bring up the false and misleading claims about Talarico unless the Democrats were going to fight fire with fire by making up things about Paxton and other Republicans in competitive fall races and bringing up every time one of them utters the phrase trans vegan.
As far as Talarico being doomed to eternal damnation - a claim that Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick served up at the state GOP convention in Houston two weeks ago - the Democrats could counter by listing all the ways that Republicans have been violating the Ten Commandments that they've forced public schools to post on every classroom wall.
Talarico has the best shot to win statewide in Texas in 30 years of GOP rule. That's why the Republicans are trying so hard to attack his character and faith. Every time you hear something on Talarico being gay or trans or hating meat, you know the ruling party's members are more afraid of the Democratic Senate contender than ever. But it appeared pretty clear by the final day of the state convention that Talarico would have to do it on his own like a Bill Clinton and Barack Obama without help from his party amid the hope that it doesn't bring you down.
While the Republicans make fun of Flores for a speech with the best intensions gone awray, the land commissioner candidate for the Democrats could poke fun back at the GOP by reminding how he was considerably more popular than Paxton during the first round of voting in Texas this year. Paxton received 878,564 votes in the GOP primary election in March when Flores had 1,125,716 en route to a victory over Democrtic rival Jose Loya with almost 56 percent of the vote.
more to come ...
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