James Talarico’s Campaign Takes New Hit After Bizarre Video Emerges
Texas Democratic Senate nominee James Talarico is facing renewed scrutiny over a resurfaced 2022 interview in which he praised transgender activist Ash Hall as an inspiration during contentious fights over gender policy at the state Capitol.
The comments came during an appearance on the Go Behind the Ballot podcast, where Talarico discussed his work in the Texas Legislature and his advocacy on behalf of marginalized groups.
“The Capitol is not a safe place for a lot of marginalized people,” Talarico told the Go Behind the Ballot Podcast. “So, that’s part of the thing that keeps me going when I’m getting discouraged or I’m getting upset or I’m feeling kind of hopeless. I look at people like Ash Hall and I’m like, if Ash can do this much harder thing than I’m doing, then I have to keep going.”
Hall is a policy and advocacy strategist for LGBTQIA+ rights at the ACLU of Texas and uses they/them pronouns. Hall has been active in legislative battles involving transgender athletes, bathroom access and medical treatments for transgender minors.
Talarico singled Hall out during the interview while describing activists involved in those fights.
“One of the best organizers at the Capitol is an activist named Ash Hall,” Talarico said on the podcast. “Ash does a lot of the work for the trans community in Texas and is an outspoken advocate for trans kids in particular.”
The old footage is resurfacing at an awkward moment for Talarico as Republicans attempt to make his previous statements on gender and other cultural issues a central issue in the Texas Senate race.
Talarico, who has served in the Texas House since 2018, has acknowledged that some of his past remarks have hurt him politically.
🚨 UNEARTHED
James Talarico GUSHES over “nonbinary transgender” activist Ash Hall — who won a “Trans Activist of the Year Award”:
“One of the best organizers at the Capitol is an activist named Ash Hall. Ash…is an outspoken advocate for trans kids in particular.” pic.twitter.com/IC0aIT24io
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) September 3, 2026
He recently said some previous statements “missed the mark” and accused Republican opponent Ken Paxton of “intentionally clipping my cringey comments to distract from his career of corruption.”
The Democrat has also said he opposes gender reassignment surgeries for minors, a position that has prompted questions about his earlier legislative record.
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James Talarico voted against a 2023 Texas measure restricting certain gender-transition treatments for minors. His campaign has argued that his objections were broader than surgeries and pointed to proposed amendments addressing the bill’s impact on children with other medical conditions.
Hall, meanwhile, has remained an outspoken opponent of several Texas restrictions involving transgender issues.
In 2017, Hall testified against legislation restricting transgender bathroom access, arguing that “locking us out of the bathroom” would not end “rape culture.”
Hall later opposed a Texas law requiring student athletes to participate on teams corresponding with the sex listed on their original birth certificate.
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After that measure passed, Hall argued that the political debate surrounding it would “put the lives of our kids in danger.”
Hall also opposed Texas legislation restricting gender-transition-related medical treatments for minors.
When Texas later adopted restrictions covering government-owned bathrooms and similar facilities, Hall called the measure “unconscionable” and warned that it would promote “gender policing.”
“This bill is bad for trans and intersex people, bad for cisgender people, bad for business, bad for public health and safety, and bad for Texas,” Hall said.
The resurfaced footage lands as public opinion has shifted toward greater support for some restrictions involving transgender policy.
A 2025 Pew Research Center survey found that 66% of U.S. adults favored requiring transgender athletes to compete on teams matching their sex assigned at birth. Fifty-six percent supported prohibiting healthcare professionals from providing gender-transition-related medical care to minors, while 49% favored requiring transgender people to use public bathrooms corresponding with their sex assigned at birth.
Those numbers help explain why Talarico’s older comments have become a recurring target in the general election campaign.
With Republicans digging through years of archived speeches and interviews, the 2022 video gives them another piece of Talarico’s record to highlight as voters evaluate how his current positions compare with those he expressed earlier in his political career.
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