Democrat Senate candidate James Talarico, mockingly referred to as James ‘Talafreako’ by President Donald Trump, returned to the campaign trail after a mysterious two-week abeyance by joining the friendly legacy media outlet CNN, only to face direct questions about his Catholic faith and interpretations of the Bible by wary voters.
For context, Talarico defeated Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett in a contentious Senate primary in the summer of 2026 and now faces the state’s Attorney General Ken Paxton, who won the endorsement and primary over the RINO incumbent John Cornyn. Polls suggest Talarico has a slight edge over Paxton as the November 3rd midterms loom, though polling is often inconclusive and the state of Texas and in 2024 President Trump carried the state by 14 points. That same year, Senator Ted Cruz won re-election by a 9-point margin.
As far as the CNN appearance went, iIn two separate moments Talarico was backed into a corner over his previous statements on abortion, which he not only defended on a personal level but defended based on how he viewed Jesus Christ’s own teaching.
“I just want to add that the Bible is not silent on abortion,” one woman began. “There is the 10 Commandments, “Thou shall not kill. And as Catholics, we take great insult. I guess sometimes when it’s spouted that way. But I also want to add: I know I’m up on time, but contraception, an age-appropriate thing, also when it comes to Catholic vote, is a very trying thing for us because we believe the parents are the primary primary educator of our children, and so one of the things that we really struggle with is having any government interference with how we educate our children. So I know we’re going to agree to disagree on that,” she added.
Talarico then pulled the typical leftist trick of saying a lot without actualling committing to a position. “You know that I’m an educator like you,” he began, putting the woman at ease with faux connection. “And if I believed that abortion was murder, that it violated the 10 Commandments, then I wouldn’t support it. And so it’s okay that you and I come to different conclusions about that,” he said.
“But I think we could also look at the current abortion ban in Texas, which bans abortion in all cases, including in cases of rape and incest, including when the life of the mother is in danger, we currently see in Texas women dying in emergency room parking lots from sepsis because their doctors are too afraid to provide life-saving care. We talk about Texas women, but it’s also Texas girls. We see girls as young as 10 years old who need that abortion care, and they can’t get it in Texas,” he added.
“And so, if we are authentically pro-life, I think we should be disturbed by the outcomes of this extreme abortion ban. That’s why. That’s why. That’s why. That’s why I think you and I actually agree more than we think we do. Again, the theological debate is interesting, and you and I should, you know, grab coffee or yeah, yeah, we should do a podcast. And I would love to get into that. But as a policymaker, I’m always like, how do we solve the problem, right? How do we get better outcomes? And that’s what you want too. That’s what that’s what every pro life person wants, and we should join together to do it,” he finished.
In another clip, a different woman again called out Talarico for his radically different view of the Bible. “I’m here talking to you, Christian to Christian, today about a faith in the Bible, and I believe where we differ is really our interpretations of the Bible. For a lot of Christian voters, you’ve said some concerning things in the past, kind of related to faith and social issues, things such as God is non-binary, questions about how many genders there really are, and your justifications using the Bible for abortion, and so I think that’s led a lot of Christian voters to question the authenticity of your faith. And I wanted to ask you a very direct question: Do you believe that the Bible is the absolute source of truth and God’s final authoritative word, even when our culture says otherwise?” she asked him.
Watch those two clips below:
Featured image: Screen shot from embedded video