Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico blamed Republican extremism for prompting some of his past controversial remarks during a new interview, including assertions that God is "nonbinary" and that there are six biological sexes, arguing that those weren't issues he ran for office to discuss.Talarico said that culture war issues became more prominent in the 2021 Texas state legislature and suggested Republicans were responsible for the increased attention to those topics.Talarico, in 2021, opposed a bill to ban men from women’s sports and claimed that "God is non-binary" while on the Austin, Texas, House floor. Additionally, in a Texas House Committee on Public Education hearing in 2021, he stated, "Modern science obviously recognizes that there are many more than two biological sexes; in fact, there are six."Talarico, who is running against Republican Ken Paxton in the state's closely watched U.S.
Senate race, spoke to The New York Times' Michael Barbaro on the paper's "The Daily" podcast Tuesday.He said he felt compelled to fight what he described as Republican extremism at the time when asked about the comments.JAMES TALARICO ADMITS PAST COMMENTS 'MISSED THE MARK' WHEN CONFRONTED ON CLAIMS LIKE GOD IS 'NON-BINARY'"I was put in a position where I had to fight back against that extremism.
So, you mentioned some of my comments on gender or on issues affecting trans people.It's not like I ran for the legislature to talk about these things.
Again, if you go back to my first session, I wanted to talk about public education, which is why I ran in the first place," he said, pointing to other issues on which he ran.Democrat candidate for U.S/ Senate James Talarico speaks during a rally in San Antonio, Texas, May 29, 2026.(Ronaldo Schemidt/AFP via Getty Images)"It's kind of ironic that they're clipping these things to make it sound like I'm the one who was talking about this when, in reality, it was the Republican extremists at the Capitol who were obsessed with...