Ken Paxton rival James Talarico says past comments used as distraction

Democratic Texas Senate candidate James Talarico tried to walk back some past controversial statements during an interview Wednesday, saying he had “missed the mark” with some of his more provocative remarks, like saying God was non-binary.

CBS News’ Ed O’Keefe spoke with Talarico about how his past political statements are being used as political attacks by Republicans, saying, “So, they are running a handful of highlights of things you have said in the past, and I wanted to give you an opportunity to respond or clarify. In 2021, in a speech during debate over transgender issues, you said, ‘God is non-binary.’ What did you mean by that?”

“Well, you know, I think I was being intentionally provocative with that statement, but what it means is that God cannot be defined by human categories,” Talarico responded. “The Apostle Paul, in his letter to the Galatians, says that in Christ there is neither male nor female.”

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He appeared to be referring to Galatians 3:28, which was about how Christ views His followers rather than the personhood of Christ Himself, where the Apostle Paul says, “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”

Talarico went on to say, “I am always going to stand up for Texans who are being picked on by the most powerful, most corrupt politicians in the country, and I am going to continue doing that in this race and hopefully in the United States Senate.”

O’Keefe, noting that Talarico admitted it was provocative at the time, asked him if he had any regrets about that remark. Talarico said he’d made mistakes but said Republican opponent Ken Paxton was trying to “distract” from his own record.

“There are some statements that I have made that I certainly regret. There are statements that I have made where I have missed the mark. I will be the first to admit that,” Talarico said. “But Ken Paxton is intentionally clipping my cringey comments to distract from his career of corruption.”

“Ken Paxton has a criminal record. I have a legislative record,” he continued. “I have served for four terms in the Texas House of Representatives, where I brought Democrats and independents together to actually make progress for people. I have brought Republican legislators and Democratic legislators together to cut property taxes, to raise teacher pay, to lower the cost of housing and child care and prescription drugs.”  

“I have passed more than 60 bipartisan bills as a legislator,” Talarico added. “I have also called out the extremes in both parties, on the left and the right. I have called out Ken Paxton for his blatant corruption, but I also called out President Biden for failing to secure our southern border.”

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O’Keefe went on to recall another past controversial statement where Talarico had claimed modern science acknowledges six biological variations based on chromosomes to argue that sex is a spectrum rather than a binary and asked, ‘Do you still believe there are six biological sexes?”

“I know there are two sexes, men and women. I also know there is a very small percentage of people who have these chromosomal abnormalities, and I believe they deserve to be treated with dignity and respect,” Talarico said.

Republicans have painted Talarico as too radical for Texas, which hasn’t elected a Democrat to statewide office in decades. They have spotlighted numerous past progressive remarks.

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Fox News Digital reached out to Paxton’s office and campaign and did not receive an immediate response.