This Is What Trying Too Hard Looks Like

Of all of the extreme statements James Talarico has made over the years, about gender, about the U.S. flag, even about God it seems his handlers have decided that one thing is not survivable in Texas: He needs people to know he is not a vegan.

He’s been eager to spread that message anywhere he can lately. He talked about it on a recent left-wing podcast where he had an obviously scripted line ready to deploy.

Texas state Rep. James Talarico issued a brutal rebuttal to Republicans’ repeated allegations that he is vegan, claiming on Tuesday, “I’ve been eating barbecue since before Ken Paxton’s first indictment.”…

“If all they have on me is lying about me being a vegan, I feel pretty good about our chances this November,” he said.

CNN has an article up today headlined “What to know about James Talarico’s record and his past comments (no, he’s not vegan).” They had to put it right there in the headline in case you didn’t bother to read the story. I did read the story and unlike the one linked above, this one sort-of explains where all this is coming from. 

GOP officials have mocked him repeatedly as a “vegan,” which he is not, as part of a broader strategy of painting him as outside the mainstream for Texas.  But in an unearthed 2022 clip, he talked about the need for Americans to reduce their meat consumption and touted how he was running a “non-meat campaign” for the Texas House.

If you follow that link it goes to another CNN story about Talarico not being a vegan where you’ll find this explanation:

Talarico has responded lightheartedly to the vegan allegations, which stem from a resurfaced 2022 clip in which he talked about reducing meat consumption and running a “non-meat” campaign for the state House.

What none of these three stories about the vegan allegations offer is the clip. They don’t include it and they don’t even link to it. Here’s the clip that kicked this off which, again, is from 2022.

James Talarico: “I am proud to say that our campaign has officially become a non-meat campaign. We are only buying vegan products from our local vegan businesses.” #TXsenpic.twitter.com/SkZZ05IXMj

— Lone Star Liberty PAC (@LoneStar_PAC) May 27, 2026

To be fair, Talarico never says he’s a vegan but he does say his campaign is a “non-meat campaign.” In any case, when this first flared up back in March, Talarico responded with a photo. I didn’t see it at the time but today the Democratic Party used that photo again to continue pushing back on the idea that Talarico is vegan.

November, here we come. pic.twitter.com/ux1w1WzGNO

— Democrats (@TheDemocrats) May 27, 2026

This is really what I’d call trying too hard. The giant hunk of meat slathered in BBQ, the mess of county fair food in front of him on the table and then there’s the Texas flag shirt. They say a picture is worth a thousand words and the headline for this photo is: James Talarico is a manly, meat-eat’n Texan.

But it doesn’t really ring true, does it? I mean, sure, maybe Talarico eats meat but he’s also the guy who runs a “non-meat campaign” because of climate change. And he’s the guy who thinks God is non-binary and that there are six genders. A pro-Paxton PAC put together this supercut of just some of his statements.

NEW: Super PAC supporting Ken Paxton drops new ad against James Talarico that consists entirely of using Talarico’s own prior words & far left positions against him, including God is nonbinary, six genders, trans children etc. Ends with “Low-T Talarico”. pic.twitter.com/xggiv98RXD

— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) May 24, 2026

Maybe that’s why the image above feels more like a Halloween costume than an actual representation of Talarico. He’s cosplaying as a normal Texan. Of course the memes mocking this are already rolling in. Some of them can’t be posted here but others are just funny.

Uh huh https://t.co/ufxLXoRGno pic.twitter.com/m3xW2nkyul

— The🐰FOO (@PolitiBunny) May 27, 2026

Just how staged was this photo?

“Ok James, we have to work on your image in light of these resurfaced videos of you saying you are running a vegan campaign.”

“Now take this turkey leg and look like you’re enjoying it. And here’s some other random food to put on the table to make it look real.”

“Ready. Bite!” https://t.co/nmj2zTJGYW

— Mike Crispi (@MikeCrispi) May 27, 2026

So my takeaway is that Talarico, who is flush with cash from California and other places, has polled all of this stuff and the result was that Texans can tolerate a lot, but not a vegan. They absolutely are desperate to stop this line of attack and desperate people make mistakes like this photo.

I see the vegan thing didn’t poll too well with…TEXANS. https://t.co/12mEzFWYjE

— 🥃 Duchess of Bourbon 🥃 (@AnnaDsays) May 27, 2026

James Talarico probably could get elected in Massachusetts or New York. I’m not sure this is going to work for him in Texas. He really is not a natural representative for even the Democrats in the state. Trying to pitch him as one of the boys is always going to come off like bad cosplay.

Editor’s Note: The Democrat Party has never been less popular as voters reject its globalist agenda.

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