First posted on Instagram · @profilopolitics
Vice President JD Vance is taking direct aim at James Talarico. Headlining a midterm rally at Tyler Pounds Regional Airport in Tyler, Texas today, Vance blasted the Democratic Senate nominee over his remarks about transgender children and a statement on racism that Vance says unfairly singles out white people — and urged Texans to elect Republican Ken Paxton instead.
Vance didn't hold back. He called Talarico a “freak,” tore into his views on religion, gender and education, and accused him of trying to walk back controversial positions from previous years now that the campaign is heating up and the cameras are on.
“A Christian who hates Christianity.”
The setting mattered. Paxton, the state attorney general, won the Republican nomination in a runoff against Sen. John Cornyn and now faces Talarico in a race national Democrats have circled as a rare chance to flip a Texas Senate seat. Republicans hold the Senate 53–47, and Texas is one of the states that will decide whether that majority survives the November 3 midterms.
Talarico is also coming off a strange two weeks. He vanished from in-person campaigning for nearly two weeks — his campaign said the flu — while Paxton's team ran a “Tala-Freak-Out Tip Line,” circulated missing-person posters and demanded proof of life. Talarico resurfaced October 9 at the Austin City Limits festival and has challenged Paxton to a debate, which has not been scheduled.
With the Texas race drawing national attention, Vance's attack puts Talarico's past statements and policy positions under renewed scrutiny — and makes clear the White House intends to fight for this seat personally, not leave it to the campaigns.
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