Staff Reports
James Talarico’s new campaign ad tries a neat trick: claim the kind of border‑security toughness Texas voters want, while hoping no one checks the receipt. The Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in Texas boasts in the spot that “I called out Joe Biden for failing us on the border.” Trouble is, when asked to back that line up, his team came up empty — and old interviews show the real James Talarico had a very different view.
Ad Claim vs. The Record: “I called out Joe Biden”
The ad line is simple and punchy. It sounds like a candidate holding the president accountable. But Fox News Digital asked the Talarico campaign to produce a public example of him criticizing President Joe Biden while Biden was in office, and the campaign couldn’t. That’s not a small quibble. If you’re going to attack the president, voters should be able to see when and how you did it — not just watch a polished ad that rewrites recent history.
What the Record Actually Shows
Instead of a Biden critique, reporters pulled up a 2019 interview with the Austin Chronicle in which then‑State Rep. Talarico criticized Texas border spending and said he’d “rather take that money and put it back into public education.” He has also made remarks skeptical of heavy enforcement tactics and has criticized federal immigration‑enforcement approaches in other contexts. That track record lines up with the progressive positions his critics point to — and makes the sudden “border tough” posture in the ad look like political theater, not a sincere policy pivot.
Why This Matters in the Texas Senate Race
Texas is not California. Border security is a live issue for many voters here. Talarico’s ad reads like a campaign that suddenly remembered how important immigration is to Texans and tried to buy credibility with a soundbite. The campaign did offer that Talarico has a border plan “endorsed by Republican and Democratic border county sheriffs,” but endorsements don’t erase a paper trail. Voters notice when messaging changes to chase votes, and opponents will use every old quote and video to paint him as inconsistent.
Bottom line: the ad reveals more than it hides. It shows a campaign scrambling to remake a candidate’s image and hoping nobody digs. In a race against Attorney General Ken Paxton, whose team will be hunting for every inconsistency, trying to retcon your record with a single line about “calling out” President Biden is a risky bet. Texans deserve straight talk on border security, not rebranded promises wrapped in ad copy. If Talarico wants to win trust on immigration, he’ll need more than a clip — he’ll need transparently dated examples and real proposals that match his rhetoric.
