President Trump took aim Sunday at Texas state Rep. James Talarico, calling the Democratic U.S. Senate nominee a guaranteed loser in November.
Mr. Talarico recently won a hard‑fought primary against Rep. Jasmine Crockett, and is now set to face the winner of the Republican primary runoff between Sen. John Cornyn and Attorney General Ken Paxton.
Mr. Trump blasted Mr. Talarico, posting on Truth Social: “The Democrat running in Texas, James Talarico, turns out to be a FRAUD!”
The president went on to accuse him of holding “six Genders,” offering “insults to Jesus,” eating “only vegan food” and wearing a mask in 2023 and 2024. Mr. Trump added that Mr. Talarico is “a weak, ineffective guy who we ’allowed’ to win prior to releasing the avalanche of information we had on him because, as bad as Crockett was as a Candidate, this guy is worse!”
He finished with another jab: “I believe that any human being running against him, sick, incompetent, close to death or, even a child, would win.”
Mr. Talarico and Democrats are looking to end the party’s losing streak in statewide races and hope to ride a political wave to victory in November. Texas Democrats have not won statewide since 1994.
Republicans have started sharpening their attacks against the 36-year-old, who has centered his campaign on his Christian faith.
They have circulated an old video of Mr. Talarico running for the statehouse in 2022 and wearing a COVID-era mask, telling an animal rights group that climate change has prompted him to cut back on meat consumption, and saying he was “proud to say that our campaign has officially become a non-meat campaign.”
Republicans have cast it as the ultimate sin in Texas, the top cattle-producing state, and clear proof that Mr. Talarico’s worldview is out of line with the state’s values.
Mr. Talarico has downplayed the attack.
“This is a very serious allegation to make in Texas, so I want to say this definitively and categorically: I deny all accusations of veganism,” he said in an interview with the Bulwark last week. “Our campaign basically runs on barbecue these days.”
