James Talarico stood on the Texas House floor and told lawmakers God is nonbinary.
Texas voters just elected him to the United States Senate.
Texas just put that same senator in the chair Sam Houston once held.
James Talarico Told the Texas House God Is Nonbinary
He doubled down all campaign season on past remarks suggesting humanity spans six sexes instead of two.
Texans elected him anyway.
On November 3, voters sent James Talarico to the Senate seat once held by Lyndon Johnson and Sam Houston.
Ken Paxton, the sitting Texas attorney general and President Trump's handpicked nominee, lost badly enough that the Fox News Decision Desk called the race before midnight.
It is Texas's first Democratic Senate win in nearly forty years.
Talarico Called Christians the Villains and National Democrats Buried It
Talarico ran as a different man than the one his legislative record actually shows.
Washington Examiner columnist Joe Concha flagged the problem months before Election Day, warning that a Democrat who thinks Christians are America's real villains was never going to fly with Texas voters.
Talarico never disowned the comment.
He ran ads about barbecue and border security instead, even while his campaign quietly courted John Cornyn's old voters with an email telling them "you have a place in our campaign."
National Democrats and a press corps determined to help him buried his actual record until Texans had already voted him into the Senate.
An Iran War and Four Dollar Gas Doomed the Whole Ticket
Paxton did not lose Texas by himself.
Republicans lost the House majority the same night, and Governor Greg Abbott lost Texas to Democrat Gina Hinojosa.
Democrats are projected to retake the Senate majority outright, with Chuck Schumer in line to become majority leader.
Fox News contributors pointed to the same two culprits driving losses from Texas to Ohio to Maine – a grinding war with Iran and the gas prices that have climbed alongside it.
Trump campaigned for Paxton nearly every week of the general election and poured hundreds of millions of dollars into the race.
He had already seen the problem coming months earlier, when he branded him "Talafreako" and said flatly that no worse candidate had ever run for office.
None of it mattered.
The national mood had already turned against Republicans before October even ended.
John Cornyn, the senator Trump pushed aside in the primary, warned for months that nominating Paxton would be a kiss of death and that judgment day was coming.
Cornyn was talking about Paxton's impeachment baggage, not Tehran or four dollar gasoline – but Tuesday night proved him right for a different reason entirely.
Republicans Have Lost Winnable Senate Seats to Scandal Before
Texas Republicans are not the first to hand Democrats a seat they had no business winning.
Todd Akin threw away a Missouri seat in 2012 with one disastrous comment about rape.
Christine O'Donnell blew a Delaware seat in 2010 after primary voters picked her over a stronger establishment candidate.
Herschel Walker cost Georgia Republicans a seat in 2022 while carrying allegations Democrats weaponized relentlessly.
Paxton carried an impeachment acquittal and years of corruption allegations into a midterm cycle that was already punishing every incumbent in sight.
Democrats and their donors made certain every Texas voter heard about every allegation before Election Day.
The lesson is not that Texas turned blue.
The lesson is that a Democrat who agrees Christians are the villains can still beat a Republican nominee if that nominee hands the national party enough baggage to work with.
Paxton's legal troubles were real, and Democrats exploited every one of them with national money and a press corps that scrubbed Talarico's record clean for months.
Republicans cannot fix a gas pump or end a war between now and the next election.
They can stop nominating candidates who hand Democrats and the media the exact ammunition they are looking for.
Sources:
- Alex Miller, Elizabeth Elkind, "Trump's Gamble on Ken Paxton Backfires as Democrat Pulls Off Historic Texas Senate Upset," Fox News, November 3, 2026.
- Fox News, "Conservatives Stunned by 'Catastrophic' Midterm Blue Tsunami, Blame Trump's Iran War, High Gas Prices," Fox News, November 2026.
- Joe Concha, "Talarico's Past Comments Agreeing Christians Are Villains Won't Win Texas," Washington Examiner, 2026.
- Breitbart, "Talarico Courts Cornyn Voters: You Have a Place in Our Campaign," Breitbart, May 26, 2026.
- TheBlaze, "Judgment Day Is Coming: Ken Paxton Advances With Establishment Incumbent in Key Texas Primary," TheBlaze, May 2026.
