Stephen Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff for policy, appeared on TV and described Texas Senate nominee James Talarico in a way that does not match the facts. Miller claimed Talarico opposes Christianity, meat, oil and gas, and supports men playing in women’s sports. He also estimated that these views would only get about 1% approval in Texas.
Let’s start with that last number, because it is far from accurate. Talarico won the Democratic primary on March 3 and is now the nominee. He raised $30 million between April and June, which is more than three times what Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton raised in the same period and sets a new record for a Senate campaign in Texas.
Three polls over the summer showed Talarico ahead of Paxton, including one with a 47% to 45% lead. The polling average has narrowed since then, but it has never come close to the number Miller suggested. No Democrat has won statewide in Texas in over thirty years, but Talarico is running neck and neck with the attorney general.
The claim about Christianity falls apart first.
Talarico earned a master’s degree in theological studies from Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary and has said openly that he hopes to become a pastor one day.
He built his national profile on videos in which he uses scripture to argue with Republican colleagues about school vouchers and the state mandate to post the Ten Commandments in classrooms. Whatever else you want to say about him, the idea that he is hostile to Christianity requires ignoring the central fact of his biography.
The attack traces back to a soundbite in which Talarico called himself a Christian who hates Christianity. Fact checkers found that the clip circulating online was a six second excerpt lifted from an hourlong 2021 podcast, cut immediately before the sentence in which he said he always gets drawn back to the faith.
The surrounding conversation was about people who wield Christianity to justify bigotry, which is a common enough sermon topic that most churchgoers have heard some version of it. His campaign has said he fights religious corruption precisely because he takes the teachings seriously.
The meat claim is a distortion, not an invention
The record is more complicated than Miller made it sound, so it’s important to be clear. In 2022, at an animal welfare event, Talarico said his state House reelection campaign had become a non-meat campaign and that cutting back on meat was needed to fight climate change. That clip is real, and Republicans have used it for months.
What Miller left out is everything since. Talarico is not a vegan and has said so repeatedly, noting that he has been eating barbecue since before Paxton’s first indictment. He is an eighth-generation Texan who has been filmed working through a plate of brisket on the trail.
A campaign deciding where to place its catering order is not a policy platform, and no bill banning barbecue has ever crossed his desk or come out of his office. Turning a six-year-old remark about a campaign purchasing decision into “he is against meat” is the kind of compression that only works if nobody checks.
When it comes to energy, the facts show the opposite.
Talarico has said he supports the Texas oil and gas industry, which has led to criticism from climate groups in his own party. He has also introduced bills about climate education and clean energy, and he has spoken positively to groups that oppose certain fossil fuel projects, like new liquefied natural gas export terminals on the Gulf Coast.
Both things can be true at the same time, but Miller’s argument ignores that. Many Texans support the oil and gas industry and also want it to pollute less. Saying this means someone is ‘against oil and gas’ is not real analysis. It is just a slogan for people who do not check the facts.
The claim about sports oversimplifies a real debate.
Miller’s fourth claim takes a real and debated policy issue and turns it into a phrase meant to stir anger. Talarico voted against a 2021 bill about transgender athletes, saying on the House floor that it was meant to discriminate.
He has since called transgender participation in sports a tough issue where a policy solution is possible, and he has described the broader Republican effort as a culture war meant to divide people. He has also admitted that some of his earlier comments were off the mark.
You might not agree with his position, but it is not honest to turn ‘wants to find a workable policy’ into ‘supports men in women’s sports’ and call that reporting.
Why does this made-up version keep getting attention?
Miller knows exactly what he is doing. The made-up version of Talarico exists because the real candidate is a challenge. Paxton was impeached by the Republican-led Texas House in 2023 on charges like using his office to help a donor, was acquitted by the state Senate, and spent last year dealing with questions about a divorce that cited biblical reasons.
That is what Republicans have to defend in November. It is much easier to run against a supposed vegan who hates Jesus and wants to close the oil industry than against the actual seminary graduate on the ballot.
The giveaway is the 1% claim. If the numbers were really that low, no one in the White House would bother talking about the Texas Senate race.
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