James Talarico did WHAT?!

www.americanthinker.com

Back on June 3, in Talarico is polling ahead—in Texas?! I noted that his Republican opponent for the US Senate, Texas AG Ken Paxton, was using the underhanded tactic of letting Talarico talk. I wrote in part:

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Talarico is now a real meat eater, recently filmed munching a big chunk of BBQ while wearing a Texas flag shirt, but in 2022, while wearing a mask (?!), announced his campaign was vegan to fight the “existential climate crisis." These days, he’s all for developing Texas oil and gas, and ready to fight his own party over that, but his own previous words say the opposite, including mandating climate hoax curricula in public schools. He said, “Our trans community needs abortion care too.” Jesus was a radical feminist, and there are six genders. “God is non-binary.” “The American flag is a complicated symbol for most of us,” and of course, he’s for open borders.

That’s not going to work very well in Texas, and now we learn from Elizabeth Stauffer at Legal Insurrection, there are even more reasons for Texans to vote against Talarico:

The Washington Free Beacon reported that Texas Democratic Senate nominee James Talarico worked for six years as an “equitable education” consultant for a company that designed DEI plans for Texas public schools. He began working for MAYA Consulting in 2019 and left one month after launching his Senate campaign last year. He earned more than $83,000 from the company in 2025.

No doubt to devote his full time to the campaign rather than trying to hide his work there. Though oddly enough, I haven’t seen Talarico or anyone else mentioning that work:

MAYA, with Talarico’s help, worked to bring critical race theory and DEI to Texas schools, particularly during the height of the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020, when it partnered with public school districts … to support “diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts.”

In Austin, where Talarico lives, it promoted a series of monthly “RaceTalks” organized by the local public school district’s “Race Equity Council” that called on parents to “explore” their “pushback and triggers and name systemic barriers that form as a result.”
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Like Graham Platner, who claims he had no idea he wore a Nazi SS death camp guard tattoo for 18 years, Talarico is going to have trouble denying he had any idea what MAYA Consulting was all about:

In addition to its “antiracist” work, MAYA championed left-wing gender initiatives in K-12 schools. In March 2020, the firm celebrated “Trans Day of Visibility” by touting its work “unpacking our cisnormative assumptions about trans narratives.” Three months later, MAYA donated another $5,000 to Gay, Lesbian, & Straight Education Network (GLSEN), which is now known as Glisten. The group has advocated against bills outlawing transgender care for minors. It also authored a “Model District Policy on Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Students” for K-12 school districts arguing that school officials should not disclose a student’s “transgender status” to his or her parents.
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This is definitely more trouble for Talarico, who has been furiously backpedaling. Confronted about his bizarre statements about God, he averred that was just him, a former seminarian, being “provocative.” About God. In Texas. Despite video of him proclaiming his campaign was vegan to fight climate change, he has protested that he’s always eaten Texas barbecue; why, he practically ate that rather than suckle at his mother’s breast! He was photographed thereafter in the aforementioned Texas flag shirt gnawing on a huge chunk of BBQ with a rather pained expression on his face. And he admitted there really aren’t six genders, only men and women and some genetic abnormalities, mumble, mumble, mumble. He didn’t really mean pretty much everything he’s said--honest--including that thing about Jesus being a radical feminist.

He already has the DEI and trans vote locked up. Trying to trick Texas independents and moderates into thinking that trying to convince captive student audiences that DEI and transing kids are good things might be a heavier lift than that chunk of BBQ. So might be explaining what he did for a living for about seven years and why he hasn’t been bragging about it.

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Mike McDaniel is a USAF veteran, classically trained musician, Japanese and European fencer, lifelong athlete, firearm instructor, retired police officer, and high school and college English teacher. He is a published author and blogger. His home blog is Stately McDaniel Manor.