Democratic leaders working on the Senate candidate's campaign secretly admitted that the real Talarico is too far left for Texas
The journalist James O’Keefe secretly recorded members of the Texas Democratic Party close to James Talarico's campaign admitting that their candidate is only acting as a moderate for the cameras and to win over Texas voters.
In the hidden camera footage, the chairman of the Williamson County Democratic Party and Talarico's fiancée's family appear. These individuals reveal that James Talarico, the Democratic candidate for the Texas Senate seat, holds extremely progressive views.
"James is not going to... he is not going to move to the center. He is a progressive", says Matt Menard, Talarico's fiancée's father, to the undercover journalist. "Don't pay too much attention to the comments about border security... He [Talarico] is offended by ICE. He and I have talked about these issues," he continues.
"He [Talarico] said we should put a welcome mat at our border," noted Kim Collins Gilby, chairwoman of Williamson County. "He is definitely going to play in the middle ground because he is in Texas, but he is much more progressive about it [on abortion]. He probably said that to try to seem more centrist. He is very liberal... but we have to get elected to be able to do something", she added.
Menard claims he communicates weekly with Talarico and has personally debated with him about immigration policies. That is why he insists, privately, that the Democratic candidate is a progressive who opposes border control measures and ICE, and supports a pathway to citizenship for all undocumented individuals.
Collins Gilby, for her part, asserts that Talarico's public rejection of gender transition surgeries for minors was just an attempt to project a more centrist image to Texas voters, but that, in reality, the Democratic candidate is in favor of those procedures. Another Democratic leader mentions in the video that Talarico presents himself as moderate on issues like abortion solely to attract independent voters.
