Republican Study Committee Chairman August Pfluger (R-TX) said undercover footage shows Texas Democrat U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico has not changed his positions on transgender issues, as the race against Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton enters its final week.
Pfluger made the comments during an appearance on The Scott Jennings Show, according to Breitbart, after Jennings played footage obtained by the Daily Wire. In the recording, Talarico said: "The way I fought for trans kids in the legislature is how I will fight for the U.S. Senate, and my position hasn't changed."
Pfluger, who leads the largest Republican caucus in Congress, argued the recording undercuts the image Talarico has presented to general-election voters. "It's a very duplicitous campaign from Talarico. This blatant attempt to mislead people," Jennings said during the segment. "You can tell part of his shtick is trying to get you to believe that maybe there's a chance he might vote your way."
The conversation also covered Talarico's recent CNN town hall, including exchanges about the SAVE America Act and abortion, and turned to Michigan Democrat U.S. Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, whom Jennings described as representative of the party's move toward socialism and open borders.
"If you like what's going on in France, then vote for El-Sayed," Pfluger said. "You know, in 2012, allegedly he was signing documents and letters that were pro, not just Palestinian, but literally pro-Muslim Brotherhood. Many of me and my colleagues, what we were doing was fighting terrorism, was fighting back against communism in the military. That's exactly what I was doing in 2012. So his track record, I think, is don't believe his words, just believe his actions."
On Talarico, Pfluger said voters cannot trust the Democrat's efforts to present himself as a moderate, pointing to his record on transgender policy and the oil and gas industry.C., and that's exactly what he intends to do."
The Polls Tighten
The Republican criticism lands as the Texas Senate race tightens. A Quantus Insights poll of 1,221 likely voters, conducted Oct. 26-28 with a margin of error of +/- 3.2 percentage points, found Paxton at 48.7% and Talarico at 47.6%, with only 2.2% undecided, according to FOX 4 Dallas-Fort Worth. The survey's sample was 46.7% Republican, 39.4% Democrat and 13.9% independent.
The same poll found Talarico leading among women, independents and Hispanic voters, while Paxton led among men, suburban and rural voters. Both candidates have been crisscrossing the state, and the margin is among the narrowest in a Texas Senate race in decades.
Early voting in Texas ends at 7 p.m. Friday, and polls open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Election Day, Tuesday.
Separate Allegations
PJ Media reported on an exposé that it said links Talarico to an adult website breach, with lawyers denying the claims. Next News Network has not independently verified that report, and the allegations are disputed.
Our Take
Here's what the undercover footage does that no attack ad can: it lets Talarico make the case against himself in his own words. It is the candidate telling supporters exactly what he intends to do in Washington, and it is the opposite of the moderate makeover his campaign has been selling to independents and suburban voters for months.
Patriots, ask yourselves why Talarico's team would prefer you not hear that recording. Why does a man who fought for transgender policy in the Texas Legislature suddenly want to talk about anything else on the trail? Because the pitch works only if voters don't know the record. The Daily Wire's footage just handed every Texan the record.
And the timing matters. With the Quantus poll showing Paxton ahead by barely a point and 2.2% undecided, this race will be decided by Texans who are still making up their minds. Those are exactly the voters Talarico's soft-focus town hall routine was built to reach. Pfluger and Jennings have now put the unedited version in front of them.
The oil and gas piece deserves equal attention. Texas runs on energy, and a candidate who wants Washington regulating everything from D.C. is telling the Permian Basin, the Gulf Coast and every roughneck in between what he thinks of their livelihoods. Talarico can call himself a moderate all he wants, but the recording says otherwise.
Early voting ends Friday. Election Day is Tuesday. If you live in Texas and you believe a candidate's own words matter more than his campaign commercials, get to the polls and vote like it.
