Democratic U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico participated in a CNN town hall on Wednesday night, fielding questions on energy policy, immigration, campaign finance, foreign policy and gender-related issues as he seeks to position himself to a statewide Texas audience.
On energy, Talarico told the audience, “I will stand up to my own party if they mess with our oil and gas industry, and I will stand up to the other party if they mess with renewables.” He also described himself as supportive of capitalism during the event. Critics have pointed to past comments in which Talarico suggested the oil and gas industry was not “going to last” and spoke about dismantling capitalism, framing them as inconsistent with his town hall remarks.
On illegal immigration, Talarico said, “Texans understand this issue of immigration better than most… We live with the challenges and the benefits,” and said enforcement efforts should focus on “criminals.” He did not specify what benefits he was referring to.
Asked about Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Talarico said he does not support abolishing the agency. “No. And I never have,” he said. Earlier this year, during the Democratic primary, Talarico said it was “time to tear down this secret police force” and “replace it with an agency that actually is going to focus on public safety,” according to video from a primary event. Talarico has also called for a pathway to citizenship for people in the country illegally.
On campaign finance, Talarico said, “There’s way too much big money in our politics,” and told a student he is “running to ban super PACs and corporate PACs, so billionaires aren’t spending unlimited secret money on our political campaigns.” Campaign finance records show tech entrepreneur Reid Hoffman has donated $11.5 million to a super PAC supporting Talarico’s campaign.
Talarico criticized the One Big Beautiful Bill, the tax and spending package backed by Republicans, saying it delivered a tax cut to the “top 1 percent.” Congressional Democrats, including Talarico by his own account, opposed the legislation.
On foreign policy, Talarico argued for continued U.S. support of Ukraine, saying, “When we fail to stand up to an aggressor in Europe, that comes back to haunt us. And we need to strengthen Ukraine. We need to strengthen our NATO allies as they stand up to Russian aggression so we don’t have to.” He has separately said U.S. military action against Iran should end because of its cost, a position some have described as inconsistent with his stance on Ukraine.
Talarico also addressed past remarks in which he referred to God as “non-binary,” telling the town hall he had been “being provocative” when he made the comment. On gender-related medical care for minors, Talarico said, “When it comes to minors… I have to balance two things: protecting children and honoring the rights of parents.” He had previously described parents who deny a child’s gender identity as “abusive.”
On voter identification, Talarico did not give a direct yes-or-no answer on whether he supports current voter ID laws or the Save America Act, saying he would need to review a bill’s final text. He said he supports what he called “fair ID,” arguing “a lot of our voter ID policies are discriminatory.” He noted that some forms of identification, such as a concealed handgun license, can be used to vote while others, like a student ID, cannot. “I think that hurts some kind of voters and helps other kind of voters,” Talarico said. “What I want to see is voter ID that is consistent across the board.”
