Super PAC ads target Texas Senate candidate James Talarico; one ad pulled

MAGA Inc., President Donald Trump's super PAC, has launched a 30-second ad against Democratic Texas Senate candidate James Talarico, calling him "weird" and showing clips of his past comments on Christianity and sex. 1 The clips include Talarico saying there are six biological sexes, calling Jesus Christ a "radical feminist" and God "nonbinary," and describing himself as "a Christian who hates Christianity"; the ad ends with the line "Liberal weirdo James Talarico, too loco for Texas." 1 Newsweek reports the remarks date from 2021 and 2022: a legislative hearing and floor speech on school sports restrictions, a sermon at St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church, and a podcast appearance. 1

Talarico, a former Presbyterian seminarian, told Fox News earlier this month that he "missed the mark" on the six-sexes comment and believes there are two, and said he was "being provocative" about God being nonbinary. His office told Snopes he "obviously doesn't hate Christianity" and accused "billionaire-bought politicians like Ken Paxton" of attacking his faith. 1 Separately, Raw Story, citing Popular Information, reports that Texas PAC, a super PAC created by Senate GOP leadership, launched a digital-only ad on Tuesday in which a woman named Miriam claimed Talarico supports jailing parents who refuse to let children undergo gender-transition surgery. 2 Raw Story says the claim has no basis: its only cited source was an old article on a bill about whether judges could weigh a parent's stance on a child's gender identity in custody rulings, which Talarico opposed and which did not involve surgery or criminal penalties. 2

The woman, Miriam Evans, is a Dallas-area Republican activist; neither she nor Texas PAC responded to requests for comment, and the ad vanished from Meta's platforms within a couple of hours of a reporter's inquiry, without public acknowledgment. 2 Raw Story puts the trans-focused ad campaign against Talarico since September 6 at about $37 million: roughly $30 million from Texas PAC, over $4 million from MAGA Inc. and $1.3 million from Elon Musk's America PAC. It says PolitiFact rated a related claim, that he backs "taxpayer-funded sex changes on kids," False. 2 Newsweek says Texas PAC, affiliated with the Senate Leadership Fund, is spending about $7.7 million per day to back Paxton, according to FEC filings. Texas has not elected a Democratic senator since 1988, and Cook Political Report and Sabato's Crystal Ball rate the race a toss-up. 1

Polls show Talarico narrowly ahead: RealClearPolitics averaged 47.6% to 44.7% for Sept. 8-26 surveys, and Raw Story says the last 11 public polls compiled by RCP favour him, though Paxton's campaign has released an internal poll showing him up 3 points. 1 2