Texas Senate candidate James Talarico met with Fox News this week and walked back some of his most controversial lines. God is no longer “non-binary.” There are not six sexes. Biological males in girls’ sports are a problem if they threaten safety or fairness. He even said he would support a national ban on gender surgeries for minors.
On Morning Joe, Talarico's revisionism was treated as a master class. Joe Scarborough and the panel did not cast the new positions as cynical conversions under campaign pressure. They treated them as a template.
Scarborough walked through the Fox exchange and then gave the party its homework. “That's all you have to — it's really, I've done this before. It's really not that hard. Whatever they say to you, you turn it to costs that Americans are feeling every day.” Joe never misses a chance to remind people that, in the previous century, he was a congressman.
On the minors-surgery ban he made the assignment explicit: “Look, cut, paste, use in your campaign, and actually move forward with those policies, and you won't be with the five percent, you'll be with the ninety-five percent.”
Jonathan Lemire supplied the compliment. Talarico is “particularly skilled at this,” he said. “We're seeing raw political skills here out of Talarico.”
Even Morning Joe's chyron [see screencap] pitched in: Talarico "clarifies" his positions. Clarifies, my . . . eye.
The candidate who once told the Texas House that “God is both masculine and feminine and everything in between” was recast as the model of how Democrats should talk in a red state.
Across the dial, on CNN This Morning, host Audie Cornish was not buying the rebrand so easily. Here's how she teased the segment:
“Texas Senate candidate James Talarico flip-flops on transgender athletes in sports. We're gonna ask whether the voters can believe what he's saying now.”
Ouch. And Audie wasn't done:
“James Talarico has flipped his stance on transgender kids in sports.”
“James Talarico, doing a bit of a flip flop when it comes to transgender issues.”
And responding to Talarico's claim in the Fox interview that his supposed clarification of the “God is non-binary” line was not “controversial theologically,” Cornish shot back: “Except it's Texas.”
Morning Joe Praises Talarico’s Culture-Issue Reversals— CNN Calls Them Flip-Flops pic.twitter.com/lWrZaLqOmv
— Mark Finkelstein (@markfinkelstein) September 10, 2026
Democratic strategist Meghan Hays, in the Group Chat, called Talarico's sports answer “a lot of a non-answer.” She said she has family in Texas with daughters who “care deeply about this.” But she tried to downplay Talarico's missteps, claiming “people are voting on the economy and not these cultural issues,” and she was “not sure that it was even worth getting into.”
Republican Mike Dubke pushed back: cost of living may be paramount, but “sometimes these secondary issues rise up in a voter's mind as they're going into the voting booth.”
Dubke was right—especially in Texas. Yes, Texans care about the price of diesel and groceries. But based on my years of living in Texas, they also care deeply about what it means to be a Texan.
Sex, sports, children, and the language used about God are not side issues that get parked until the economy improves. They go to fundamental views of reality and of the state's character. State identity matters more in Texas than perhaps in any other state. In my experience, you couldn't pass more than about three homes without spotting a Texas star on the wall.
A candidate who spent years telling the legislature there are six biological sexes and that God is non-binary does not get a free pass because he now says he “missed the mark” while Republicans are meeting in Dallas.
And speaking of six sexes, check out Talarico's claim as to what he really meant:
“What I meant is that there are two sexes, and then there's a small percentage of people with genetic abnormalities.”
No one, and certainly not Joe Scarborough, seriously believes that at the time, Talarico had “people with genetic abnormalities” in mind. Yet Scarborough advises fellow Democrats to “cut, paste” Talarico's technique. Translation: dissemble through your dentures and move on.
Now that he's in the general election, Talarico is trying to shed the record that made him a progressive celebrity. Morning Joe wants the party to copy the maneuver.
CNN's Cornish was willing to call it what it is: “flip-flops” that make you wonder “whether the voters can believe what he's saying now.”
Here are the transcripts.
Morning Joe
9/10/26
6:11 am EDT
JOE SCARBOROUGH: One of the things I saw yesterday that was interesting was Talarico on Fox. Do we have any of those Talarico clips?
MIKA BRZEZINSKI: Oh, wow, really good.
SCARBOROUGH: He said, Talarico -- and some really good questions by the Fox, Fox reporters who, who pressed him on a lot of zany things he said, like back five years ago, four or five years ago.
MIKA: And he didn't avoid them.
SCARBOROUGH: And this was one of the best comebacks. And if only, if the, if other Democrats could just do things like this. He said, the, the, the interviewer said, hey, you know, you said five or six years ago, that there were six genders. Do you still believe that?
And he said, no, no, no, I, I, I don't believe that. I, I said some stupid things or some zany things, however you said it. He said, well, let me tell you something. Republicans want to talk about six-dollar diesel prices.
That's all you have to -- it's really, I've done this before. It's really not that hard. Whatever they say to you, you turn it to costs that Americans are feeling every day.
. . .
BROOKE TAYLOR: During a 2021 hearing, you said there are six biological sexes. Do you still believe that, standing here with me right now?
JAMES TALARICO: No. I've missed the mark on some of my past statements, I will be the first to admit it. What I meant is that there are two sexes, and then there's a small percentage of people with genetic abnormalities. I obviously didn't say it correctly. There are not six sexes, there are two. And, and I think the reason that politicians in that convention center across the street wanna talk about six sexes is because they don't wanna talk about six-dollar diesel.
TAYLOR: About biological men competing in women's sports. That's a big deal here in Texas.
TALARICO: That's right. And I oppose trans athletes playing in girls' sports if it endangers safety or fairness. Every sport has to be safe and fair. As a former public school teacher, I care a lot about our student athletes, I care a lot about our students. And, and so I will oppose trans athletes playing in girls' sports if it risks safety or fairness.
WILLIE GEIST: Those are, questions, John, that are actually salient in, in Texas, because that is kind of all Ken Paxton has to go on, Donald Trump calling him a freak, saying he's weird, and he's just calmly answering those questions yesterday in a very clear way. But also getting it back to gas prices.
JONATHAN LEMIRE: And that's the effective pivot the Democrats need to do. You take a question on cultural issues, and then you say, okay, but then turn to, yes but, and go to the affordability crisis, and it's particularly on gas prices. Talarico is particularly skilled at this, we were just saying, you were just saying a moment ago. El-Sayed, also, in Michigan, has been pretty adept at this of late. I mean, these -- first of all, we're seeing raw political skills here out of Talarico, which is why Democrats are, well, as confident as they can be about Texas, which has been so elusive for so long.
SCARBOROUGH: I'd say, Katty, there was another clip in there where he was asked about gender-changing surgeries for minors, another issue for some reason some Democrats don't know how to answer. It was very simple for Talarico. He said, yeah, no, I support banning that under the age of 18.
And it's that simple, Democrats. Look, cut, paste, use in your campaign, and actually move forward with those policies, and you won't be with the five percent, you'll be with the ninety-five percent. But again, Talarico makes it look pretty easy there. Other Democrats have gotten tangled up in that issue in the past, but he certainly seemed to get past it yesterday.--------------------
CNN THIS MORNING
9/10/26
6:00 am EDT
AUDIE CORNISH: [Teasing segment] Plus, Texas Senate candidate James Talarico flip-flops on transgender athletes in sports. We're gonna ask whether the voters can believe what he's saying now.
. . .
I wanna turn to one of the Senate races that really matter here, right? This convention is in Dallas for a reason. James Talarico has flipped his stance on transgender kids in sports. So will voters in Texas reward or punish him for it?
. . .
We're gonna talk about Texas now. The Democratic Senate nominee, James Talarico, doing a bit of a flip flop when it comes to transgender issues.
So back in 2021, in his opposition to restrictions on trans athletes in Texas, he said this: "Some things are more important than perfectly fair competition in sports." Here's what he said last week, because he was asked about it on Fox.
TALARICO: And I oppose trans athletes playing in girls' sports if it endangers safety or fairness. Every sport has to be safe and fair. As a former public school teacher, I care a lot about our student athletes, I care a lot about our students, and, and so I will oppose trans athletes playing in girls' sports if it, risks safety or fairness.
CORNISH: If it risks safety. Can you talk about this? Because you had the Massachusetts race, obviously not Texas, where the back and forth about trans athletes, and the policy around it, was extremely different. Is there any nuance to his answer? Does it help his case?
MEGHAN HAYS: I think there's nuance to his answer. I don't— I think it was a lot of a non-answer. I think that, transgender in sports is a really big issue in Texas. As someone who has family there with daughters, they, they care deeply about this. So I'm not sure that's going to make a difference right now.
I don't, I think people are voting on the economy and not these cultural issues, especially in a place like Texas where their energy is so expensive and their gas is so expensive, so I'm not sure that it was even worth getting into.
. . .
CORNISH: Just so we have some context, this is what Talarico said in 2021 when he talked about God being binary. I always like for everyone to hear the full clip, so we all know what we're talking about. Here's what he had to say, back then.
TALARICO: The first two lines in Genesis use two different Hebrew words to describe God. One is the masculine Hebrew noun for divinity. The second is the feminine Hebrew noun for spirit. God is both masculine and feminine and everything in between. God is non-binary.
[From Fox interview] I was being provocative with that statement, I get that. What I was trying to say is that you can't use human categories to define God, and that's not controversial theologically.
CORNISH: Except it's Texas.
MIKE DUBKE: Well, and, as Rahm Emanuel says, and you, he's on the CNN all the time, you know, when you're explaining, you're losing. And he's explaining here, he's losing on that non-binary, comment. He's also losing on, on this particular issue.
I will, I will take exception on one thing. I do think cost of living issues are gonna be paramount to most people. But sometimes these secondary issues rise up in a voter's mind as they're going to the, into the voting booth.
And I, and I, I do think that his non-answer on trans athletes there, because he really did have all of these, kind of extra, conditions on his answer, is going to hurt him.
And when a politician flip-flops, and that's really what's going on here, that's gonna hurt him even more. So he's got both the flip-flop and the non-answer. So I don't think he's gonna benefit from this conversation, and Paxton's gonna keep it going.
