Talarico’s past comments agreeing Christians are villains won’t win Texas: Joe Concha
A resurfaced interview featuring Democratic senate nominee James Talarico is unlikely to impact his chances in Texas’s midterm elections, according to Washington Examiner columnist Joe Concha on fox News. Concha noted that such content might be more acceptable in states like California or Minnesota but not in Texas. The interview, from a 2025 episode of the Higher Learning podcast, included comments where Talarico agreed with a host who called Christians “villains” and questioned whether Christianity still defines moral goodness.
Concha criticized Talarico for his progressive views,including statements about God’s non-binary nature,support for pro-choice policies,recognition of six genders,and calls to dismantle ICE amid border issues. He expressed skepticism about how a Democrat espousing these positions could win in a conservative state like Texas, predicting that GOP candidate Ken Paxton will likely prevail, though perhaps by a narrower margin than Trump’s 14-point victory in 2024.
Polls show a close race between Paxton and Talarico, with recent surveys indicating either a narrow lead for Paxton or Talarico. Concha doubted predictions favoring Talarico, comparing this race to past erroneous forecasts such as those for Beto O’Rourke, and emphasized that Talarico’s rhetoric is unlikely to win in a state that Trump carried decisively just two years prior.
A resurfaced interview with Democratic Senate nominee James Talarico won’t help the candidate win in Texas during the midterm elections, Washington Examiner columnist Joe Concha said on Fox News’s Saturday in America.
“If he’s running for Senate in California or Minnesota, then maybe that stuff flies a little better,” Concha said on Saturday.
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The referenced interview comes from a 2025 Higher Learning podcast episode where one of the hosts called Christians “villains,” before asking Talarico if “Christianity defining someone as a good person,” was dead. Talarico said he agreed with the host’s assessment.
“Add up all these statements and aggregate,” Concha said. “This fake Christian says that God is non-binary, he says that God is also pro-choice, OK. Also says there’s not one, not two, but six genders. And he’s called for dismantling ICE after millions cross over the Texas border during the ‘autopen administration.’”
Concha said he didn’t know how a Democrat could run on these positions in a red state like Texas and expect to come out on top. Concha predicted that Texas Attorney General and GOP Senate nominee Ken Paxton will still pull through, albeit perhaps not by the 14-point margin that President Donald Trump saw in 2024.
“But I just don’t see how, in the end statewide, a James Tala-freako, as Trump has been calling him, wins by saying the things he’s saying, especially against Christian,” Concha said.
An August 2026 poll by Emerson College showed Paxton and Talarico neck-and-neck, with 47% for Paxton and 46% for Talarico. The survey was conducted with a sample size of 1,000 likely voters, with a margin of error of +/- 3%, according to Emerson.
Meanwhile, a poll conducted by Texas Public Opinion Research showed that Talarico was ahead by 6%, using similar methods of surveying 1,000 possible voters and a margin of error of +/- 3.3 percentage points.
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Concha expressed doubt in political analysts, and predictions that show Talarico may stand a chance of winning the Senate seat.
“You have the same analysts who swore that Beto O’Rourke had a great chance to win in Texas, only to lose his races both in the Senate and governor, it just keeps landing in the same spot,” Concha said. “Talarico with rhetoric like this is not winning a state that Donald Trump won by 14 points just two years ago.”
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