White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller falsely claimed on Tuesday that Texas Senate candidate James Talarico was transgender, turning a routine online exchange into a fresh round of attacks aimed at the Democrat. Miller wrote on X, “The Democrats made history in Texas by nominating their first transgender senate candidate.”
The exchange began after the Democratic National Committee promoted Talarico on its official X account following Texas Republican voters’ decision to nominate Attorney General Ken Paxton over incumbent Sen. John Cornyn in the GOP Senate primary. President Donald Trump endorsed Paxton last week, and the DNC’s post quickly drew a response from Miller that was both false and mocking.
Talarico won a Democratic primary for Senate in March, and he is cisgender and heterosexual. His team responded to the uproar by calling it “Talarico Derangement Syndrome,” a jab at the intensity of the partisan pile-on around a candidate who has already drawn attention for his outspoken allyship and advocacy for LGBTQ+ equality.
The substance of Miller’s claim is wrong. Talarico is not transgender, and the claim collides with the basic facts of his candidacy and public record. The episode also underscored how fast social media exchanges around Texas politics now spill into campaign messaging, with party accounts, senior White House aides and the president himself all amplifying the fight in real time.
Talarico has also tried to explain why his own remarks about faith and identity have drawn such a forceful reaction. In a CBS News interview, he said his comments about God were “intentionally provocative” and added that “God can't be defined by human categories.” He said, “I know there are two sexes, men and women,” while also saying, “I also know there's a very small percentage of people who have these chromosomal abnormalities, and I believe they deserve to be treated with dignity and respect.”
Republicans seized on those comments and used them to frame Talarico as out of step with Texas voters. Republican National Committee Chair Joe Gruters said, “He's a vegan. He thinks God is nonbinary, [and ]he wants to mutilate children. He wants to put boys in girls' locker rooms.” The Daily Beast reported that Miller also replied to a post criticizing white male Democrats by saying, “Large quantities of soy.”
Trump added his own barrage on Wednesday morning, posting multiple Truth Social messages that called Talarico a “Vegan who dislikes meat” and a “Weak on Crime, Open Borders Dumocrat, can never be allowed to represent the Great People of Texas.” He also wrote that Talarico “may be the worst TEXAS candidate I have ever seen,” that his “values” were “the exact opposite!!!” and that he “believes there are 6 genders.” In one post, Trump said Talarico was “A strong Open Borders advocate, he is WEAK ON CRIME, believes there are 6 genders, is insulting to Jesus Christ, will never support the Military, was a big Mask Wearer until recently, and is a Vegan who dislikes meat, not exactly a good way to be if your [sic] wanting to win an election in Texas.”
The fight matters because it shows how Texas Republicans and national figures are choosing to define the race around identity and cultural cues as much as policy. Them reported that Miller’s statement was technically incorrect, noting that transgender candidates have won legislative seats in the country, always as Democrats, and pointing to Sarah McBride’s election to the Delaware state Senate before she became the nation’s first out trans state senator in 2020. But that larger history sits beside the immediate political reality: Miller’s false claim, the DNC’s profanity-laced reply, and Trump’s repeated attacks turned Talarico into a target in a race that is already being nationalized.
For Talarico, the next test is less about correcting one falsehood than about whether he can keep the race focused on his message while Republicans keep dragging the campaign into a debate over gender, religion and personal identity. The attacks have already answered the question of how hard both parties intend to fight over Texas: they are treating it like a national proxy battle, and they are doing it in public.
