Texas Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico is embroiled in the midst of a huge controversy after a series of highly inflammatory posts were published on social media that were attributed to his adoptive father, including some extremely offensive and crude remarks about the Christian faith and insulting comments made about Republican women.
The posts were published on an X account belonging to Mark Talarico, a person that the Democratic nominee for the Senate has referred to as a role model and important influence on numerous occasions. James Talarico has come out and publicly identified the account as belonging to his adoptive father and has interacted with the account on several occasions throughout the years.
In February 2020, Talarico replied to a post praising his work in the Texas Legislature with an affectionate acknowledgment of his adopted dad’s influence. “You taught me well, Pops!” he said in the comment. Two years later, he issued a correction to a user on the platform who misidentified Mark as being his biological dad, describing his adoptive father as the “greatest man I’ve ever known.”
According to a report from Trending Politics News, several posts attributed to Mark Talarico have been drawing heavy criticism due to how he speaks about the Christian faith and prominent women within the conservative movement. One of the more disturbing comments occurred in September 2023, when a user on X made a rather disgusting, crude comment about the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.
The user wondered if “Christ had died via a pole up the a** I wonder if he’d have been as revered.” The account belonging to Mark Talarico responded with a joke concerning how this would have impacted Christian jewelry. “Definitely make for some interesting James Avery jewelry,” Talarico wrote in response to the remark.
Another post from February 2023 took aim at an Ash Wednesday image shared by Fox News. The image showed two people displaying ash crosses on their foreheads, a traditional Christian ritual that marks the start of the Lenten season. Mark Talarico’s account responded by posting a video that featured a man with an extremely vulgar term for female genitalia on his forehead, mocking the two Christians from the Fox image.
In August 2024, Talarico’s account replied to a video that featured a woman describing how her Christian faith helped her to heal from childhood trauma and eventually leave a same-sex relationship. “He grabbed my heart and I knew that his love could set me free and that’s exactly what happened,” the woman stated in the video.
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Talarico replied, “Real shame your god could not have prevented that family trauma in the first place.” The posts from his adoptive father’s account stand in rather stark contrast to the messaging he’s put forth in his campaign for Senate. James Talarico has made religion, specifically very liberal Christianity, a central component of his platform.
Another post from Mark Talarico shows him attacking conservative women, including former Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake and former Greek ambassador Kimberly Guilfoyle. In a post from January 2024, he replied to a photo of Lake and three other women by slamming the group, saying they are “like the afternoon shift at a strip club.” In another post, he compared Guilfoyle to Urusla, the big bad from the Disney animated classic, “The Little Mermaid.”
During a March 14 campaign event held in Austin, Texas, Talarico heaped praise on Mark for raising him and being an example of fatherhood to him. “Anyone can be a father, but it takes someone special to be a dad,” Talarico said during the event. He then recounted watching his dad mow the lawn of an elderly neighbor every weekend, saying it was a lesson in what “being a man is all about.”
“It’s taking care of the people around you,” Talarico explained. “It’s doing what’s right even when no one is watching. The internet tells these young men that being a man means tearing other people down. It means trolling and owning and dominating. So that’s not what my dad taught me.” This description is getting renewed attention following the discovery of his father’s posts.