The Republican National Committee (RNC) has revived scrutiny of Facebook posts by Texas State Rep. and 2026 Democratic U.S. Senate nominee James Talarico, a former middle school teacher, accusing him of poor judgment and even raising questions about his interactions with his former students.
Talarico, who taught through Teach For America before entering politics in 2018, has built his campaign around his experience as a public school teacher. He has previously advocated for increased school funding, mental health support, and policies he believes will benefit working families and students.
However, the RNC spotlighted several past Facebook posts from Talarico’s time teaching sixth-grade language arts in San Antonio.
One 2012 post reads: “Looking forward to spending my birthday with the 6th grade boys at UT tomorrow!” with a commenter simply replying that he should “reread” the caption.
Other posts included asking students to find similes in a passage from “The Handmaid’s Tale,” a novel with strong themes of sexual violence that critics say is inappropriate for sixth graders, and encouraging the class to study Kanye West’s “Homecoming” song lyrics.
The RNC also alleged that Talarico posted his personal cell phone number multiple times, seemingly inviting students to “call my cell,” and frequently shared photos of his young students on social media.
Talarico’s Team Responds
Talarico’s team told The Dallas Express that, regardless of his posting an excerpt of “The Handmaid’s Tale” on his Facebook and asking students to find similes in the selection, he never directly asked or even encouraged any students to read the book in its entirety.
An additional statement from Talarico’s team to The Dallas Express reads as follows:
“As an award-winning public school teacher, Rep. Talarico created a Facebook page to engage parents and keep them informed of their child’s progress. Twisting benign social media posts into clickbait headlines may work for political hacks in Washington, but Texans see through it. Rep. Talarico will continue fighting this broken, corrupt political system to take back power for working people – including the students he served on the Westside of San Antonio.”
His team clarified that only the clean version of the Kanye West song was ever played or presented to his students, and that when Talarico posted his cell phone number, it was intended for his students’ parents, not the students themselves.
“Teaching” Style Criticized
RNC spokesman Zach Kraft criticized Talarico’s teaching style.
“From encouraging kids to get sex changes and pushing sexually explicit books to openly begging his students to text him after hours, James Talarico has bad judgment at best and a serious pedophile problem at worst. Either way, the guy is a total creep who should stay 1,000 feet away from schools, not be teaching inside of them,” Kraft told The Dallas Express.
The RNC referenced other comments by Talarico, including a 2023 podcast remark in which he said, other than family and friends, he loved “transgender children” — a comment some interpreted as “creepy,” per Fox News.
