When state Rep. James Talarico (D-Round Rock) joined Texas House Democratic Caucus Chair Gene Wu (D-Houston) on the campaign trail in Houston on May 19, it didn’t take long for the backlash to follow.
A post on Wu’s official X account confirmed the joint campaign appearance, but the event was overshadowed almost immediately by renewed attention to a video – clipped by X user EndWokeness, of Wu, earlier this year describing white people as “oppressors” and calling on “non-whites” to “take over this country.”
Rep. Gene Wu (D) goes mask off:
"Non-whites share the same oppressor and we are the majority now. We can take over this country." pic.twitter.com/CrxsPqlkLI
— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) February 8, 2026
For Talarico, the joint appearance with Wu reignited a long-running controversy over his record on race-related commentary. Talarico has accumulated a trail of social media posts in which he cast white Americans – at times including himself – in a negative light.
In a May 2020 post, Talarico compared racism to a contagious virus, writing that white skin grants him and other white people a form of immunity that allows the disease to spread even without visible “symptoms – like a white hood or a Confederate flag.” He is calling on people to proclaim “loudly and unequivocally that Black Lives Matter” as the first step toward a cure.
Around the same time, Talarico posted a hypothetical asking what the public reaction would have been if George Floyd had instead been a “blonde salon owner,” tying that fantasy scenario to his push to dismantle what he called “white supremacy” and “institutional racism.”
In March of 2021, Talarico posted a series of statements on X, going as far as identifying “white men” as the single greatest domestic terrorism threat facing the United States. He added a personal note, saying he believed he had been spared from radicalization only through early exposure to diversity in his life – and expressed concern that not every young “white boy” would be so fortunate.
In follow-up posts from the same day, Talarico accused YouTube of radicalizing an entire generation of young white men and cited that concern as the motivation behind legislation he said he was leading at the time. The bill, he explained, would have required diversity, equity, and inclusion instruction in every Texas classroom and mandated that each Texas school hire a dedicated DEI officer.
“We must confront racism and misogyny everywhere – from the school house to the White House. I’m proud to sign Rep. @GeneforTexas ’s resolution condemning anti-Asian hate speech like “Kung Flu” and “China Virus.” Words have consequences. Dehumanization always leads to violence,” Talarico added.
The May 19 campaign stop suggests Talarico may not be distancing himself from those statements and sentiments, or Wu, anytime soon. However, he has recognized some of his past comments as “cringey.”
In a recent ABC News Live interview, Talarico was asked about his 2021 floor comment in the legislature that “God is non-binary.” Rather than defend it, he deflected, saying, “Ken Paxton is clipping my past cringey comments to distract from his career of corruption” and accusing Paxton of running a “playbook” of “distraction and division.”
Paxton allowed Talarico’s words speak for themselves in a recent campagin ad… not a playbook, just video clips:
NEW AD: James Talarico is a threat to everything we hold dear.
This is Texas, and we will fight to protect it. pic.twitter.com/7bI9jti6Gz— Attorney General Ken Paxton (@KenPaxtonTX) May 27, 2026
