{"id":347996,"date":"2026-09-16T03:28:23","date_gmt":"2026-09-16T03:28:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/347996\/"},"modified":"2026-09-16T03:28:23","modified_gmt":"2026-09-16T03:28:23","slug":"republicans-pile-on-james-talarico-after-he-quickly-names-his-favorite-drag-queen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/347996\/","title":{"rendered":"Republicans pile on James Talarico after he quickly names his favorite drag queen"},"content":{"rendered":"

Republicans accused James Talarico<\/a> of wanting to \u201cdrag down Texas\u201d Tuesday after the Democratic Senate hopeful was filmed quickly naming his favorite drag queen.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Talarico, who has long praised and defended<\/a> Texas drag performers, was asked by a man during a campaign event to name his favorite and, within a second, responded, \u201cOh my gosh, probably Alyssa Edwards.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The clip, shared by the Republican National Committee\u2019s RNC Research X account on Monday, quickly went viral and raised Republican eyebrows.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"DemocraticTalarico has long praised the Lone Star State\u2019s drag performers. AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cJames Talarico wants to drag down Texas,\u201d the National Republican Senatorial Committee posted on social media<\/a>, including a 2023 quote from the candidate arguing that the Lone Star State produces \u201csome of the best drag queens in the nation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vice President JD Vance weighed in<\/a> by sharing an image of the knowing, side-eye glance <\/a>he gave the television audience during his 2024 vice presidential debate against Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, which has since become a popular meme.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton<\/a>, Talarico\u2019s opponent in the Senate race, argued the Democratic candidate\u2019s quick response suggests he\u2019s \u201ctoo weird and too radical for Texas.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat normal person can name their favorite drag queen this quickly?\u201d Paxton tweeted<\/a>. \u201cWhen James Talarico isn\u2019t advocating for children to dress in drag, he\u2019s watching drag performances and saying that Texas produces the best drag queens.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller used the nickname President Trump has recently deployed\u00a0to disparage Talarico in an X post slamming the Texas Democrat.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cTalafreako is a deeply sick and disturbed individual,\u201d Miller wrote<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"AlyssaAlyssa Edwards thanked Talarico for the shoutout. Charles Sykes\/Bravo via Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s completely bizarre for any \u2018man\u2019 to be able to instantly name their \u2018favorite drag queen\u2019 let alone the name of any drag queen at all,\u201d Rep. Brandon Gill (R-Texas) argued on X<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Talarico\u2019s favorite drag queen responded to the controversy by thanking the Senate hopeful for his support.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cYour favorite politician\u2019s favorite Drag Queen,\u201d Edwards posted on X<\/a>. \u201cThank you [James Talarico] for recognizing that the arts have a purpose and a home right here in the Lone Star State. Matthew 7:1 #ProudTexan\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Talarico\u2019s campaign did not immediately respond to The Post\u2019s request for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Republicans accused James Talarico of wanting to \u201cdrag down Texas\u201d Tuesday after the Democratic Senate hopeful was filmed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":347997,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[10584,110211,11749,46937,9,24,63,87,122,124,123,855,1777,58],"class_list":["post-347996","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-drag-queens","tag-james-talarico","tag-jd-vance","tag-midterm-elections-2026","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-politics","tag-queens","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news","tag-senate","tag-texas","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/347996","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=347996"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/347996\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/347997"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=347996"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=347996"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=347996"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}