State Rep. James Talarico, Texas’ Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate, kicks off The New American Dream Tour on Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2026, at Esports Stadium in Arlington, Texas. Talarico planned to travel to 10 more cities on the tour to talk about his plan for the economy.
Abigail Dollins
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
One of the biggest qualms Republican voters have with Democrat U.S. Senate hopeful James Talarico is based on his 2021 statement on the Texas House floor that God is non-binary.
The Presbyterian seminary student made the comment while debating legislation related to transgender people participating in school sports.
“God is both masculine and feminine and everything in between,” he said in 2021. “God is nonbinary.”
Now that Talarico is in a tight race with Republican nominee Ken Paxton, the clip resurfaced and has been put in the spotlight. Wednesday night, Talarico was questioned on his Christian beliefs by Sarah Gardner, a Republican voter from Round Rock, on a CNN town hall in Fort Worth.
“I believe where we differ is really our interpretations of the Bible,” Gardner said. “For a lot of Christian voters, you’ve said some concerning things in the past, kind of related to faith and social issues, things such as God is nonbinary, questions about how many genders there really are, and your justifications using the Bible for abortion. And so I think that’s led a lot of Christian voters to question the authenticity of your faith.”
Gardner’s question was if Talarico believes the Bible is the absolute truth and authoritative word despite what society may say. Talarico’s answer was yes.
He continued to say that having differing interpretations of Scripture is OK as long as those disagreements are talked out with love.
“I actually want to clarify a few of the things that you said, because I know that this has been used in these attack ads all over the state,” Talarico said. “You know, the first comment about God not being defined by gender, when I said that I was being provocative, and I want to admit that and come clean about that.”
The Democrat said theologically, his point isn’t controversial.
“The idea that we can’t define God using human categories, not only did I say that, but the late Charlie Kirk said that,” Talarico said.. “The late Pope Benedict said that. And so, yes, I was doing it maybe in an annoying way. I can admit that.”
Gardner told Talarico that people have to be careful using modern cultural terms in relation to God, which Talarico agreed is fair criticism.
“Preachers often will say something shocking in a sermon to get your attention. That’s something I’m still learning how to do in a responsible way,” Talarico said. “I’m always going to take feedback from my fellow Christians, from my constituents on how to do that in a responsible way where I’m actually communicating what I mean and not muddying the waters.”
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Rachel Royster is a news and government reporter for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, specifically focused on Tarrant County. She joined the newsroom after interning at the Austin American-Statesman, the Waco Tribune-Herald and Capital Community News in DC. A Houston native and Baylor grad, Rachel enjoys traveling, reading and being outside. She welcomes any and all news tips to her email.