Texas state Rep. James Talarico said Wednesday that previous comments he\u2019s made on sensitive cultural issues \u201cmissed the mark,\u201d as Republicans lean on those remarks to attack him in the contentious Senate race. <\/p>\n
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In an interview with NBC News, the Democratic nominee was asked if he wanted to clarify some of those statements that his GOP challenger, state Attorney General Ken Paxton, has been highlighting in recent days.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll be the first to admit that I missed the mark on some of those old statements, but what Ken Paxton is doing is clipping my cringey comments to distract from his career of corruption,\u201d Talarico said, speaking hours after Paxton defeated longtime incumbent Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas<\/a>, in the GOP primary runoff. <\/p>\n In his remarks celebrating his victory Tuesday night, Paxton referred to Talarico by a string of mocking nicknames \u2014 \u201cTofu Talarico,\u201d \u201cSix gender Jimmy,\u201d \u201cJames Tala-freako,\u201d and \u201cLow T Talarico\u201d \u2014 while denouncing his positions related to gender-affirming care, immigration, energy and religion.<\/p>\n Paxton, whom President Donald Trump endorsed earlier this month<\/a>, was harnessing comments Talarico has made while serving as a state legislator.<\/p>\n In 2020, after the death of Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia<\/a> in a racially motivated hate crime, Talarico posted images on X of Black individuals<\/a> and said Arbery was the latest American \u201ckilled by the virus of racism.\u201d He added<\/a>, \u201cWhite skin gives me and every white American immunity from the virus. But we spread it wherever we go\u2014through our words, our actions, and our systems. We don\u2019t have to be showing symptoms \u2014 like a white hood or a Confederate flag \u2014 to be contagious.\u201d <\/p>\n In 2021, during a debate in the Texas state Legislature on a bill targeting transgender athletes<\/a>, Talarico said, \u201cModern science recognizes that there are many more than two biological sexes \u2014\u00a0in fact, there are six.\u201d <\/p>\n Republicans have also mocked Talarico over rumors of him being a vegan, which the Democratic contender denied in an interview on Tuesday with MeidasTouch<\/a>. <\/p>\n