WASHINGTON \u2014 It is the latest red-meat issue in Texas politics. Texas Republicans have a beef with the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate. President Donald Trump and other Republicans are calling state Rep. James Talarico, D-Austin, a vegan \u2014 a claim that is not true.<\/p>\n
What You Need To Know<\/p>\n
Republicans have seized on a 2022 video of Talarico with the Texas Humane Legislation Network where he discussed how meat production promotes global warming and the significance of reducing meat consumption
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As Talarico seeks to be the first Democrat to win statewide in Texas in more than 30 years, Republicans cast him as a vegan, though it is not true, and experts say the idea is to create a cultural wedge
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Talarico has aimed to turn the attacks into a conversation about affordability<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s a vegan in Texas, and you can\u2019t get elected as a vegan in Texas,\u201d said President Donald Trump in May.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIf like a soy latte could speak, that would be Democrat James Talarico,\u201d Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said on his podcast.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s even running a vegan campaign, whatever that is,\u201d said Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, after he secured the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In making the accusations, Republicans have seized on a 2022 video of Talarico with the Texas Humane Legislation Network.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is now existential that we try to reduce our meat consumption,\u201d Talarico said at the time.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Those are fighting words in the largest beef cattle-producing state in the country. The Lone Star State is a place where barbecue is a cultural staple.<\/p>\n
Talarico\u2019s point was that meat production promotes global warming, not that he is against eating meat.<\/p>\n
But then, last month, while campaigning with former President Barack Obama, Talarico\u2019s food order at a local taco joint triggered a fresh round of attacks. He ordered potato, egg and cheese breakfast tacos. To be a vegan, Talarico would have to avoid not just meat, but any animal-derived foods, including dairy and eggs.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m an eighth-generation Texan. I\u2019ve been eating BBQ since before Ken Paxton\u2019s first indictment,\u201d Talarico has said in response to the GOP criticism.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But that has not stopped Republicans like Texas Gov. Greg Abbott from saying on his campaign\u2019s social media account, \u201cPotato egg and cheese? Homie is not beating the vegetarian allegations.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Jan Dutkiewicz, an assistant professor of political science at the Pratt Institute, said personal attacks in campaigns are meant to cast dispersion on someone\u2019s character.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think the point here is whether or not he\u2019s vegan or not vegan. The point is to create that cultural wedge,\u201d Dutkiewicz told Spectrum News. \u201cThe idea is just to inject enough oppositional messaging into the average voter\u2019s media diet to make them second-guess themselves.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Dutkiewicz studies the political, environmental and economic issues arising from how food is produced, distributed or consumed. He said politicians and influencers aligned with the MAGA movement have embraced meat-eating.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s basically this idea that in order to be a real American or a real man, or to be healthier, you need to go back to eating a lot more meat, which is of course completely not rooted in any kind of science. Americans already eat a tremendous amount of meat,\u201d Dutkiewicz said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Dutkiewicz said, especially in this electoral environment during Trump\u2019s second term, there is less appetite to discuss the ways agriculture can be more sustainable or more humane.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think Texas is ever going to go vegan, right? Like, I don\u2019t think that\u2019s on the cards, but I do think that that\u2019s no reason to not have basic conversations about food sustainability or diets at a national level,\u201d Dutkiewicz said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Talarico has aimed to turn the attacks into a conversation about affordability. He held an event in Dallas this month to highlight how wholesale brisket prices have risen 28% in the past year, as the U.S. cattle herd hits a 75-year low.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Talarico said the rising price of beef may just force Texans to give it up.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe also got to have time for those, no pun intended, meat and potato issues. The rising cost of living, the fact that this economy doesn\u2019t work for regular people, the fact that health insurance premiums have gone through the roof,\u201d Talarico said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
As the Senate race heats up, red meat is not just a meal. It is part of the campaign debate.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WASHINGTON \u2014 It is the latest red-meat issue in Texas politics. Texas Republicans have a beef with the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":330876,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[6329,1657,1658,3645,132,6328,1570,102,223,287,91318,82,27,29,28,835],"class_list":["post-330875","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-app-capital-tonight","tag-app-latest-local-state-politics-stories","tag-app-local-state-politics","tag-app-national-politics","tag-austin","tag-capital-tonight","tag-ctv","tag-dallas","tag-news","tag-politics","tag-reena-diamante","tag-san-antonio","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news","tag-vod"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330875","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=330875"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330875\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/330876"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=330875"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=330875"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=330875"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}