# Talarico flips on trans athletes in girls' sports

> Texas Democrat James Talarico told Fox News he now opposes trans girls in girls' sports, a reversal from his votes in the state House.
- Title: Talarico flips on trans athletes in girls' sports | Shortify
- Summary: Texas Democrat James Talarico told Fox News he now opposes trans girls in girls' sports, a reversal from his votes in the state House. Talarico is trading…
- Keywords: texas, politics, lgbtq rights, senate race, school sports, news, local, Talarico, flips, trans, athletes, girls'
- Source: The Texas Tribune — https://feeds.texastribune.org/link/16799/17443803/james-talarico-trans-sports-reversal-lgbtq-rights-texas-us-senate-race
- Author: Kayla Guo, Ayden Runnels
- Published: 2026-09-09T21:45:25+00:00
- Read time: 2 min
- Topics: texas, politics, lgbtq rights, senate race, school sports, news, local
## The reversal, on Fox News
Democratic Senate nominee James Talarico said Wednesday he opposes trans student-athletes in girls' sports "if it endangers safety or fairness." It was his first explicit backing of such a ban.

> Every sport has to be safe and fair.
## Why that venue matters
He chose a network with a heavily conservative audience while Republicans held a midterm convention in Dallas. His campaign is chasing right-leaning voters.
## The prize he's chasing
No Texas Democrat has won statewide since 1994. Talarico is betting that crossover voters, not base turnout, are the path.
## What he used to say
As a state representative he voted against GOP bans, calling them a push for government to "police people's private parts" and a harm to "the least of these."

> Some things are more important than perfectly fair competition in sports.
## He once invoked Jackie Robinson logic
Talarico compared the genetic-advantage and safety arguments for bans to the reasoning once used to keep Black athletes out of professional sports.
## His explanation for those votes
He now says the bills were "overly broad," and that he backed amendments to narrow them: local school board control, individual sports only, campuses with licensed counselors.

> I supported amendments that would have given the power to make these decisions to local communities.
## The all-or-nothing defense
Republicans rejected his amendments, so he says he had to vote the whole bill down. A lawmaker sifts a bill, and some parts are too harmful to swallow.

> Sometimes there's stuff that is really harmful, and I have no choice but to oppose the bill as a whole.
## He also dropped "six genders"
Asked if he still believed there are six sexes, a line from a 2021 House committee debate, he answered no. He said he meant two sexes plus rare genetic abnormalities.

> I missed the mark on some of my past statements, I'll be the first to admit it.
## Paxton pounces
Ken Paxton, the Republican nominee, has built his campaign on painting Talarico as too progressive, and called the new comments proof of a pattern.

> This is just the latest episode in James Talarico's long saga of lies and flip-flops.
## Talarico's counterpunch
He has said he regrets some old remarks but accuses Paxton of clipping "cringey" moments to draw attention away from his own corruption record.
## The culture war as smokescreen
His campaign runs on Christian-inflected economic populism, arguing the fight over trans kids is a distraction from billionaire influence.

> The only minority destroying America is the billionaires.
## LGBTQ groups say no
Equality Texas CEO Brad Pritchett said the group expects better, and that fairness in school sports has to include trans kids.

> When did people of moral standing decide to use Texas children as a political football?
## Key takeaway

Talarico is trading his old position on trans athletes for a shot at right-leaning Texas voters, and he is taking the hit from LGBTQ advocates to do it.