Republican congressional candidate Eric Flores says Texas Democrats are running scared, and he’s pointing to the party’s own Senate nominee as proof. In a Fox News Digital report, Flores laid into James Talarico, the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in Texas, for reversing himself on a string of hot-button cultural positions that once defined his brand. Flores, a U.S. Army veteran and former assistant U.S. attorney running in Texas’ 34th Congressional District, cast Talarico’s about-face as a sign that the left’s grip on the Lone Star State is slipping fast.
“They’re saying that there’s a blue wave,” Flores told Fox News Digital. “Well, I got news for folks, there’s a red tidal wave coming because we’re going to be getting rid of the wrong type of Democrats like my opponent.”
The backdrop matters. TX-34 is a heavily Hispanic district in South Texas that has long been a Democratic stronghold. But Republicans have narrowed the margin there over multiple election cycles, and President Trump carried the district outright in 2024. Flores is challenging Rep. Vicente Gonzalez, the Democratic incumbent, and he’s betting that the same forces reshaping South Texas will ripple across the state.
At the center of the fight is Talarico’s record in the Texas House of Representatives and a Fox News interview in which he tried to sand down some of his sharpest edges. Asked whether he would vote for a national ban on gender surgery for minors as a U.S. senator, Talarico answered with a single word: “Absolutely.”
That answer sits uneasily beside his 2023 vote against Senate Bill 14, the Texas law that prohibited certain gender surgeries, puberty blockers, and hormone treatments for minors. Talarico’s explanation: the bill “was overly broad.” He said he backed amendments to narrow its scope.
“If you go back and check, I voted for a major amendment to limit the bill to banning surgeries for minors. As a lawmaker, my job is to try to sift through everything the bill does. And sometimes there’s stuff in it that’s really harmful, and I have no choice but to oppose the bill as a whole.”
Democrats proposed 18 amendments to SB 14. Talarico supported all 18. Every one of them failed. He then voted against the final bill. Now, running statewide, he says he’d support a federal version of the very policy he opposed in Austin.
Flores was unimpressed by the pivot. He framed Talarico’s shifting positions not as nuance but as evidence of a candidate who cannot defend his own record.
“Those aren’t provocative statements; those were statements that were made with intention, and that’s showing who he truly is.”
The pattern extends beyond gender policy. Talarico previously described God as “nonbinary”, a remark that drew sharp criticism from conservatives. In the Fox News interview, conducted at a food drive campaign event in Dallas, he acknowledged the statement was deliberately provocative.
“I was being provocative with that statement. I get that,” Talarico said. He added that “what I was trying to say is that you can’t use human categories to define God, and that’s not controversial theologically. In fact, the late Charlie Kirk, the late Pope Benedict, all said the same thing.”
On transgender athletes, Talarico told Fox News he opposes trans athletes competing in girls’ sports “if it endangers safety or fairness.” He described himself as consistent on the issue. Whether voters in a statewide Texas race see that framing as consistent, or as a convenient election-year hedge, is the open question his campaign will have to answer against Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton.
Flores is focused on his own race in TX-34, but he’s making a broader argument about what Talarico at the top of the Democratic ticket means for down-ballot candidates across Texas. His theory: a nominee who has to run from his own record will drag the entire party down in a state where cultural conservatism runs deep, especially in the Rio Grande Valley and South Texas.
“Everything that I hear throughout Texas 34 is simple, and they are thinking about their pocketbook; they’re thinking about inflation and the cost of living,” Flores said. He described the race as a “contrast election” between common-sense conservatism and what he called a “far-left woke DEI agenda.”
That framing tracks with a broader national pattern. Democratic political struggles have mounted in districts and states where the party once held comfortable advantages, driven in part by voter frustration over economic conditions and cultural overreach.
Flores also took aim at his direct opponent, Gonzalez, alleging the incumbent votes with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez “80 to 85% of the time.” Fox News Digital reached out to Ocasio-Cortez for comment but reported no response.
“They’re asking him, do you really think that there are six genders? Do you really support these gender surgeries against minors? That’s the same thing with Talarico and my opponent, when they get questioned, all they can do is flip-flop because they actually don’t have a record to run on other than this far-left woke DEI agenda.”
The charge that Democrats in historically blue-leaning Hispanic districts are out of step with their own voters is not new. But the speed of the shift in places like TX-34, where Trump won outright in 2024, gives Republicans like Flores tangible evidence to point to.
Gonzalez did not let Flores’ broadside go unanswered. In a statement to Fox News Digital, the incumbent called Flores “a rubber-stamp intellectual lightweight that can’t think for himself” and accused him of supporting “the Iran war and policies that raise the cost of living for hardworking South Texans.”
Gonzalez also alleged that Flores removed “Trump Endorsement” language from his political ads and is sending fundraising messages aimed at paying back personal primary campaign debt rather than winning the general election. Fox News Digital did not report independent verification of those claims.
The congressman went further, suggesting Flores would soon be “back representing child molesters in South Texas.” Fox News Digital noted it “is not aware of any evidence that Flores represented child molesters in his capacity as either a private practice attorney or assistant U.S. attorney.” That editorial disclaimer is worth noting: the outlet flagged the accusation as unsupported even as it published Gonzalez’s full statement.
The sharpness of Gonzalez’s response suggests the incumbent does not view Flores as a frivolous challenger. Democrats facing steep political odds in once-safe territory tend to punch hard early, and Gonzalez is punching.
The timing of these exchanges is telling. On the same day Fox News spoke with Talarico at his Dallas food drive event, the GOP kicked off its first-ever midterm convention in downtown Dallas. Gonzalez acknowledged the significance of the Republican gathering, telling Fox News Digital, “That should certainly feel like an air of confidence to the party.”
Republicans are investing heavily in the 2026 cycle. Trump’s political operation has booked $47 million in midterm TV ads through a new super PAC, signaling that the party intends to press its advantage in competitive districts nationwide.
Talarico, for his part, insists his record speaks for itself. He told Fox News Digital he is “proud of my legislative track record delivering for Texans,” claiming he brought Democrats and Republicans together to pass 60 bipartisan bills. “I’ll put my record up against Ken Paxton’s every day of the week and twice on Sunday,” he said.
His campaign spokesperson, when asked for further comment on Flores’ criticisms, directed Fox News Digital back to Talarico’s prior interview remarks, offering no new defense.
That decision to let the earlier interview stand as the final word may prove costly. Talarico’s answers on SB 14, gender surgery, and the “nonbinary God” comment create a clear paper trail: provocative positions taken when he represented a safe Democratic House seat, followed by conspicuous moderation now that he needs statewide votes. Whether that reads as growth or opportunism depends on the voter, but Flores is making sure every voter in Texas hears the question.
The Texas Senate race and the TX-34 House contest are two fronts in a larger battle over whether Democrats can hold ground in states where their cultural positioning has alienated working-class and Hispanic voters. Progressives like Ocasio-Cortez have tried to wave away the woke era as ancient history, but candidates like Talarico keep dragging it back into the present by having to explain away their own prior statements.
Flores’ argument is simple: voters in South Texas care about groceries, gas, and whether their elected officials share their values. When a Democratic Senate nominee has to spend interview time explaining that he didn’t really mean it when he said God is nonbinary, the conversation has already moved to Republican turf.
Republican candidates across the Sun Belt are riding similar dynamics, strong grassroots energy, cultural alignment with their districts, and Democratic opponents who keep having to apologize for yesterday’s convictions.
Talarico may yet prove a formidable statewide candidate. He is articulate, disciplined in interviews, and clearly aware of where the political center has shifted. But awareness and authenticity are different things. And when a candidate’s best defense of his own record is that the bill he voted against was “overly broad”, while now promising to support the same policy at the federal level, voters have every reason to wonder which version of the candidate they’d actually be sending to Washington.
When you have to explain away your own words before the race even heats up, you’re not running on your record. You’re running from it.
By signing up, you agree to receive newsletters and promotional content from American Frontline News and selected publications in the American Digest Media Network, operated with Patriot Mom Digest LLC, and you accept our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You may unsubscribe at any time.
By signing up, you agree to receive newsletters and promotional content from American Frontline News and selected publications in the American Digest Media Network, operated with Patriot Mom Digest LLC, and you accept our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You may unsubscribe at any time.