Trump says Texas Democrat ‘can’t get elected as a vegan’ in Senate race
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President Donald Trump is confident his pick for the U.S. Senate in the Lone Star State will easily beat Democrat James Talarico, whom he called unelectable because “he’s a vegan in Texas.”
Talarico is a prominent state lawmaker who recently burst onto the national stage after winning the Democratic Senate nomination in Texas earlier this year. He has been widely criticized by conservatives for his controversial statements, including claims that “God is non-binary” and “sex is a spectrum.”
Speaking to reporters before boarding Air Force One Wednesday morning, Trump predicted that Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, whom he supports this week, “will win very significantly” in the primary against incumbent Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas.
He later predicted that Paxton would “go on to defeat a very flawed candidate who believes in six genders and strikes a blow at Jesus Christ and that he wore a mask six months ago, no one who wore a mask six months ago would know that.”
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President Donald Trump mocked Democrat James Talarico, calling him unelectable “because he’s a vegan in Texas.” (iStock / Getty Images Plus; Kent Nishimura / AFP via Getty Images)
He then told Talarico: “And he’s a vegan, a vegan in Texas.”
“You can’t get elected as a vegan in Texas,” Trump insisted.
Trump’s comments reference an unearthed clip of Talarico giving a speech in 2022, in which he describes reducing meat consumption as “existential.”
“We’ve heard, I think, more and more about animal welfare. I think it’s necessary, not only because it’s the right and moral thing to do, but also to combat climate change,” Talarico said. “It’s now existential that we’re trying to reduce our meat consumption and try to respect animals.”
“That’s why I’m proud to say that our campaign has officially transitioned to a non-meat campaign,” Talarico continued. “So we only buy vegan products from our local vegan businesses.”
Talarico is seen wearing a mask during the speech.
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Texas Senate candidate James Talarico speaks at a campaign rally in Houston on March 2, 2026. (Danielle Villasana/Getty Images)
His resurfaced comments caused significant excitement in Texas, where beef cattle production is a multibillion-dollar industry and the state’s largest agricultural segment.
“Who wants to tell him cattle are Texas’ No. 1 commodity?” The National Republican Senatorial Committee, the campaign arm of Senate Republicans, wrote about X.
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, called Talarico a “freak” who wants to “ban BBQ.”
“Vote Republican this November. The stakes couldn’t be higher,” Cornyn wrote.
Amid the backlash, the Talarico campaign released a photo of the candidate wearing a Texas flag shirt and taking a large bite of a turkey leg.
“James Talarico’s Official Statement Regarding Vegan Accusations,” the campaign wrote.
TRUMP SUPPORTS PAXTON IN FIGHT AGAINST CORNYN IN THE TEXAS REPUBLICAN SENATE
Incumbent Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas (left), faces Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in the GOP primary runoff. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images; Antranik Tavitian/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
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In response to Trump’s criticism on Wednesday, JT Ennis, a spokesman for Talarico’s campaign, told Fox News Digital: “As costs continue to rise and corruption runs rampant in Washington, James is focused on taking back the power of workers and lowering the prices of gas, food and healthcare.”
“James is building a grassroots movement to address this broken, corrupt political system — not any politician, not any political party, but the billionaire megadonors and puppet politicians who enrich themselves while making life more expensive for Texans,” Ennis said.
