When President Donald Trump addressed the Republican midterm convention in Dallas on Sept. 9, he lashed out at Texas state Rep. James Talarico, the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate, in an unusual manner.
"He doesn't like meat," Trump said about Talarico, 37, who is leading Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in the polls.
Trump was referring to an oft-repeated false claim that the Democrat is a vegan. In fact, Talarico has said that his campaign "runs on barbecue." The myth about his personal diet serves to underscore how Republicans − fearing a dramatic upset loss in a reliably Republican state − are running against the state legislator, with a heavy focus on culture war issues and belittling jabs like dubbing him "Talafreako."
Talarico,
a Presbyterian seminarian, dismissed his GOP critics as "old guys lathered up in their fake tans throwing corny nicknames at each other," in a September interview with late night TV host Jimmy Kimmel. He turned attention back to the economic issues on which Republicans are vulnerable.
"These nicknames, they don't lower the price of groceries," Talarico said. "They don't lower the price of gas. They don't lower the cost of health care. They don't actually improve anybody's life."
Texas, which Trump carried by 14 percentage points in 2024, is now in play amid the president's low approval numbers. Polls suggest Talarico's progressive Christianity and populist economic agenda are resonating with voters, leading the GOP to spend millions of dollars protecting a Senate seat they haven't lost in almost 40 years.
Jared Shult, an Austin-based liberal influencer, is one of Talarico's more notable supporters, with more than 500,000 followers across Instagram, TikTok, and X. The 23-year-old online activist said one of the reasons Democrats are gaining ground in Texas is that Talarico has been relentless in keeping the focus on the rising cost of living.
"Whether somebody is feminine or masculine or whatever, it doesn't really make a difference on whether they're gonna make your life cheaper," Shult said. "Everyone's really mad about how expensive gas is and they're upset about like a lot of stuff with like people trying to put data centers close to where people live."
Almost every public survey conducted since July shows Talarico either tied with Paxton, or beating him. A Sept. 17 ReconMR/Texas Pulse survey shows him ahead by 6 percentage points, 49%-43%, his widest lead thus far.
During his convention speech, Trump pointed to Talarico previously describing himself as a "Christian who hates Christianity"; calling God "nonbinary"; and saying the U.S. flag is a "complicated symbol."
In a Sept. 22 digital ad, the Paxton campaign spotlighted a video circulating online of Talarico telling someone his favorite drag queen was Alyssa Edwards, a Texas native who appears on "RuPaul's Drag Race." The 60-second spot features a clip of Edwards speaking to a group of children and calls Talarico "weird" for praising the performer.
But political experts and some Texas voters, including Republicans who spoke with the USA TODAY Network, are casting doubts on whether this strategy is effective in an election dominated by voters' displeasure with Trump's broken promises to lower inflation and energy costs.
"Republicans are searching for anything they can find to make regular voters uncomfortable with Talarico," said Mark P. Jones, a political science professor at Rice University in Houston. "The goal here is to try to cancel out his higher popularity and higher net favorability rating compared to Paxton."
The political and personal jabs at Talarico's identity have yet to boost Paxton, however, who is carrying his own cargo of personal and political controversies, including being impeached by the state House of Representatives for bribery allegations, for which he was acquitted by the state Senate, and being accused by his ex-wife of adultery.
A 'desperate' appeal to young men
Immediately after defeating incumbent Sen. John Cornyn in a contentious GOP primary, Paxton called his opponent "tofu Talarico" and "James Talafreako" in his victory address. He then released a 60-second spot that ended by saying Talarico was "too low-T for Texas," a reference to testosterone levels often used as an insult by online influencers to suggest someone is weak.
"They're not about the contents of his policies necessarily at all," Adam Stanaland, a psychology professor at the University of Richmond who studies masculinity and gender in politics, told USA TODAY. "They're about things like, 'he's softer, he's soft spoken, he's not masculine.' It seems like they've resorted to some more extreme attacks now that they're getting more and more desperate and afraid on the right."
Stanaland said Republicans are using these tactics because they believe they have found a foothold with younger men nationally by emphasizing opposition to trans rights and support for traditional gender norms.
"Trump found a lot of support in the previous election with figures who have these big podcast platforms with a lot of listeners and who young men are going to because largely they feel like they're failing their manhood," he said.
An August poll by the Barbara Jordan Public Policy Research and Survey Center at Texas Southern University found Talarico outpaces Paxton among women 55% to 38%. Paxton bests Talarico among men 53% to 39%.
Talarico has returned fire by pressuring Paxton to release his deposition in a fraud case and all files related to a controversial plea deal in which his office gave an admitted child molester only 30 days in jail. His campaign regularly prods Paxton on whether local communities can stop data centers from being built and where he stands on the state banning several hemp-derived THC cannabis products.
And it tries to reverse the tough guy talk by calling out Paxton for refusing to accept three debates ahead of the election, including on Fox News.
"I'll go into the lion's den because I know what I believe," Talarico said in a statement to USA TODAY. "I am proud of my record, and I'm not afraid of hard questions. Ken Paxton is running from a fight. That sounds like ‘low T’ behavior to me. … Am I using that right?"
The Talarico campaign has showcased their candidate's conventional lifestyle, including releasing videos of him eating a plate of barbecue and talking on a podcast about his girlfriend and plans to be a father one day.
Meanwhile, Talarico's campaign released "I’m A Talafreako" T-shirts through their online store,
Economy dominates voter concerns
With persistent inflation that Trump had promised to tame and rising gas prices due to the Iran war, many Texas voters say they care more about the economy than whether a candidate projects machismo or believes there are only two genders.
"We are more worried about the fact that you have to pay almost $4 or $5 a gallon for gasoline," Jose J. Garcia, a Democrat who lives in Humble, Texas, told USA TODAY. "The food prices are going up, and you know everything else about the economy has gone down the tank."
An Emerson College survey released Sept. 17 that showed Talarico leading Paxton by one percentage point also found that the economy remains the top issue in Texas, with about 36% saying as much.
The same poll found Talarico with a 6-point positive advantage in terms of favorability among likely voters vs. an 8-point negative for Paxton.
In a Sept. 14 message, Talarico called on Paxton to back pausing the federal tax on diesel fuel after the price reached a state record of $6 per gallon.
GOP spending heavy in Texas
Trump and his MAGA allies are investing heavily in Texas and their narrative about Talarico in order to hold onto the seat, according to AdImpact, which tracks campaign spending. It reports that GOP groups all together will spend about $81.1 million on ads in Texas through the end of September.
Elon Musk's group, America PAC, which is spending big on midterm elections this year, has reportedly dropped about $3.8 million toward supporting Paxton.
Chief among them is Lone Star Liberty PAC, a pro-Paxton group which has launched a $15 million ad buy against Talarico. Much of its content has focused on his record of supporting trans rights, such as a 2021 measure he opposed that prohibited trans student-athletes from participating in sports that do not align with their assigned gender at birth.
Gregg Keller, the group's spokesman, told USA TODAY that those are among the most frequent attacks because Talarico's "lasting influence" during his time in the Texas legislature "was on the trans issue, not kitchen table issues" that Democrats tout.
Talarico has recently recalibrated his stance on trans athletes, telling Fox News he opposes allowing them to play in girls' sports "if it risks safety or fairness."
Voters skeptical that masculinity attacks will work
National polling over the past year has shown a widening gulf between younger men and women, particularly on social issues, with some describing it as the most politically divided generation in U.S. history. A French study of Gen Z men across 29 countries, including the United States, for instance, showed one-third believe a wife should "always obey her husband."
In a close race, highlighting Talarico's views and comments – such as him saying there are six genders during a legislative hearing, which he also walked back in the Fox News interview after Republicans mocked him for it – could be the edge Paxton needs, said Preston Parsons, 20, a student at Texas Tech University in Lubbock. He leads one of the largest chapters of Turning Point USA, the conservative student group founded by slain activist Charlie Kirk.
But while these attempts might resonate with conservative activists and state party leaders, some GOP voters find personal masculinity irrelevant to whether one should serve in the Senate, and said this type of negative messaging won't drive many disaffected Republicans to the polls.
Shawn Goolsby of San Antonio said he strongly supports two-parent households with a mother and a father, which he believes are better for building communities. But the 42-year-old Republican, who works in law enforcement, said questions about masculinity are not a meaningful qualification for public office. "It's not about presenting the man's man persona to do that kind of job," he said.
Other Republicans said their concerns about Talarico are solely policy-focused.
"I think he's too liberal," said Ryan Petty, 48, a Republican who lives in Houston. "I hear him saying that he's a Christian, but then he does stuff that's not really supported by the Bible."
Republican Thomas Gleaves, 63, a fence designer from Dallas, said he wants a senator who will "stand up for my Bible, my Jesus" and the "way things are supposed to be," adding that Talarico is out of touch.
Gleaves said he also believes that raising the question of personal character could backfire on Paxton, by reminding voters of his own scandals.
Parsons, the Turning Point USA leader, said the Senate race must eventually get "past the character assassination attempts."
Voters will want the focus on which candidate is going to put forth a better economic plan for his generation, he said.
Perhaps the Paxton camp has been listening: Its first TV ad of the general election focuses on his opponent's fiscal views, including opposing the no-tax-on-tips measure included in Trump's tax cuts.
"I feel like it is the number one issue for young men, because affordability directly impacts our ability to get married young and start families," Parsons said.
Contributing: Adam Powell
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: ‘Low-T': MAGA insults Talarico's masculinity, but it isn't working
