Texas Democrat Senate candidate James Talarico has reversed his position on transgender athletes in girls’ sports, telling Fox News in an interview that he now opposes their participation when it threatens safety or fairness. The shift, reported by Breitbart News, marks a notable change for a candidate who previously voted against Republican-backed restrictions on transgender student-athletes while serving in the Texas legislature.
“I oppose trans athletes playing in girls’ sports if it endangers safety or fairness. Every sport has to be safe and fair,” Talarico said in the interview with Fox News’ Brooke Taylor.
The candidate leaned on his background as a former public school teacher to explain his stance. “As a former public school teacher, I care a lot about our student athletes; I care a lot about our students. And so I will oppose trans athletes playing in girls’ sports if it risks safety or fairness,” he added.
The new position stands in contrast to his legislative record, according to The Texas Tribune. As a state representative, Talarico voted against GOP measures that would have barred transgender student-athletes from competing on teams matching their gender identity. At the time, he framed such proposals as government overreach into personal matters, arguing they amounted to a push to “police people’s private parts” and would harm “the least of these” — a reference to Jesus’ remarks in scripture.
He also drew a historical parallel during those earlier debates, comparing the justifications offered for the bans — that transgender athletes held a genetic advantage and that excluding them would promote safety — to rationales historically used to bar Black athletes from professional sports.
“Some things are more important than perfectly fair competition in sports,” Talarico said in 2021, according to the Tribune.
A Shift Framed as Local Control
In his Fox News interview, Talarico did not fully disavow his earlier votes. Instead, he characterized the Republican bills he opposed as “overly broad” and said the amendments he supported would have shifted decision-making power to local communities and school boards rather than state or federal officials.
“I supported amendments that would have given the power to make these decisions to local communities — like conservatives used to believe,” Talarico said. “I think that the people closest to these problems are best equipped to make decisions for themselves, not politicians in Austin, not politicians in Washington. I trust local officials and local communities to make these decisions, and that’s what I voted for.”
The distinction Talarico drew — between opposing broad state-level bans and accepting restrictions when safety or fairness is at stake — is a careful one. It allows him to claim consistency on process grounds while adopting a position that, in practice, aligns with the outcome Republicans sought: keeping transgender athletes out of girls’ sports in at least some circumstances.
Whether that framing satisfies either side of the debate remains to be seen. Social conservatives have long argued that allowing transgender athletes to compete in girls’ sports undermines fair competition and poses safety risks, while LGBTQ advocacy groups and civil rights organizations have countered that such bans discriminate against a small and vulnerable population of students.
Political Context
Talarico, a former public school teacher and state representative from the Austin area, is running for U.S. Senate in Texas as a Democrat. A statewide race in Texas puts him in a difficult spot on cultural issues: he needs to energize a progressive base while appealing to independents and moderate voters in a state that has not elected a Democrat statewide in decades.
Transgender participation in sports has become one of the most polarizing issues in American politics, featuring prominently in Republican campaign messaging and state legislative sessions across the country. For a Democrat running statewide in Texas, the issue carries particular risk. A position seen as too permissive could alienate swing voters, while a position seen as caving to Republican framing could dampen enthusiasm among the Democratic activists and donors who fund and staff a statewide campaign.
Talarico appears to be attempting to thread that needle. By tying his opposition to conditional language — “if it endangers safety or fairness” — he leaves room to argue he is not endorsing blanket bans. By emphasizing local control, he invokes a traditionally conservative principle that may resonate with voters skeptical of both federal and state mandates.
It is also a notable rhetorical move for a candidate who once invoked scripture and civil rights history to oppose the very restrictions he now says he can support in certain cases. That earlier language — comparing transgender athletes’ exclusion to the barriers faced by Black athletes — represented a full-throated rejection of the fairness and safety arguments. His current position accepts those arguments as legitimate grounds for exclusion.
The interview was conducted by Fox News’ Brooke Taylor. Neither the Talarico campaign nor Fox News provided additional comment beyond what was aired, and it is not clear whether Talarico intends to make the issue a central part of his Senate bid or address it further on the campaign trail.
For now, the reversal gives Republican opponents an opening to accuse him of shifting with political winds — and gives Democratic allies a reason to ask why a position he once described in moral terms has become a matter of local discretion. How Texas voters weigh that shift could shape one of the most closely watched Senate races in the country.
Source: www.breitbart.com — https://www.breitbart.com/sports/2026/09/10/james-talarico-reverses-himself-to-oppose-trans-athletes-in-girls-sports/