James Talarico’s record in the Texas House is back in the spotlight as his Senate campaign heats up, and one vote in particular is drawing attention from the state’s cattle industry and his political opponents. According to reporting from The Daily Wire, Talarico voted against a bipartisan bill that banned the sale of lab-grown meat in Texas — a measure that became law in September 2025 and marked a significant victory for the state’s ranchers.
The bill, which passed the state House in May 2025, imposed a two-year moratorium on “offering for sale and the sale of cell-cultured protein for human consumption,” The Daily Wire reported. Fourteen Democrats joined 85 Republicans in supporting the measure. Talarico was not among them.
The legislation carries real economic weight in Texas, where cattle ranchers oversee roughly 14 percent of the American cattle population — more than 12.2 million head of cattle. The state’s beef exports total about $1 billion annually, making the cattle industry a central pillar of Texas agriculture.
The Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association, an industry group that backed the moratorium, recently endorsed Attorney General Ken Paxton, who is running against Talarico. After the bill won final passage, association president Carl Ray Polk Jr. said ranchers “work tirelessly to raise healthy cattle and produce high-quality beef” and thanked legislators who “understood the core of this bill, to protect our consumers, the beef industry and animal agriculture.”
Ranchers argue that lab-grown meat undercuts their livelihoods and that the product remains largely untested. Meanwhile, cell-cultured protein has found favor among left-leaning climate groups, which frame reduced conventional meat consumption as an environmental priority.
A Long History of Anti-Meat Statements
The vote is not an isolated data point in Talarico’s record. During a previous campaign for state House, he said people should eat less meat to reduce climate change and declared his campaign “officially” a “non-meat campaign.”
Speaking in 2022 while wearing a mask, Talarico said it was “now existential that we try to reduce our meat consumption, and that we try to respect animals in all aspects of society.” He added that his campaign was “only buying vegan products from our local vegan businesses.”
More recently, The Daily Wire noted, Talarico has been dogged by accusations of veganism rooted in that history. The controversy prompted him to stage photo opportunities eating meat and to proclaim that his campaign “runs on barbecue.”
The Austin church Talarico attends also encourages its congregants to “eat a plant-based diet for the planet’s health and yours,” according to The Daily Wire.
Talarico’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment on whether he stands by his vote against the moratorium or on his current position regarding lab-grown meat.
Trump Weighs In
President Donald Trump criticized Talarico earlier this year over what he described as a vegan flip-flop. Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One in May, Trump called the Democrat a “weird candidate” and pointed to Talarico’s relatively recent use of a mask.
“He’s a vegan. All of a sudden, he’s not a vegan. He was a vegan, now all of a sudden he’s not,” Trump said.
The cattle industry is not the only Texas economic powerhouse Talarico has taken aim at. In a 2020 Zoom meeting hosted by the Sierra Club, he said the oil and gas industry “is not gonna last” and compared it to manufacturing cassette tapes in the 1980s.
As the Senate race continues, the moratorium vote gives opponents a concrete legislative example to pair with Talarico’s past statements — turning a debate over food policy and agriculture into a broader question about whether his record aligns with a statewide electorate in a major beef-producing state.
Source: www.dailywire.com — https://www.dailywire.com/news/talaricos-voting-history-sheds-light-on-anti-meat-activism