Democrat Senate candidate James Talarico’s woes continue to grow, as now even CNN is reporting on his flip-flopping since launching a bid for a promotion to Washington.
NEW KFILE looking at James Talarico’s record on policing in 2020. Talarico told a youth group then calling for defunding police that it was "rich" that "defund the police" was "off limits" in political debate when Texas had spent decades defunding public schools and health services. Said, "Our system of policing is deeply broken. We must replace it with something new and something better," and asked about instead sending "highly-trained crisis interventionists," some for some emergencies. In June 2020, he donated $2,500 to the Austin Justice Coalition, a group calling for defunding police, a donation he later defended. He also criticized Gov. Abbott's proposal to cut revenue to cities like Austin over local decisions to reduce police funding. In 2022, Talarico said that if the country took "just half of what we spent on wars, prisons, and policing" and spent it on education, health care, and jobs, "we could make prisons obsolete." Talarico's campaign says he "did not call for and does not support defunding the police" and has voted to send billions of dollars to local law enforcement. https://t.co/45wD248YJe
— Andrew Kaczynski (@KFILE) October 5, 2026
CNN just caught James Talarico telling defund-the-police activists it was “rich” that defunding the police was “off-limits.” I've stood with Texas law enforcement my entire career. Talarico bent the knee to the people trying to defund them. https://t.co/L2GR4kNyGY
— Attorney General Ken Paxton (@KenPaxtonTX) October 5, 2026
James Talarico plays a moderate on TV. His record is not moderate. He called it “rich” that “defund the police” was considered off limits. He said our system of policing is “deeply broken” and “we must replace it with something new and something better.” He donated to a group advocating police cuts and defended the donation. He has told Texans exactly where he stands.
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) October 5, 2026
CNN unveiled footage of Talarico stating that it was “rich” that proposals to “defund the police” were “off limits” in Texas in the wake of the 2020 Summer of Violence that followed the death of George Floyd. CNN likewise corroborated Townhall’s reporting on Talarico’s support for an organization that explicitly called for the defunding of the Austin Police Department and fantasized about the abolition of prisons.
Speaking to pro-defund the police activists, James talarico said: "It’s, as an educator, always rich to me that 'defund the police' is considered off limits in our political debate... "the voices in the street, particularly black and brown voices, as they have throughout our history, are pushing us to expand our moral imagination. They're pushing us to live up to our stated ideals, and that's uncomfortable for folks who are in power or who are part of a group that has power. But that doesn't mean that that uncomfortable conversation doesn't need to happen, and that those questions can be exciting, and they can push us to do something greater and something better." #TXsen
— Lone Star Liberty PAC (@LoneStar_PAC) October 5, 2026
Of course, the Talarico campaign still refuses to acknowledge any of the prior positions that Talarico held, telling CNN that he “did not call for and does not support defunding the police” despite video evidence directly contradicting that claim.
Talarico’s time to distance himself from his record is running short, as there are only 29 days remaining until Election Day.