James Talarico stood on the Texas House floor in 2021 and told the world God is non-binary.
Now he is running for the Senate – and he just said something about Scripture that stopped Franklin Graham cold.
Graham went public with two words Talarico will not forget before November.
Franklin Graham Says the Bible Is Not Silent on Abortion and Calls Talarico's Claim an Absolute Lie
James Talarico, the Democrat nominee challenging Trump-endorsed Attorney General Ken Paxton in the November Texas Senate race, went viral this week after claiming during a podcast interview that his Christian faith leads him to support abortion.
"I trust Texas women to make decisions about their own bodies, to shape their own destinies in consultation with their family members, their doctors, their faith leaders," Talarico said.
Then came the claim that ignited the backlash.
"Jesus never talks about abortion," Talarico said. "The Bible is silent on abortion."
He positioned the statement not as a departure from his faith, but as an expression of it – a move Franklin Graham wasn't about to let stand.
"Texas Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico couldn't be more wrong," Graham wrote on social media. "The Bible is not silent on abortion as he claims – that's an absolute lie. God commands us, 'You shall not murder' (Exodus 20:13). Abortion is taking a life – it is murder."
Graham then cited Jeremiah 1:5: "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart."
Talarico Said God Is Non-Binary in 2021 and He Is Still Not Walking It Back
Graham didn't stop at the abortion claim. He reminded followers that Talarico has a documented history of repackaging far-left ideology as theology.
Four years ago, while arguing against a bill to keep biological males out of women's sports, Talarico delivered a floor speech declaring that "God is both masculine and feminine and everything in between" and that "God is non-binary."
When CBS News confronted him about those remarks this week, he admitted he was "intentionally provocative" but refused to retract the underlying claim – calling the comments "cringey" only after Paxton started running them in campaign ads.
Kristan Hawkins, president of Students for Life of America, called it spiritual gaslighting.
"The Bible is explicit," Hawkins wrote. "God didn't stutter when He commanded us not to kill innocent humans. Scripture makes it completely clear how He feels about preborn babies, explicitly stating that He knit us together in the womb and knew us before we were even born."
Robert Gagnon, visiting scholar at Wesley Biblical Seminary, dismissed Talarico's approach to Scripture as "juvenile hermeneutics" – noting that the Bible's position on any issue doesn't require an explicit line-by-line prohibition to be unambiguous.
Talarico holds a Master of Divinity from Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary. He knows exactly what he's doing.
Democrats Are Using Talarico's Woke Christianity to Try to Flip the Texas Senate Seat
Glenn Beck flagged what is really happening here.
Democrats know the stakes in Texas. No Democrat has won a statewide race there since 1994. To flip the Senate seat, they need a candidate who can hold enough of the state's substantial Christian voter base.
So they gave them Talarico: a seminarian who sounds like a woke pastor and votes like AOC.
Beck warned that Democrats will pour Beto-level money into this race. "They have to convince Texans that a radical leftist who believes abortion is Christian is a moderate," he said. "Texans cannot relax after Paxton's victory."
President Trump already weighed in, calling Talarico "the worst Texas candidate" and accusing him of insulting Jesus Christ.
Talarico has since walked back several positions, insisting he knows "there are two sexes, men and women" – a statement that would have been unremarkable from any normal candidate but counts as a reversal for him.
Democrats actually believe this is their winning formula for Texas – that a seminarian who calls God non-binary and the Bible silent on life is the candidate to finally flip the state.
When a Democrat running for Senate needs a national evangelist to fact-check his theology, Texans already have everything they need to know.
Sources:
- Jon Brown, "Franklin Graham, others blast Talarico for claiming 'Bible is silent' on abortion," The Christian Post, May 28, 2026.
- Katherine Hamilton, "Texas Democrat Senate Candidate James Talarico Says Bible 'Silent on Abortion,'" Breitbart, May 29, 2026.
- Rachel del Guidice, "Texas Dem nominee James Talarico invokes faith to defend abortion rights," Fox News, May 26, 2026.
- "Talarico recants past statements, says he was 'intentionally provocative' by calling God 'non-binary,'" The Christian Post, May 28, 2026.
- "'God is non-binary': Texas Dem nominee Talarico's past remarks on abortion, race and gender draw scrutiny," Fox News, March 5, 2026.
- "Texas Dem who said God is 'nonbinary' now says atheists are more 'Christ-like' than Christian colleagues," Fox News.
- Curtis Houck, "Talarico Skates by CBS News When Asked on Trans Lunacy, God Being 'Non-Binary,'" NewsBusters, May 28, 2026.