Even Anti-Trans Panic Couldn’t Save Republicans in Deep-Red Texas

On an election night handing Republicans a beating in critical House and Senate races across the country, the GOP fell short even in once deep-red Texas after a campaign run on a go-to outrage tactic: fearmongering over the rights of transgender people.

Democrats escaped the political wilderness in the Longhorn State on Tuesday night, when Democrat James Talarico defeated Republican Ken Paxton — despite the far-right attorney general’s relentless attacks on the trans community and his party’s claims that Democrats would enforce so-called “transgenderism” as a kind of ideology. 

The massive upset was paired with a victory for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Gina Hinojosa, who beat Republican incumbent Gov. Greg Abbott shortly after the Senate race was called for Talarico. 

In Dallas, Paxton voter Rachel Fuller told The Intercept she was alarmed by what she believed was Talarico’s support for “far-fetched” ideas, like “giving children the right to decide — and making parents, calling them abusive for not letting them have transgender changes.” 

Her comments suggested some of the $78 million Republicans spent on anti-trans attack advertisements in Texas were working. But they weren’t enough to help Republicans hold onto power in Texas, which hasn’t had a Democratic senator since the 1990s.

The ads made up almost half of all ad spending in support of Paxton, according to an analysis from Puck using data from AdImpact.

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By and large, the ads spread blatant misinformation about Talarico’s record. 

One infamous $29 million ad created by Texas PAC, a political action committee primarily funded by billionaire Elon Musk, claimed that Talarico supported jailing parents who did not support gender-affirming surgeries for minors. “Every mom in Texas should be worried about James Talarico putting parents in jail if they do not support surgically transitioning their children,” a woman in the ad warned ominously. 

That attack, which according to Puck received 1.9 billion views as of October, does seem to have caught the attention of Texans — even with voters who ultimately supported Talarico. 

Julius Ishola, a canvasser for Black TOP, an operation under Texas Organizing Project that targets Black voters, told The Intercept he had frequently heard Black voters raise concerns that Talarico intended to jail parents. 

“I’ve been getting a lot of bad feedback regarding James Talarico,” Ishola told The Intercept, saying many voters cited concerns of “gender sex change and possibly prosecuting parents who go against that … and allowing transgenders into female restrooms.” 

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As a state legislator, Talarico fought bans on transgender athletes’ participation in youth sports, and famously said that God is “nonbinary,” earning him ridicule from Republicans, who nicknamed the Senate candidate “Talafreako.” In the face of those attacks this cycle, Talarico appeared to backtrack on the issue, telling Fox News in September that he supported bans on transgender children’s participation in sports if it risks “safety or fairness” — without clarifying what that meant. 

His wavering does not seem to have reached many voters. 

“I voted Republican all the way. And that’s my fear of Talarico going in,” said Carol Billings, a voter who cast her ballot for Paxton at the Living Waters Church in Dallas County. Like Fuller, she cited her perception of the Democratic nominee’s trans policies as a major source for concern.

Still, many voters in Black districts, which were vital to Talarico’s victory, barely mentioned Talarico. 

“At the end of the day,” said Dallas Jones, a Houston-based Democratic political strategist whose firm focuses on African American voter engagement and backed Talarico, “the results show that people care more about their everyday lives than they do about trans Americans who just want to get by.”  

Some voters told The Intercept they were far more concerned with issues of affordability. “ I just hope we can get these gas prices down,” said Darryl Moore, a Fort Worth voter.

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