James Talarico spent a CNN town hall trying to tame the fallout from old comments that stirred up a fresh wave of criticism, especially among Christian voters in Texas. The Democratic Senate candidate said his remarks about God being nonbinary were meant to be provocative, while a one-on-one exchange with a fellow believer put his views on Scripture, gender, and abortion under a harsh spotlight.
During the “Jubilee”-style format, voters did not ease in gently. Sarah Gardner, a Texas small business owner, came straight at the issue and laid out the concern many conservative Christians have raised: that Talarico’s past language sounds less like faithful interpretation and more like political bait.
“You’ve said some concerning things in the past kind of related to faith and social issues. Things such as God is nonbinary, questions about how many genders there really are and your justifications using the Bible for abortion,” Gardner said to Talarico. She followed that with the deeper question hanging over his campaign, asking whether he believed the Bible was the final authoritative word even when culture pushes back.
Talarico answered yes, but he did not stop there. He moved into a familiar progressive defense of interpretive flexibility, saying the early church was full of disagreement and debate, not one perfectly polished voice.
That answer did little to calm the tension around the exchange. Instead, Talarico pivoted toward damage control, saying his earlier comments about God’s gender were intentionally provocative and that he could admit they came off as annoying.
“I actually want to clarify a few of the things that you said, because I know that this has been used in these attack ads all over the state,” he began. From there, he tried to recast the dispute as theological nuance rather than a serious break from Christian orthodoxy.
He argued that saying God should not be boxed in by human categories was not controversial in the theological world. To bolster that point, he referenced Charlie Kirk and Pope Benedict, presenting his phrasing as bold but not unprecedented.
Still, the old quote at the center of the backlash remains hard to miss. Talarico previously said, “God is both masculine and feminine, and everything in between. God is nonbinary. In Genesis 1:26, God speaks of God’s self in the plural, saying, ‘Let us make man in our image.'”
For many voters, that kind of language is not just colorful rhetoric. It is the sort of thing that raises a basic trust issue, especially when a candidate is asking religious Texans to believe he speaks for them on faith-based questions.
The abortion fight adds another layer. Talarico has also brushed aside the idea that Scripture establishes a clear Christian position against abortion, and he has used that argument to defend his broader pro-choice stance.
On The Joe Rogan Experience in 2025, he put it bluntly: “The idea that there is a set Christian orthodoxy on the issue of abortion is just not rooted in Scripture,” he said. That kind of line may play well with secular progressives, but it lands very differently with churchgoing voters who see the Bible as settled, not elastic.
The clash over faith, gender, and abortion is not happening in a vacuum. Talarico’s comments have already become campaign fuel, and he seems well aware that each old clip can be replayed and reshaped into a broader narrative about what he really believes.
That is why his attempt to frame the matter as simple theological provocation matters so much. In a race where religious conviction, cultural identity, and party loyalty keep colliding, even a few words about God can turn into a full-blown test of credibility.
