A Fox Host Caught a Texas Congressman Off Guard When He Corrected Him for This Pete Buttigieg Comparison

James Talarico stood on the Texas House floor in 2021 and told the chamber that God is non-binary and that he personally loves trans children.

Now he wants Texas to send him to the United States Senate.

A Texas congressman just explained exactly why that is never going to happen.

Gill Said It Out Loud at the Texas GOP Convention

Rep. Brandon Gill sat down with Kayleigh McEnany on Fox News this weekend and called Talarico a "much more effeminate version of Beto O'Rourke."

He wasn't done.

"I think of James Talarico as a barely straight version of Pete Buttigieg," Gill said.

McEnany wrapped the segment with a correction Gill probably did not see coming.

"Congressman, we know Talarico has a longtime girlfriend and she's very beautiful," she said.

The exchange landed because it captured the whole Talarico problem in about thirty seconds.

Republicans are not worried about who Talarico is dating.

They are worried about a Democrat who told kids from the Texas House floor "I love you" – then ran for Senate claiming he's a moderate.

Gill named the other quotes directly.

"You can't go around talking about transing kids or making blasphemous comments about how God is non-binary or that there are six sexes and expect Texas voters to forget," he said.

"This is somebody who has had the most weird, absolutely far-left views that he's now trying to run away from," Gill added.

Talarico Already Admitted the Comments Were Cringey

The tell is what Talarico did when the general election started.

He did not defend the statements.

He told NBC News he "missed the mark on some of those old statements" and that he would "maybe word them differently" — then said his values are still the same.

Even James Carville went on the record and said Talarico needs to deal with the past culture war comments if he wants to win Texas.

Talarico's answer was to call it a distraction.

Texas Has Watched This Movie Before

Democrats haven't won a statewide race in Texas since 1994.

Beto O'Rourke came closest – losing to Ted Cruz by 2.6 points in 2018 after national Democrats treated the race like a coronation.

He ran again for governor in 2022 and lost to Greg Abbott by 11 points.

The hype machine picked Talarico the same way it picked O'Rourke.

The polling is tight – Talarico holds a 0.6-point edge over Ken Paxton in the RealClearPolitics average – and Washington Democrats are pointing to Paxton's corruption scandals as evidence this race is genuinely winnable.

That's the same argument they made for Beto.

The difference is that O'Rourke's worst moment was a gun confiscation line at a presidential debate.

Talarico's worst moments were recorded on the Texas House floor, over years, on camera, while he was identifying his own values.

Gill was born on a military base, raised on a West Texas cattle ranch, and was tapped as keynote speaker for the Texas GOP convention gala.

He just explained what Texas already knew.

---

Sources:

• Ryan King, "GOP rep calls Texas Dem Talarico 'barely straight version of Pete Buttigieg,' gets reminded of 'very beautiful' vegan girlfriend," New York Post, June 14, 2026.
• Peter Pinedo, "God is non-binary: Texas Dem nominee Talarico's past remarks on abortion, race and gender draw scrutiny," Fox News, March 5, 2026.
• "James Talarico says he 'missed the mark' on 'cringey' comments as Texas general election starts," NBC News, May 2026.
• "Carville advises Talarico to deal with past culture war comments if he wants to win Texas," Fox News, June 2, 2026.
• Peter Pinedo, "Rising Texas Dem Talarico faces backlash for 'creepy' remark about trans kids," Fox News, March 10, 2026.