MS NOW analyst John Heilemann argued Thursday that Texas Democratic state Rep. James Talarico may appear moderate due to his religious rhetoric, but is ultimately as far-left as his defeated primary opponent, Rep. Jasmine Crockett.
Talarico defeated progressive firebrand Crockett — a vocal critic and foil of President Donald Trump — to win the Democratic Senate primary in Texas. Now, the 36-year-old Talarico will try to become the first Democrat in nearly four decades to win a Senate seat in Texas.
On MS NOW’s “Morning Joe,” Heilemann spoke with the panel about how Talarico’s star has been on the rise, partly because he comes across as a moderate due to his religious cachet as a Presbyterian seminarian, but has the actual policies of a progressive Democrat.
“The key thing here is that James Talarico was cast and increasingly still is cast — I say increasingly — but still is cast as a moderate,” Heilemann said. “He’s not a moderate. He and Jasmine Crockett had basically the same positions on almost every issue,” a point that veteran Democratic strategist James Carville recently raised as well.
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“He’s a populist. He’s a progressive,” Heilemann said. “He’s pretty far to the left on a lot of issues, but mostly he’s an outsider. And you could see that in the results on Tuesday, where he basically carried all of the counties that Bernie Sanders carried in the 2020 primary against Joe Biden. You cannot think that people that you associate with being a particular with being a moderate.”
He went on to argue that Talarico has the ability to build a coalition similar to that of former President Barack Obama, winning in rural, suburban and urban areas: “His coalition is the coalition of upscale professionals, young voters, hardcore progressives, and as you point out, Hispanics. That is where the — that’s where the Barack Obama thing comes into play. Because you think about Barack Obama in 2008 in the primary, his coalition was exactly the same, except swapping in African-Americans for Hispanics who Hillary Clinton dominated with.”
Heilemann said this winning coalition was not just one that would work in Texas, but could help Democrats win “pretty much anywhere.”
“I will say that part of the key thing is he codes as moderate to a lot of people because of his religiosity, because he is a former seminarian, a practicing church pastor,” Heilemann continued.
He added that the takeaway voters get after hearing from him is, “‘Well, he’s not a partisan progressive,’ despite his position on issues. That gets him in the door with a lot of voters, including a lot of Hispanic voters who are pretty populist and progressive on economic issues, but pretty culturally conservative.”
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While Talarico is not a full-time pastor, he has served as a Presbyterian guest preacher. He has said that “Jesus never commanded me to love my religion,” referred to the God of the Bible as “non-binary,” and added that, “Trans children are God’s children, made in God’s own image.”
He also equated Christianity with other religions, saying he has learned more about his own faith by learning that of others and that they are pointing to “the same truth.”
“I believe that Jesus Christ reveals that reality to us, but I also believe that other traditions reveal that reality in their own ways, with their own simple structures. And I’ve learned more about my tradition by learning more about Buddhism, Hinduism and Islam and Judaism,” he said on “The Ezra Klein Show.” “And so, I see these beautiful faith traditions as circling the same truth about the universe, about the cosmos.”
Talarico has also used the Bible to defend abortion and, on his campaign website, advocates codifying Roe v. Wade into national law. After the Supreme Court overturned Roe in 2022, he said, “This summer, more than half our population became second-class citizens. Every one of our neighbors with a uterus became the property of the State. And nothing is more un-Christian.”
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He has also said “America is not a Christian nation” and instead a “multiracial, multicultural melting pot.”
Talarico did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
