Stephen Miller falsely claimed on Tuesday that Texas state Sen. James Talarico was transgender, posting on X that “The Democrats made history in Texas by nominating their first transgender senate candidate.” Talarico won a Democratic primary for Senate in March and is cisgender and heterosexual.
The Democratic National Committee answered from its official account with a blistering reply: “shut up you ugly fuck.” Talarico’s team called the attack “Talarico Derangement Syndrome.”
The exchange landed in the middle of a Texas Senate race already turned raw by identity attacks and national attention. Republicans escalated anti-LGBTQ+ attacks against Talarico during the online fight, even as he has drawn attention for outspoken allyship and advocacy for LGBTQ+ equality. He has also been cast by Democrats as a serious threat to flip Texas blue, adding pressure to every message aimed at him.
The false claim also fit a broader Republican line of attack around Talarico’s beliefs and language. In a separate interview, he said, “I know there are two sexes, men and women,” and added that people with rare chromosomal abnormalities “deserve to be treated with dignity and respect.” He has also said some of the criticism is “intentionally provocative,” and argued, “God can’t be defined by human categories.”
The political stakes around the race rose further after Republican Texas voters nominated Attorney General Ken Paxton over incumbent Sen. John Cornyn in the GOP Senate primary, and President Donald Trump endorsed Paxton last week. That shift has sharpened the battle over which Republican will face the Democrats' nominee in a race now shaped as much by cultural combat as by the usual Texas maps and money.
For Talarico, the attack on his identity was not just false but strategic, aimed at turning him into a caricature before the fall campaign fully takes shape. The immediate question is whether the loudest online slur can stick in a state where both parties are already treating the Senate contest as a national prize.
