Rising Dem Talarico denies anti-cop label after 'culture of violence' comments exposed
FIRST ON FOX: Texas Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico is pushing back on the idea that he supports defunding the police, calling it a "flat-out lie."
Republicans are confronting Talarico with resurfaced comments from a 2019 episode of the Trey Blocker Show, in which he suggests that a heavy police presence in schools without sufficient mental health professionals contributes to a "culture of violence."
Democrats believe they have a shot at flipping the critical Senate seat blue for the first time in decades. But the GOP hopes to defend its Senate majority by highlighting Talarico's more controversial stances to undermine his moderate appeal.
The latest to be unearthed is from the 2019 interview, in which Talarico decried plans to increase police officer presence in schools without also placing more emphasis on mental health.
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"We’re all concerned about school safety and recent school shootings, and that concern, in some ways, has been channeled unproductively toward militarizing schools and toward kind of leaning into a culture of violence and adding more law enforcement officials into campuses," he posited.
As a solution, Talarico, a former middle school teacher, touted the first bill he introduced as a member of the Texas House of Representatives, which would have mandated a set ratio of mental health workers for every police officer placed in a school. He stressed that "if a crime has been committed, a law has been broken or there’s an immediate danger to students, of course, we want our law enforcement officials to address it," but emphasized that "law enforcement officials shouldn’t be conducting behavior interventions."
Republican National Committee spokesman Zach Kraft called the bill "a scary combination of two of James Talarico's favorite things," which he said are "defunding the police and pushing his woke agenda on kids."
Kraft told Fox News Digital that "Texans will have the same answer for Talarico at the ballot box that he had for police: 'We don't want you here.'"
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However, JT Ennis, a spokesperson for Talarico’s campaign, characterized the GOP criticisms as a falsehood.
"James opposes defunding the police and has a proven track record voting to send billions of dollars to support law enforcement," Ennis told Fox News Digital.
Explaining his bill on the Trey Blocker Show, Talarico said it "directly addresses the school-to-prison pipeline" and "hopefully will create a balance between security and hardening, which has been proposed in some of the proposed school safety plans, and what has been proven to be effective, which is creating a safe and healthy school climate."
"Everybody from the Department of Education to Secret Service has said that’s the best way to prevent school shootings, is to have relationships with your students on campus, not to create a moat around your campus," he said.
He stressed that police "shouldn’t be counseling students."
"They’re not trained to do that, nor should they. They have a tough enough job on their own, and we shouldn’t be adding to their plate," he went on, noting, "Just like, as a certified educator, they wouldn’t want me roaming the streets in a cruiser, you don’t want that, and I don’t want you in my school doing discipline."
Despite some bipartisan support, Talarico’s bill stalled in committee. If passed and signed into law, the measure would have required school districts to hire four mental health professionals for every law enforcement official in districts or schools with an enrollment of 5,000 or more students. Districts and schools with between 5,000 and 500 students would have been required to have three mental health workers per police officer. Those with fewer than 500 students would need two mental health workers per law enforcement officer.
Ennis said the bill "supports the police by adding desperately needed mental health officials to help prevent tragic events like the mass shooting at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas."
Talarico was recently propelled to the national scene after years in state politics, culminating in a stunning upset victory for the Democratic Senate nomination over an established name, Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas. With the nomination secured, he is set to face either incumbent Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, or state Attorney General Ken Paxton, depending on which candidate wins the May GOP primary runoff.
Though Democrats are hopeful he can flip the seat blue, Talarico’s campaign has been marked by intense controversy over his history of progressive statements, including claiming "God is nonbinary." Despite this, he is running a competitive race for a Senate seat critical to both parties’ hopes of securing a majority in the upper chamber.
Ennis said that "while John Cornyn, Ken Paxton and the billionaires who prop them up play politics with school shootings by presenting a false choice between funding law enforcement and funding mental health resources for kids, James will continue standing up against both political parties to fix this broken, corrupt political system."
In response, Matt Mackowiak, Cornyn’s campaign senior advisor, doubled down, telling Fox News Digital that "James Talarico is a ‘defund the police’ radical who wants to make our schools and our streets less safe."
Meanwhile, Mackowiak said Cornyn "has always backed the blue and has been endorsed by the largest statewide law enforcement organizations in Texas."
Fox News Digital also reached out to Paxton’s campaign for comment.