Ken Paxton just released the ad every serious Christian in Texas needed to see. It calls James Talarico what the record demands: a man weaponizing faith to push a radical agenda, one who openly bragged about hating Christianity while wearing the label.
The ad lands clean. Talarico’s own words from a 2021 podcast with Roberto Che Henderson-Espinoza, a theologian who identifies as transgender and nonbinary and pushes queer theology, settle the matter. Talarico said plainly, “I always think of myself as a Christian who hates Christianity, right?” He praised the host’s work. He framed Christianity as a useful vehicle for political change because so many opponents still claim the tradition. This is not a gaffe. This is his theology.
Talarico has carried the same line into public life. He has spoken of God as non-binary, claimed there are six genders, and recast Jesus as a radical feminist. His Austin church library stocked books like Gender Queer and This Book Is Gay that parents fought to keep out of schools. The seminarian who preaches this package now asks Texas voters to send him to the Senate as a Christian voice.
Paxton’s response is both personal and necessary. Talarico’s campaign will cry context and insist he hates only the corrupt versions of the faith. That defense collapses under the weight of his record. A man who sits under queer theology, celebrates its practitioners, and advances its conclusions on gender and authority does not hate a distortion. He hates the Christianity that Scripture actually teaches.
Paxton refused to this theological transvestite pass unchallenged. In a race where one candidate treats the faith as a prop for progressive politics and the other treats it as the ground of moral order, that distinction matters.
The ad performs a public service the church often neglects. It forces voters to decide whether Christian language still means anything or whether any radical can borrow it without correction. Paxton chose correction. That choice honors the biblical command to mark and avoid those who cause divisions contrary to the doctrine received. Texas deserves leaders who can tell the difference between a disciple and a deceiver. Paxton just reminded everyone which side he is on.
