Texas Senate candidate James Talarico denies defund the police claim

FIRST ON FOX: Democratic Texas Senate candidate James Talarico is pushing back on the idea that he supports defunding the police, calling it “an outright 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 enough mental health professionals contributes to a “culture of violence.”

Democrats believe they have a chance to turn the critical Senate seat blue for the first time in decades. But the Republican Party hopes to defend its Senate majority by highlighting Talarico’s most controversial positions to undermine his moderate appeal.

The latest discovery dates back to the 2019 interview, in which Talarico denounced plans to increase the presence of police officers in schools without also placing more emphasis on mental health.

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Democrat James Talarico (left) attacks comments he made in 2019 suggesting that increased police presence in schools without enough emphasis on mental health contributes to a “culture of violence.” (Bob Daemmrich/The Texas Tribune/Bloomberg via Getty Images; Eric Gay/AP Photo)

“We’re all concerned about school safety and the recent school shootings, and that concern, in some ways, has been unproductively channeled into the militarization of schools and sort of a trend toward a culture of violence and adding more law enforcement officers to campuses,” he said.

To find a solution, Talarico, a former college professor, touted the first bill he introduced as a member of the Texas House of Representatives, which would have imposed a fixed ratio of mental health workers for every police officer placed in a school. He emphasized that “if a crime has been committed, a law has been broken or there is immediate danger to students, of course we want our law enforcement officials to deal with that,” but emphasized that “law enforcement officials should not conduct behavioral interventions.”

Commenting on this, 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 kids agenda.”

Kraft told Fox News Digital that “Texans will have the same answer for Talarico at the polls as they will for the police, ‘we don’t want you here.'”

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Democratic candidate for Texas Senate, Texas state Rep. James Talarico, D-Austin, waves before speaking for the first time since winning the Democratic nomination in Austin, Wednesday, March 4, 2026. (Eric Gay/AP)

However, JT Ennis, a spokesperson for Talarico’s campaign, called it “an outright lie.”

“James opposes defunding the police and has a proven track record of 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 “addresses directly the school-to-prison pipeline” and “will hopefully create a balance between security and toughening, which has been proposed in some of the proposed school safety plans, and what has been proven to be effective, which creates a safe and healthy school climate.”

“Everyone from the Department of Education to the Secret Service has said the best way to prevent school shootings is to cultivate relationships with your students on campus, not to create a divide around your campus,” he said.

He stressed that the police “should not advise students”.

“They’re not trained to do this, and they shouldn’t be doing it. They have a pretty tough job on their own, and we shouldn’t be adding to their plate,” he continued, noting, “Just like, as a certified educator, they wouldn’t want me roaming the streets in a patrol car, you don’t want that, and I don’t want you disciplining my school.”

JAMES TALARICO’S PAST ANTI-MEAT POSITION GOES VIRAL AND DRAWS REPUBLIC FIRE FROM TEXAS POLITICAL LANDSCAPE

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and his bitter rival, Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, are heading into a runoff in Texas, extending their bloody primary battle until the end of May. (Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images; Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

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 officer in districts or schools with 5,000 or more students. Districts and schools with between 5,000 and 500 students should have had three mental health workers per police officer. Those with fewer than 500 students would need two mental health officers per law enforcement officer.

Ennis said the bill “supports police by adding desperately needed mental health officers to help prevent tragic events like the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas.”

Talarico was recently thrust onto the national stage after years in state politics, culminating in an upset victory for the Democratic nomination for Senate against an established name, Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas. Once the nomination is secured, he is expected to face either incumbent Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, or state Attorney General Ken Paxton, depending on which candidate wins the GOP primary runoff in May.

Although Democrats hope he can flip the seat, Talarico’s campaign has been marked by intense controversy over his history of progressive statements, including asserting that “God is not binary.” Even so, he is leading a competitive race for a Senate seat, crucial to both parties’ hopes of securing a majority in the upper chamber.

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Ennis said that “while John Cornyn, Ken Paxton, and the billionaires who support them play politics with school shootings by presenting a false choice between defunding law enforcement and funding mental health resources for children, James will continue to oppose both political parties to fix this broken and corrupt political system.” »

In response, Matt Mackowiak, Cornyn’s senior campaign advisor, doubled down, telling Fox News Digital that “James Talarico is a ‘defund the police’ radical who wants to make our schools and streets less safe.”

Meanwhile, Mackowiak said Cornyn “has always supported blue and has been supported by the largest statewide law enforcement organizations in Texas.”

Fox News Digital has also reached out to Paxton’s campaign for comment.