# Talarico Blames 'Republican Extremism' for His 'God Is Non-Binary' and 'Six Sexes' Remarks

On The New York Times' 'The Daily,' the Texas Senate nominee said he never ran to talk about trans issues and regrets not being 'more straightforward.' A women's-rights analyst calls it a 'bait and switch.'

- Section: [Culture](https://rightnewsrightnow.com/culture/)
- Published: 2026-10-21
- By: RightNewsRightNow Staff
- Canonical page: https://rightnewsrightnow.com/articles/talarico-blames-republican-extremism-god-non-binary-six-sexes-remarks/

James Talarico, the Democrat running against Republican Ken Paxton for Senate in Texas, says his most quoted comments on gender came about because Republicans pushed those topics.

In an interview Tuesday on The New York Times podcast "The Daily," host Michael Barbaro asked about two statements from 2021. On the Texas House floor, while opposing a bill to bar men from women's sports, Talarico said "God is non-binary." At a House education committee hearing he said "modern science obviously recognizes that there are many more than two biological sexes; in fact, there are six."

His answer. "I was put in a position where I had to fight back against that extremism," Talarico said. "It's not like I ran for the legislature to talk about these things." He said his focus was public education, and that Republicans were "obsessed with talking about trans issues, obsessed with talking about people's private parts. That wasn't me. That was them that changed."

On trans athletes. He said it is a policy discussion worth having, but criticized the law Texas passed as a blanket ban that "treated tee-ball the same as varsity baseball." He said the party may have gone too far on cultural issues at the national level, but not in Texas.

On regret. Asked about the "God is non-binary" line again, he said he wished he had spoken "in a more straightforward way." "I'm not a perfect person," he said. "I certainly regret not articulating my position more clearly." At a recent town hall, he had called the first remark "provocative" and compared it to things Charlie Kirk and the late Pope Benedict said about not defining God in human categories.

The response. Inez Stepman of Independent Women told Fox: "The left is always pulling a bait and switch with cultural issues... Not a single Democrat on the federal level voted for a bill to keep men out of women's sports." Paxton's campaign did not immediately comment, Fox says.

Note. This is Talarico's account in his own words, plus one critic. Texas voters can weigh both. We did not verify the 2021 quotes beyond what Fox reports.

## Source

Original reporting: [Fox News](https://www.foxnews.com/media/james-talarico-blames-rise-gop-extremism-prompting-his-god-non-binary-six-sexes-remarks)