Undercover video released Monday by O’Keefe Media Group captures people close to Texas Democratic Senate nominee James Talarico saying his moderate public positioning is a tactic aimed at winning over Texas voters, not a reflection of his actual views.
The footage, released the day before Election Day, features Williamson County Democratic Party Chair Kim Collins Gilby, a man identified as the father of Talarico’s girlfriend, and a Travis County regional organizer all drawing a line between what Talarico says publicly and what they claim he believes privately.
Gilby is recorded saying Talarico “will not vote to close… the border” and has talked about putting “a welcome mat out at our border.” She also suggested his comments at a CNN town hall about transgender surgeries for minors were designed “to make himself appear more centrist,” adding that “he’s very liberal” and “we’ve got to get elected so that we can do something.”
“James [Talarico], he’s not going middle.”
“He’s [Talarico] definitely going to play the middle ground because he’s in Texas, but he is a lot more progressive on it [abortion].”
In public, Talarico has leaned into a pragmatic, border-hawk image. At the CNN town hall he said, “I’m a border security Democrat,” and has criticized the Biden administration for “not securing the border.”
Matt Menard, identified in the footage as the father of Talarico’s girlfriend Brianna Menard, offered the bluntest assessment. He told the undercover journalist not to “put too much stock into border security comments,” called Talarico “not going moderate” and “a progressive,” said he backs a pathway to citizenship for everyone, and claimed Talarico would “absolutely stop” current ICE enforcement tactics if Democrats took control of Congress.
Andhi Beltran Garcia, a Travis County Democratic Party regional organizer, echoed the pattern on abortion, saying Talarico would “play the middle ground because he’s in Texas” publicly while privately holding “a lot more progressive” views.
The tapes mark the latest entry in O’Keefe’s run of pre-election undercover releases. In October, similar footage targeting a regional field organizer for Michigan Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed led the Michigan Democratic Party to confirm the staffer’s termination after the organizer was recorded discussing alleged foreign donations.
Neither the Talarico campaign nor the Texas Democratic Party had publicly responded to Monday’s footage as of this writing.
Texas voters decide the Senate race Tuesday between Talarico and Republican nominee Ken Paxton, the state’s attorney general. The tapes are now part of the public record heading into Election Day, leaving voters to weigh their significance for themselves.
