WASHINGTON, May 30, 2026 — President Donald Trump labeled Democratic Texas Senate candidate James Talarico “transgender” in a nationally televised Fox News interview Friday, calling him a “disaster candidate” and predicting Republican nominee Ken Paxton would “absolutely just destroy him” in November — even as the false characterization drew immediate rebuke and the Texas Senate race rapidly emerged as one of the most consequential battlegrounds of the 2026 midterm cycle.
The remarks came in a preview clip from My View with Lara Trump, set to air Saturday night on Fox News. Speaking with his daughter-in-law, Trump pivoted from criticizing Democratic Party messaging to zeroing in on Talarico, the Democratic nominee who won his primary in March. “They won’t change men playing in women’s sports. They won’t, you know, this transgender, this guy running in Texas, he says there are six genders,” Trump said. “He wears a mask all the time, you know. He’s a disaster candidate, I’ll tell you. I think Ken Paxton’s gonna absolutely just destroy him.”
Talarico Is Not Transgender
The central claim in Trump’s remarks is factually false. Talarico, a former Texas state representative, middle school teacher, and seminary student, is cisgender and identifies as an LGBTQ+ ally. He is in a relationship with a woman. Trump’s “transgender” label follows an identical attack deployed by White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, who posted on X following Talarico’s Democratic primary victory that Democrats had nominated “their first transgender Senate candidate” — a claim that was immediately and widely flagged as false by reporters and political observers.
The pattern suggests a coordinated rhetorical strategy rather than an inadvertent mischaracterization — one that Miller, Trump, and Paxton have each deployed in the opening days of the general election campaign. The White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the factual accuracy of the remarks.
The Origin of the “Six Genders” Attack
Trump’s “six genders” line traces to a specific floor statement Talarico made in 2021 during a Texas Legislature debate over a bill targeting transgender athletes, in which Talarico said, “Modern science recognizes that there are many more than two biological sexes — in fact, there are six.” Republicans have wielded the quote as a recurring attack ever since Talarico entered the Senate race. In an interview this week with MeidasTouch, Talarico acknowledged that some of his past cultural messaging had missed its mark. “I think I was trying to win the argument instead of winning the hearts of Texans,” he said — signaling a deliberate recalibration of his general election message toward economic issues and away from the terrain his opponents prefer to fight on.
Paxton’s Parallel Offensive
Trump’s attack closely mirrors the cultural offensive already underway from Paxton, who secured the Republican Senate nomination Tuesday night with a commanding 63.8 percent of the vote over incumbent Sen. John Cornyn. In his victory speech in Plano, Paxton launched a volley of nicknames at his incoming opponent. “Some people know him as tofu Talarico. Some people call him six-gender Jimmy. I’ve even heard some people call him James Talafreako,” Paxton told supporters. “And others refer to him simply as Low-T Talarico.”
Paxton’s first general election advertisement continued that line of attack, accusing Talarico of being “too low-T for Texas” — a reference to testosterone levels that has become a recurring insult in online right-wing political culture. The ad closes with an image of Talarico beside the words “Radical Talarico: too low-T for Texas.” Trump had already set the tone on Truth Social following Paxton’s primary victory, posting that Talarico “may be the worst TEXAS candidate I have ever seen” and cataloguing alleged positions including being “WEAK ON CRIME,” believing in “6 genders,” being “insulting to Jesus Christ,” and being “a Vegan who dislikes meat.”
A Calculated Tactic, Acknowledged Openly
Perhaps the most strategically significant portion of Trump’s Fox News interview was his candid acknowledgment of the timing behind the attacks. “I hate to bring it up. I like to bring it up just before the elections ’cause they won’t change men playing in women’s sports,” Trump said — an unusually direct admission that the deployment of transgender-focused rhetoric is calibrated to the electoral calendar rather than driven by any specific policy development.
Democrats seized on the comment as evidence that the administration’s sustained focus on transgender issues serves a political rather than a governing purpose. The remark drew widespread attention on social media and in political press, with critics arguing it amounted to a tactical confession. The White House did not respond to requests for comment on the characterization.
The Race That Could Flip the Senate
The attacks are unfolding against a rapidly shifting electoral landscape. Texas has not sent a Democrat to the U.S. Senate since 1988, but the nonpartisan Cook Political Report shifted its rating of the Texas Senate race from “Likely Republican” to “Lean Republican” immediately following Paxton’s primary win — a notable downgrade that reflects both Talarico’s fundraising strength and the baggage Paxton carries into the general election.
Cook Political Report Senate and governors editor Jessica Taylor wrote that “Paxton has a litany of ethical lapses for Democrats to exploit — from allegations of bribery and misuse of his office to marital infidelity, which led his wife to divorce him on ‘biblical grounds.'” Taylor added that while the race might have become competitive even had Cornyn won, “Paxton’s flaws warrant an immediate move to the Lean column.”
Paxton’s Legal History
Paxton’s vulnerabilities are well-documented. He was impeached by the Republican-led Texas House of Representatives in 2023 on charges of bribery, abuse of office, and obstruction of justice, before being acquitted by the Texas Senate. He subsequently reached a $3.3 million settlement with former employees who had accused him of bribery and abuse of power — a settlement paid by Texas taxpayers rather than by Paxton personally. Paxton himself acknowledged the stakes in his victory speech, saying “without a shadow of a doubt, I will be the Democrats’ number one target in November” and warning his supporters that “if Republicans lose this state, we lose the country.”
Trump’s Senate Footprint in 2026
Paxton’s primary victory fits into a broader pattern of Trump reshaping the Republican Senate bench ahead of the midterms. Paxton, endorsed by Trump just one week before Election Day, became the first primary challenger to defeat an incumbent U.S. senator from Texas since Lloyd Bentsen beat Ralph Yarborough in 1970. The win added to a growing list of Trump-backed primary victories, following Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana’s failure to qualify for a runoff after Trump endorsed his opponent, and the defeat of Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky to Trump-backed challenger Ed Gallrein. The pattern underscores Trump’s continued grip over Republican primary voters — and the risks that grip creates in competitive general election terrain.
The November Battlefield
The Texas race is expected to be one of the most expensive in the nation as the GOP seeks to defend its Senate majority and Democrats push to win a long-coveted Senate seat in the state. Talarico, who defeated Rep. Jasmine Crockett in the Democratic primary in March 2026, has positioned himself as a new-generation Texas Democrat capable of competing statewide by anchoring his message to economic concerns while openly acknowledging that past cultural messaging cost him credibility with working-class voters. The combination of Paxton’s legal history, Talarico’s fundraising advantage, and a national environment increasingly unfavorable to the party in power has placed Texas at the center of the fight for Senate control — a fight that Trump, with Friday’s Fox News broadside, has now formally joined from the top of the ticket.