Texas Democratic Senate nominee James Talarico apparently spent the summer of 2020 daydreaming about what color George Floyd’s hair should have been — and now that he’s running for higher office, the internet receipts have arrived right on schedule.
You really can’t make this stuff up. A sitting state representative actually typed out the words “if only George Floyd was a blonde salon owner” on Twitter in May 2020, hit post, and presumably went about his day like a normal human being. Incredible.
The resurfaced post, first reported by Breitbart, is just the appetizer in what turns out to be a full buffet of radical positioning from the Democratic Senate hopeful. Talarico didn’t just play racial politics on social media — he put his money where his mouth was, donating $2,500 to the Austin Justice Coalition in June 2020, an organization that championed gutting law enforcement in Texas’s capital city.
And gut it they did. Austin slashed roughly $150 million from its police budget in the defund frenzy, and wouldn’t you know it, murders surged by approximately 50 percent. Whoops.
But Talarico wasn’t done. When Austin voters tried to fix the mess with Proposition A — a ballot measure to restore police staffing — Talarico opposed it. George Soros’s Open Policy Center dumped $500,000 into the “No Way on Prop A” campaign, and the measure failed 68 percent to 32 percent. The people of Austin got exactly the public safety they voted for, which is to say almost none.
RNC spokesman Zach Kraft didn’t mince words about the resurfaced quote. “You have to be a real sick individual to sit around and daydream about George Floyd being a blonde woman,” Kraft said. Hard to argue with that assessment.
Talarico’s campaign spokesman J.T. Ennis tried the classic deflection, claiming his boss had “proudly donated” to organizations championing “police reform” — as if “reform” and “defund” aren’t the same word wearing different outfits. Talarico himself offered the deeply meaningful response that “true love means holding our friends to a higher standard.” Whatever that means.
The hits keep coming. In March 2026, Talarico called ICE a “secret police force” that should be “torn down.” He’s referred to undocumented students as the “most patriotic students.” In 2022, he gave a speech declaring that “prison is violence.” This is the full progressive bingo card, folks.
He also voted against HB 1900, the Texas law imposing penalties on cities that reduce police funding — legislation Governor Greg Abbott signed specifically because cities like Austin proved they couldn’t be trusted to keep cops on the street. Talarico even voted against the Damon Allen Act, which tightened bail restrictions after Texas DPS Trooper Damon Allen was murdered in 2017 by a suspect who should never have been out on bail.
So to recap: this man fantasized about George Floyd’s race being the problem, helped defund Austin’s police, fought against restoring public safety, voted against protecting cops, called ICE a secret police force, and now he wants to be a United States Senator.
The May 26 Republican runoff has Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton leading U.S. Senator John Cornyn 48 percent to 45 percent. Whichever Republican wins that race should send Talarico a thank-you note — because this opposition research file practically writes itself.