Is there any meat to ‘vegan’ attack on Texas Democrat James Talarico?

When James Talarico warned supporters in his Senate major victory speech that Republicans would accuse him of all the pieces from being a hell-bound heretic to an America-hater, he apparently ignored the one cost that his opponents appear to suppose may be politically profession ending.

Republicans in Texas and throughout the nation have spent the previous couple of days accusing the Austin Democrat of being a closet vegan, bent on shuttering the cattle ranches and poultry farms all throughout Texas. It is the most recent in an all-out blitz by the GOP to paint Talarico as an anathema to conventional Texas values as he has confirmed to be a fundraising powerhouse in his bid change into the primary Texas Democrat to win statewide since 1994. 

So how did the 36-year-old seminarian reply? By posting a photograph of him carrying a Texas flag shirt on the State Fair and chomping down on a hickory-smoked “Big Tex” turkey leg that offered for $25. “Official Statement from James Talarico on Vegan Accusations,” the tongue-in-cheek submit learn. 

READ MORE: Republican attacks are already coming. How will James Talarico handle the onslaught?

The vegan part of the GOP’s assaults dates to a five-minute talk he gave to the Texas Humane Legislation Network on the eve of the 2022 major when he was in search of his third time period in state House. After providing his viewers of animal rights activists a quick bio, Talarico shifted to a subject related to the group, whose mission contains preventing animal cruelty and discovering properties for stray pets.

“I am proud to say that our campaign has officially become a non-meat campaign,” Talarico mentioned. “We are only buying vegan products from our local vegan businesses.”

The line adopted his statement that lowering meat consumption was a part of a nutritious diet and “necessary to fight climate change.” He additionally referred to as it the “the right thing to do and the moral thing to do.”

Republicans pounced after the four-year-old clip resurfaced. “This freak wants to BAN BBQ. That’s not Texas,” Republican U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz said on social media.

U.S. John Cornyn, who’s within the runoff with Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton for the precise to take on Talarico in November, chimed in with a submit seasoned with humor.

“Vote Republican this November. The steaks couldn’t be higher,” Cornyn said on X, purposely utilizing the fallacious spelling for “stakes.”

Besides his State Fair turkey leg picture, which some social media customers suspected of being AI-generated, there’s ample proof that Talarico isn’t a vegan. On a podcast early in the campaign, he joined Democratic influencer Kat Vargas for bacon-and-egg breakfast tacos, which he mentioned “fuels me on the campaign trail.” A social media video clip exhibits him tossing items of fried alligator into the air and catching the nuggets along with his mouth.

Aside from the, properly, red-meat side of the most recent Senate race dustup, what about Talarico’s precise message on meat consumption?

According to a examine by the Johns Hopkins Center for Livable Future, Americans “eat more than three times the global average” and particular person meat consumption within the United States has greater than doubled over the previous century. And, the examine says, that development is unhealthy.

“A strong body of scientific evidence links excess meat consumption, particularly of red and processed meat, with heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, obesity, certain cancers and earlier death,” the examine mentioned.

The climate-change assertion additionally has validity, in accordance to the United Nations.

“Meat production often requires extensive grasslands, which is often created by cutting down trees, releasing carbon dioxide stored in forests.
Cows and sheep emit methane as they digest grass and plants,” the UN says on its Climate Action website. “The cattle’s waste on pastures and chemical fertilizers used on crops for cattle feed emit nitrous oxide, another powerful greenhouse gas.”

Appearing earlier than a reside viewers Wednesday for a taping of the Bulwark Podcast, Talarico was requested concerning the vegan matter. His reply got here with a facet serving to of sarcasm.

“Thank you for asking this very important question because this is a serious allegation to make in Texas,” Talarico mentioned, drawing laughs from the viewers. “So I want to say this definitively, categorically, that I deny all accusations of veganism. And, our campaign basically runs on barbecue these days.”

Political science professor Brandon Rottinghaus of the University of Houston mentioned the vegan expenses and Talarico’s visible response may very well be efficient — however in all probability solely within the brief time period, partially due to the frivolous nature given the extra consequential points dealing with voters within the 2026 midterms.

“It’s a running joke that Texas is beef country, and it certainly is from a financial and cultural perspective,” Rottinghaus mentioned. “But this is a big state with a lot of different eaters. So I just don’t know that this one attack is going to be the most dramatic.”

The bigger goal, he mentioned, is to attempt to persuade voters that Talarico is clueless about Texas.

“The best attacks in politics are ones that are easy to understand,” Rottinghaus mentioned. “The overall idea from Republicans is they want to paint Talarico as out of touch with Texas. What better way to do that than to talk about how he’s anti-barbecue?”

Rottinghaus mentioned Talarico’s marketing campaign was taking it about as severely because it ought to. 

“Making light of the attack is a smart play,” he mentioned.