Attacks on Texas Senate candidate aren't just about him. They're an attempt to crush progressive Christianity
Andrew Daugherty
Sun, June 14, 2026 at 6:00 AM MST
James Talarico has been found guilty of quoting Jesus. The sentence he uttered, according to right-wing media, was "demonic" and "blasphemous," exposing him as a "fake Christian." Talarico is running for the U.S. Senate in Texas on a platform The New Yorker recently described as basically the New Testament. One Newsmax host accused him of using fake Bible passages.
The passages in question are familiar ones, found in Matthew 22 and Matthew 25. Love God and love your neighbor. Feed the hungry, heal the sick, welcome the stranger. They are, in fact, in the Bible.
The right's attacks on Talarico aren't about him, or at least not entirely. They're about a much older argument — one progressive Christianity has been losing in public for 50 years — about whose version of the faith gets to count as real. The answer to that question has consequences far beyond any Senate race. When Christianity becomes a tool of power rather than a challenge to it, it doesn't just damage the church. It destabilizes democracy. We are watching that happen in real time.
Talarico calls his approach a "politics of love." What does he mean by that, exactly? Well, it's among the most demanding and disruptive political frameworks ever articulated. Blessed are the poor. Blessed are the peacemakers. Love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you. That is drawn, of course, from the Sermon on the Mount. It is not ambiguous, and every empire that has ever heard that message has tried to kill the person saying it.
