Like a handful of other prominent Democrats who sought to appeal to Bible-believing Christians, US Senate candidate James Talarico has had a hard time squaring what God’s Word teaches with what his party believes.
As such, he recently encountered a wave of backlash after his questionable interpretation of Jesus’ miracles as recorded in the Gospel according to Matthew.
Breitbart reported:
“If you read our scriptures, if you read the New Testament, what does Jesus spend most of his time doing? It’s not preaching, it’s not teaching, it is healing. Healing the sick,” Talarico said. “And in Matthew 25, scripture says that’s how we will be judged and how we will be saved. By healing the sick, by feeding the hungry, by welcoming the stranger, by visiting the prisoner.”
ADVERTISEMENTThe candidate tied the theology directly to policy. Talarico’s campaign platform calls for allowing every American, regardless of age, to buy into Medicare through a not-for-profit public option, alongside drug-price negotiation and caps on out-of-pocket costs. He noted that he worked with Republicans in the state House to cap insulin co-pays at $25 per prescription, but said the state still carries the highest number of uninsured residents in the country.
“So this is an emergency across the state of Texas,” Talarico said.
The scriptural framing has drawn sharp criticism from conservative Christians, who have accused the seminary-trained Democrat of distorting the faith. Writers on the religious right have branded his politics “blasphemous” and a “works-based” gospel that rewrites salvation, while other outlets have described his campaign platform as reading like the New Testament.
Here’s a small sample of the biting criticism his remarks received on X:
Blasphemy. Bible never says that the government should take care of health insurance. He’s saying Jesus is a government figure and He was absolutely not.
The government of Bible times were seen as mostly money-hungry and corrupt.
Sound familiar??— CorpsMU (@CorpsMU) August 1, 2026
They had health insurance 2000 years ago? What the fuck is he talking about?
— Roger (@Rogerrpze) August 1, 2026
HE healed the sick. He didn’t tell the government to do it.
— Michael Young (@meesteryoung) August 2, 2026
Jesus commands us to care for the sick. That does not make a Medicare public option a biblical mandate.
Matthew 25 says the sick were cared for, not that Caesar must run the insurance plan. Mark 1:38 says Jesus came to preach.
Compassion is commanded. Talarico’s policy is not.
— America Unfiltered (@USA_First_76) August 2, 2026
Despite Talarico’s controversial takes on issues of politics and faith, recent polling shows him with a slight edge over GOP rival Ken Paxton, per The Hill:
Despite receiving President Trump’s endorsement over incumbent Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), Paxton’s string of legal troubles and scandals — including felony securities fraud charges, an impeachment and an extramarital affair — have made it difficult for him to unify the GOP.
ADVERTISEMENTNearly one in four non-MAGA Republicans said they would instead vote for Talarico. Fox News’s Garret Tenney said Friday that these numbers give Democrats “some hope” that they could win in Texas, after the GOP primary appears to have left lasting damage for Paxton.
“The brutal GOP primary with John Cornyn is having a lingering impact on how voters feel about Ken Paxton — particularly Republican voters,” he said. “Why is that? Well, one reason is that more voters are concerned Paxton lacks the character to serve than they are that Talarico is too extreme.”
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