From March 3, when Talarico won the Texas Democratic Senate primary, through June 14, Fox News ran at least 93 segments that used anti-LGBTQ framing to attack him, approximately two-thirds of the network’s 136 segments about the candidate. Hannity led all shows, both in segments about Talarico in general (19 segments) and segments utilizing anti-LGBTQ critiques specifically (16). Following closely behind was Fox & Friends (with 11 of its 13 segments attacking Talarico using anti-LGBTQ messaging), The Ingraham Angle (8 of 11), and The Five (7 of 10). 

Fox News seems to have coalesced around a handful of Talarico's past comments regarding LGBTQ issues as its central line of attack. The network has repeatedly seized on remarks Talarico made during a legislative hearing that modern science recognizes “many more than two biological sexes,” his statement in a floor debate that “God is nonbinary,” and his vocal support for protecting transgender children in schools and healthcare. Network guests and personalities recast those comments as evidence that Talarico is out of touch with constituents in Texas, rather than as part of Talarico's broader argument for inclusion and religious tolerance.

Fox News contributor Mollie Hemingway claimed, “Talarico has incredibly outlier ideas about God being nonbinary,” said he supports “abortion on-demand,” and that “the biggest political goal he has is helping trans children.” She concluded, “This is something that would be difficult to elect in San Francisco." 

Fox host Sean Hannity said incredulously, “I thought Jasmine Crockett was liberal. This is the guy that claimed that there are six different biological sexes. Maybe you can play a game at home. Turn it into a drinking game and see if you can come up with all six. Good luck.”

On the March 10 edition of The Will Cain Show, host Will Cain criticized Talarico for saying he loves transgender children, saying, “Talarico, the Democrat, candidate for Senate, loves trans kids,” adding, “He's open about his radicalism."

Notably, Talarico has said that he “missed the mark” on some of his past comments, claiming that comments about God being nonbinary “were meant to be ‘deliberately provocative’ and to observe that you ‘can’t use human categories to define God.’” He has also explained that he was referring to chromosomal variations when he commented about modern science recognizing more than two sexes; at the time, he explained, “Biologically speaking, scientifically speaking, sex is a spectrum, and oftentimes can be very ambiguous." More recently, Talarico told CBS, “I know there are two sexes, men and women. … I also know there's a very small percentage of people who have these chromosomal abnormalities, and I believe that they deserve to be treated with dignity and respect."

Some network guests and personalities have even trafficked in schoolyard taunts, suggesting Talarico is gay or transgender, both misrepresenting his identity and treating LGBTQ identities themselves as a punchline.

Fox host Jesse Watters repeatedly mocked Talarico's campaign with apparent sexual innuendos for posting a photo of the candidate eating a turkey leg. Watters said, “The Democrats are posting pictures of him swallowing large sticks of meat,” and, “Talarico is getting his hands on whatever meat he can.” In a conversation discussing Democrats’ efforts to attract male voters, Fox host Greg Gutfeld mockingly seemed to refer to Talarico as a “gay elf.”

And on the May 28 edition of Jesse Watters Primetime, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller derided Talarico as the Democratic Party’s “first transgender Senate candidate who’s clearly transitioning into a female.”

As Pride Month unfolds, Fox News is reinforcing its pattern of attacking the LGBTQ community.

Media Matters searched transcripts in the SnapStream video database for all original programming on Fox News Channel for the term “Talarico” from March 3, when James Talarico, Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate from Texas, won the primary election, through June 14, 2026.

We included segments, which we defined as instances when Talarico was the stated topic of discussion or when we found significant discussion of Talarico. We defined significant discussion as instances when two or more speakers in a multitopic segment discussed Talarico with one another.

We then determined whether the segments included at least one claim, which we defined as instances of uninterrupted blocks of speech from a single speaker, that attacked Talarico's support for or comments regarding the LGBTQ community or that intentionally misrepresented his gender or sexuality. For host monologues, headlines, and correspondent reports, we defined a claim as the speech between read quotes and played clips. We did not consider the speech within read quotes or played clips unless a speaker in the segment positively affirmed said speech either directly before or after the quote was read or the clip was played.

We considered claims critical of Talarico's comments regarding “more than two biological sexes” or “God is nonbinary” or any of his pro-LGBTQ statements or positions to be attacks on Talarico's support for or comments regarding the LGBTQ community. We considered claims falsely suggesting that Talarico is transgender or gay to be intentional misrepresentations of his gender or sexuality.