TEXAS — Texas Democratic state Rep. and U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico is facing renewed scrutiny over a statement he made during a 2021 Texas legislative hearing in which he asserted that science recognized more than two biological sexes and specifically said there were six. The recording has resurfaced during his 2026 campaign against Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and has become part of the Republican effort to challenge Talarico on issues involving sex, gender and transgender policy.
During the 2021 Texas House Public Education Committee hearing, Talarico was questioning a witness while lawmakers considered legislation concerning transgender students and school athletics. Talarico stated that there were more than two biological sexes and said, “in fact, there are six.” His argument concerned chromosomal variations and people born with differences in sexual development.
The statement has followed Talarico into his Senate campaign. Republicans have repeatedly circulated the old footage as evidence that his positions on sex and gender are outside those held by many Texas voters. Paxton and his supporters have also focused on Talarico’s previous comments on transgender issues as they seek to define him before the November election. At the Republican convention in Dallas this week, Paxton again made transgender policy a significant part of his case against Talarico.
Talarico has now explicitly withdrawn the six-sexes assertion. During a September 9 Fox News interview, he was confronted with his previous comments and acknowledged that he had “missed the mark” on some past statements. He said his intended point concerned the small number of people born with genetic abnormalities and then gave an unequivocal answer about his present position: “There are not six sexes. There are two.” When pressed on whether he could confidently say there are two sexes, he answered affirmatively.
The reversal is politically significant because it comes as Talarico is attempting to win a statewide election in Texas. His campaign must attract not only Democrats but independents and some voters who have traditionally supported Republicans. Statements concerning biological sex, transgender participation in women’s sports and medical treatment of minors consequently provide Paxton with issues on which to challenge Talarico among socially conservative and persuadable voters.
Talarico has also changed or clarified other positions. He now supports prohibiting gender-transition surgery for minors and says transgender-identifying biological males should not compete in women’s sports when doing so compromises fairness or safety. Those positions differ from some of the language and positions associated with him earlier in his political career.
What cannot presently be established from the public polling, however, is that the six-sexes statement itself has already caused a measurable decline in Talarico’s statewide poll numbers. The available polling does not isolate that issue and ask enough before-and-after questions to establish that it caused voters to abandon him.
In fact, recent polling shows that the Texas Senate contest remains extremely competitive. A September 2 Overton Insights poll reported Talarico at 44% and Paxton at 43%. An August 27 Texas Public Opinion Research survey had Talarico ahead 48% to 42%, while an August 25 University of Texas poll showed Talarico at 42% and Paxton at 39%. An August Emerson College survey was an exception, putting Paxton ahead 47% to 46%. A five-poll average compiled by 270toWin currently places Talarico at approximately 45.4% compared with Paxton’s 42.8%.
Earlier polling tells a similar story. The University of Texas/Texas Politics Project found Talarico leading 42%-39% in its August survey. A Bush School/Recon MR survey had him ahead 47%-43%, Texas Southern University/YouGov found a 47%-45% Talarico advantage, and a Fox News poll had Talarico leading 51%-48%. The Texas Politics Project’s compilation shows that the race has repeatedly moved between a small Talarico advantage, a tie and a narrow Paxton advantage.
The Texas Tribune’s polling tracker likewise reported that Talarico and Paxton were essentially neck and neck, with most of the polls then available showing Talarico holding a small advantage.
Therefore, it would go beyond the available evidence to report as fact that Talarico’s six-sexes statement has already damaged his polling numbers. What can be documented is that the statement has become a significant campaign vulnerability that Republicans are actively exploiting. The fact that Talarico has now publicly repudiated the statement demonstrates that his campaign is dealing directly with an issue his opponents continue to raise.
The controversy also needs to be separated from the decision not to broadcast Talarico’s interview with Jimmy Kimmel on ABC. There is no evidence that the FCC prevented that interview from airing because Talarico once said there were six sexes. The reported dispute concerns Talarico’s status as a Senate candidate and the FCC’s application of the federal equal-opportunities rule to late-night and daytime talk shows. The FCC removed the assumption that those programs automatically qualify for the “bona fide news” exemption, potentially requiring stations that give one candidate airtime to provide comparable opportunities to opponents.
Kimmel therefore moved his Talarico interview to YouTube rather than exposing ABC affiliates—particularly stations in Texas—to the regulatory dispute. A similar issue previously affected a Talarico appearance with Stephen Colbert.
The documented political issue is consequently narrower but still important: Talarico said in 2021 that there were six biological sexes; Republicans have revived the recording during the 2026 Senate campaign; Talarico has now said that statement was wrong and that there are two sexes; and Paxton’s campaign is using Talarico’s previous position as an argument against him. The Texas Senate polls remain close, and available polling does not yet demonstrate that this controversy, by itself, has produced a measurable decline in Talarico’s support.
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By A. Paul, Staff Reporter contributed to this report.
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