Democratic U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico of Texas didn’t even hesitate when someone asked him to name his “favorite drag queen.” (Brandon Bell / Getty Images)
By Nick Givas September 16, 2026 at 11:04am
Texas Democrat and U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico is at it again. This time, video footage has surfaced of his “favorite” drag queen teaching minors how to dance, with the midterm elections just weeks away.
Talarico was approached during a campaign event earlier this week and asked to name his favorite drag queen.
“Mr. Talarico, so nice to meet you … I was there when you defended the drags,” a man could be heard saying, as the two shook hands. “Who is your favorite drag queen in Texas?”
Talarico didn’t even hesitate: “Oh, my gosh. Probably Alyssa Edwards.”
Having an answer to that question on hand is disturbing enough, but it’s not nearly as troubling as the person he chose.
Edwards, also known as Justin Dwayne Lee Johnson, has been an outspoken proponent of youth drag shows and has publicly bragged about “working with children,” according to an exclusive report by Fox News.
MAN: “Who’s your favorite drag queen in Texas?”
TALARICO: “Oh, my gosh. Probably Alyssa Edwards.”
Texas Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico doesn’t hesitate when asked to name his favorite drag queen in Texas.
Talarico immediately names Alyssa Edwards, a performer who… pic.twitter.com/towK8FHfjP
— Fox News (@FoxNews) September 15, 2026
Do you think Talarico will win his Senate race in Texas?
“Libs of TikTok” posted a resurfaced video on X from Netflix’s 2018 docuseries “Dancing Queens” Wednesday, showing Edwards coaching minors and referring to one of them as his “mini-me.”
Here’s James Talarico’s favorite drag queen teaching a little boy to become a drag queen, calling the kid his “mini me”
🚩🚩🚩 https://t.co/N8uDNSXM8U pic.twitter.com/AvBKvDg2XU
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) September 16, 2026
“Oh, I cannot wait to see what his future holds for him,” Edwards said. “Although I see my mini-me, Justin Johnson in a million years never could have been that at nine years old.”
The Dallas Observer reported in 2018 that Johnson was referring to J.J. Garza, one of the few male children in the group.
At one point, Garza dressed up like Edwards and pranced around, earning the drag queen’s praise.
“He knows what he is, but he’s himself, he has a character, he has a personality that just lights up any room, and sometimes people are intimidated by people that are very secure with who they are,” Johnson said.
“And, for myself I was very insecure, because that had me going into a shell as a little boy. I didn’t know, I had four sisters, they polished their nails, I polished mine.”
When Fox News asked Talarico’s team for comment, they deflected and attacked Paxton instead.
Really? Talarico, who is running against state Attorney General Ken Paxton, hopes to win in a ruby-red state, and he’s admiring this lunatic? How courageous.
Republican Rep. Brandon Gill of Texas rightly pointed out that “It’s completely bizarre for any ‘man’ to be able to instantly name their ‘favorite drag queen,’ let alone the name of any drag queen at all.”
This is somewhat surprising, given that Talarico recently acknowledged that some of his past statements “missed the mark,” telegraphing a move to the center.
In reality, he’s caught between a rock and a hard place and is unable to remain consistent.
If he drifts too close to the center, he’ll alienate the Democratic base and get completely wiped out. If he continues down the path he’s on, Texas Republicans and Independents will show up in droves for Paxton and turn him into another Beto O’Rourke.
Talarico’s tightrope act has grown tiresome. Anyone with half a brain can see who he really is: A far-left liberal better suited to California or New York.
Let’s look back at a 2021 report by the Washington Free Beacon, which cited an event Talarico headlined, featuring “the absolute cutest & youngest of our drag performers,” an 11-year-old boy who took the stage name Kween Kee Kee.
“It was an inspiration to watch,” the Texas Democrat said. He also raised eyebrows back in 2023, bragging of his state that, “We produce some of the best drag performers in the nation.”
That should tell you all you need to know about Talarico’s priorities, but shockingly, these comments represent a mere drop in the ocean compared to some of his other statements.
He presents himself as a moderate state lawmaker and “Presbyterian seminarian,” yet in an unearthed clip from 2021, during an interview with a “TransQueer” activist, Talarico said: “I always think of myself as a Christian who hates Christianity, right? And, like, I always get drawn back into it.”
That same year, he called God “non-binary,” and he has implied that Jesus Christ was a “radical feminist.” But it gets better.
He’s on record as saying the nation’s southern border should be treated “like our front porch,” complete with a “giant welcome mat out front.”
When it comes to biological sexes, he proudly declared there were six genders, before realizing his campaign was spiraling and meekly walking it back.
In addition, Talarico has bragged about being part of a church that was “active” in LGBT rights, and which housed an illegal alien family to prevent them from being deported by federal authorities.
And how can we forget the staged photo op of him eating barbecue to assure Texas voters that he’s just like you and loves to eat meat?
November, here we come. pic.twitter.com/ux1w1WzGNO
— Democrats (@TheDemocrats) May 27, 2026
Americans shouldn’t expect perfection from politicians, but is it too much to ask for some backbone and consistency?
Neither of these qualities describes Talarico, which is why he’s likely to get crushed at the ballot box when it’s finally time to vote.
That moment can’t come soon enough.
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Nick Givas has been a reporter for The Daily Caller, Fox News, and served as Managing Editor of the Newsroom at Project Veritas. He’s also hosted three different podcasts, served as a Congressional Communications Director, and had his work featured in The Federalist, Daily Signal, New York Post, and Real Clear Politics.
