Talarico became famous with viral videos. Can Republicans turn that against him?

After James Talarico won the Democratic Senate nomination in Texas, Republicans are racing to paint him as too progressive

James Talarico rode viral video fame to the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate in Texas. Now Republicans want to turn years of candid on-camera musings against him.

Conservatives are digging through Talarico's social media history and finding a trove of progressive commentary on hot-button cultural issues like race, gender, religion and immigration. They hope it will torpedo his candidacy in a red state like Texas that Democrats have spent decades struggling to turn blue.

Talarico was a state legislator barely known outside his district before he started building a national profile by making himself ubiquitous. He sat for lengthy podcast interviews and posted heavily on social media. The grandson of a Baptist preacher and a seminary student himself, Talarico often makes a Biblical case for progressive policies, using a gift of gab that many Democrats believe will help him connect with voters across Texas.

It's also given his critics hours and hours of material to mine. And after he defeated Rep. Jasmine Crockett in the Democratic primary on Tuesday, conservatives started uploading an arsenal of video clips.

“God is nonbinary,” Talarico once said during a legislative floor speech. He later explained that he was being “a little provocative” to make the theological point that “God is beyond gender.”