When a Texas jury on Tuesday sentenced 19-year-old Karmelo Anthony to 35 years in prison for murdering 17-year-old Austin Metcalf, some Democrats in the state raced to decry the verdict, claiming the black teenager who stabbed Metcalf at a high school soccer game was a victim of racism.But one Texas Democrat was surprisingly absent from the chattering crowds: Senate nominee James Talarico.Talarico’s silence comes amid the candidate’s larger rebrand. It’s a different tact than both Beto O’Rourke and Wendy Davis before him, who latched on to every liberal issue as they cruised to crushing defeats in statewide Texas elections. As he heads into a general election fight against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, Talarico is trying to convince voters he’s a moderate — and not the radical, pro-trans, anti-border security leftist that his opponents have painted him as.Unfortunately for Talarico, his rebranding effort might fail. Because a radical leftist is precisely what he is.Consider Talarico’s claim just this week that he does not support transgender surgeries for kids. “I oppose gender reassignment surgeries for minors,” he said on Monday during an interview with lawyer Dan Cogdell, who asked him if he was “too liberal” for Texas. That stance would surprise the Talarico of just three years ago, who voted against a bill to ban transgender surgeries in Texas. The bill banned procedures like removing the breasts of girls who identify as boys. “What he’s doing right now with this change in his public position is he is telling the world that these surgeries are incredibly unpopular,” American Principles Project President Terry Schilling told The Daily Wire. “James Tallarico is one of the most progressive Democrats we have ever seen.”The record from Talarico’s time in the legislature shows that during debate on the measure protecting kids in the Texas state House, he claimed the proposal was about discrimination. “I think it’s clear that this is not about science or medicine, and certainly not about keeping kids safe,” he said on May 12, 2023. “I think this is about discriminating against people who are transgender.”Talarico attacks bill to protect kids from transgender procedures.At one point during that debate, Talarico pushed for Republican Rep. Tom Oliverson, who sponsored the legislation, to add an amendment to his proposal that would allow kids to get transgender procedures if two or three doctors signed off on the proposal. Talarico also attempted to add a provision to the bill that would “sunset” protections for children if “high-quality, long-term studies” could purport that transgender procedures were safe for kids. Talarico’s campaign now claims the candidate only opposed that bill because it “stripped critical healthcare away from Texas children suffering from rare genetic diseases that have nothing to do with being transgender.”But in August 2023 — just months after voting against the bill — Talarico said on a podcast that the thing he loved most in the world apart from family or friends was “trans children.”“I love, I’m just saying this because it’s all on my mind, the trans children who showed up yesterday at the state capitol to advocate for their humanity,” Talarico said in the footage, first unearthed by The Daily Wire. “They shouldn’t have to, but it was an inspiration to watch,” he said on the “A Superbloom” podcast.Paxton, who helped negotiate a settlement with Texas Children’s Hospital to create the first ever “detransition” clinic, quickly attacked Talarico’s pivot on the issue. “In an attempt to make himself appear like less of a radical freak James Talarico is trying to walk back his position on child mutilation,” Paxton said on Monday. “Texans remember.”Political commentators have noted that Talarico’s rhetoric on the issue showed just how unpopular transgender procedures are with most Americans and how the electorate has shifted in recent years. Schilling, whose organization released ads targeting swing state voters on the issue of transgenderism during the 2024 election, said that the data showed most voters don’t support gender surgeries for kids. Even the Democrat Party’s own autopsy of the 2024 election acknowledged that President Donald Trump’s attack on Kamala Harris on the issue was effective. “For him to admit that this is a political vulnerability, should send a warning sign to every single Democrat that’s running in a competitive race this year,” Schilling said of Talarico. “He’s trying to win over these people in the middle and these Republicans, but I don’t think anyone’s going to buy it. He’s just been too much of a radical during his time in the Texas legislature.”Schilling noted that Talarico’s comment left the door open for support for puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones, both of which can have permanent impacts on bone density, heart health, and fertility. Neeraja Deshpande, a commentator with the Independent Women’s Forum, told The Daily Wire that Talarico’s rhetoric