Texas State Representative James Talarico, the Democratic nominee in the U.S. Senate race against Trump-endorsed Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, slammed Paxton and U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) during his appearance on The Briefing with Jen Psaki.
The GOP has been running ads against Talarico attacking his masculinity, hitting him with nicknames like “Low-T Talarico.”
Cruz recently mocked Talarico’s physical stature on Fox News’ Hannity show, saying, “If you were making a list of 1,000 adjectives to describe this guy, ‘masculine’ would not be one of them. I mean this guy, if a stiff breeze came by it would blow him over like a feather.”
Ted Cruz on Talarico: “If you were making a list of 1,000 adjectives to describe this guy, ‘masculine’ would not be one of them. I mean, if a stiff breeze came by it would blow him over like a feather.” pic.twitter.com/cBwv5qwQ87
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) June 9, 2026
Talarico told Psaki: “There’s been a lot of talk in this race about what it means to be a real man. Recently on the campaign trail I told the story of my adoptive dad, Mark Talarico. Every Saturday morning, he would mow our lawn, and then without anyone asking him to, he would go next door and mow our neighbor’s lawn because she was a widow. My dad never talked about it — he just did it, because that’s what a man does.”
.@JamesTalarico: There’s been a lot of talk in this race about what it means to be a real man.
Recently on the campaign trail I told the story of my adoptive dad, Mark Talarico. Every Saturday morning, he would mow our lawn, and then without anyone asking him to, he would go… pic.twitter.com/Tt3bR2zF3m
— Team Talarico (@TeamTalaricoHQ) June 12, 2026
He added: “A man takes responsibility, upholds his commitments to his family and his neighbors, and does what’s right, even when no one is watching. Here’s what real men don’t do. They don’t lie and cheat their way through life, sell their soul to the highest bidder, or steal from other people in order to enrich themselves. Real men serve others. Weak men serve themselves.”
Talarico continued, saying: “I welcome this debate about what it means to be a man, and I don’t think Ken Paxton or Ted Cruz are in a position to tell anybody what a real man is.”
[NOTE: Democrats including comedian George Lopez are also taking digs at Cruz for the comment against Talarico. Lopez wrote: “Ted Cruz is saying James Talarico isn’t masculine. The same Ted Cruz who let Trump call his wife ugly and did nothing? Ok bud.”]