Democratic Senate hopeful James Talarico hits Biden on the border in a fresh ad, after once calling Texas border spending political grandstanding.
James Talarico’s campaign released a new ad this week in which the Texas Democrat declares he called out Joe Biden for failing on the southern border, a message aimed at voters in a state that has carried the weight of years of illegal immigration.
Fox News Digital reported the Monday release as Talarico works to present a harder edge on border security while running against Republican Ken Paxton for U.S. Senate.
In the spot, Talarico puts the line front and center.
"I called out Joe Biden for failing us on the border"
That claim collides with a record Fox News Digital laid out in detail. When the outlet asked for an example of Talarico publicly criticizing Biden on the border during the former president’s term, the campaign did not produce one.
The ad lands as Talarico, a former Texas lawmaker and school teacher, tries to convince a red-state electorate he is not too progressive for statewide office. The race remains close as November’s midterms approach.
Years earlier, Talarico took a very different tone. In a 2019 interview with The Austin Chronicle, more than seven years old by the time of the new ad, he argued Texas should move its border security money into public schools.
He put a price tag on the choice.
"We're also sending about $800 million per biennium to the border with Mexico for ‘increased border security,’"
Then he made his preference plain.
"I'd rather take that money and put it back into public education and help increase the basic allotment, for instance,"
Fox News Digital noted that the two-year deal, about $400 million a year, was the state’s full border security budget against illegal immigration at the time of that call.
Talarico did not stop at the dollar figure. He dismissed physical enforcement itself.
"Putting a bunch of boats, planes and border patrol agents on the physical border is expensive and also does not solve the problem,"
He went further on motive.
"Everyone will admit it's just political grandstanding,"
And he added:
"Certain lawmakers want to appease extreme parts of their base. And they do it by pumping money we don't have down to the border."
That is the paper trail voters can still read while the new ad runs.
Today Talarico labels himself a “border security” Democrat. Campaign spokesperson JT Ennis answered Fox News Digital’s questions about the shift with a firm defense.
"James is proud to be the only candidate in this race who has unveiled a border security agenda endorsed by Republican and Democratic border county sheriffs,"
Ennis continued:
"James supports stronger border security and immigration enforcement, it’s why he’s called for more border patrol agents and has said we should be arresting and deporting violent criminals and human traffickers, not moms and babies."
The same reporting also recalled earlier Talarico comments calling to dismantle Immigration and Customs Enforcement and saying it was “time to tear down this secret police force.” Past remarks attributed to him also framed Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s border policies as “atrocities” and accused the governor of “hunting” illegal immigrants.
Those lines matter in Texas, where illegal crossings and enforcement costs have shaped state politics for a decade. Fox News Digital cited Department of Homeland Security figures showing border crossings under the Trump administration fell to a new record low in 55 years in 2025 after stronger enforcement measures took hold.
Talarico’s reset comes in a matchup that has refused to break open. Paxton holds a half-point edge in recent polling, keeping every message war under a microscope.
The Democrat also spent part of this month off the trail. Rumors online claimed he was at a behavioral health center. He reappeared Friday and said he had been recovering from the flu, pushing back on the speculation.
That absence itself became campaign fodder. Ken Paxton pressed for proof of life after the extended stretch away from voters, turning a health explanation into a test of transparency.
Allies and critics kept the pressure on. Trump and Paxton called out the vanishing act from the Texas Senate trail, refusing to let the gap pass quietly.
Separate audio claims about a mental health facility drew another round of pushback. Talarico’s campaign rejected the audio claim and tried to shut the story down before it defined the final stretch.
Outside voices piled on as well. Musk said the campaign was hiding something big after new audio circulated, adding another layer of scrutiny to an already volatile cycle.
The new ad tries to freeze one frame: a Democrat willing to blame Biden for border failure. The older interview freezes another: a lawmaker ready to strip Texas border security funding and call the whole enterprise grandstanding.
Ennis now stresses sheriffs’ endorsements, more Border Patrol agents, and deportations aimed at violent criminals and traffickers. Voters can weigh that language against the 2019 call to move the entire $800 million biennium border pot into education, the ICE “secret police” line, and the campaign’s inability to show a public Biden rebuke while Biden held power.
Texas remains the proving ground. Illegal immigration hit the state hardest for years. State leaders poured money into boats, barriers, and troopers while Washington’s policies shifted under Biden and then tightened again. Talarico wants credit for toughness now. His own words still show when he treated that spending as theater.
In a close Senate race, ads can rebrand a candidate overnight. Paper trails last longer than thirty-second spots, and Texas voters have both in front of them.
