James Talarico
D · U.S. Senate, Texas · Tier 3
Tier 3, “Pro-Israel, critical”
Refuses AIPAC and J Street money alike; would cut weapons funding to Israel but keep Iron Dome; says “God is screaming at all of us in Gaza”; did not use the word ‘genocide’. On The Breakfast Club on August 5, 2026 Talarico said “I would not vote to send weapons to the Netanyahu government” and that “all of that needs to be conditioned on […] ending the death and the destruction in Gaza and in the West Bank”; asked why he does not say genocide, he said “certainly there’s […] evidence to bring those charges,” adding: “My job would not be to litigate what terms are used. My job would be to stop what’s happening.” He says Netanyahu does not have the right “to use famine or collective punishment as tactics in that war,” while affirming Israel’s right to exist and defend itself. As a state representative he voted on April 30, 2025 for SB 326, which requires Texas public schools and universities to use the state’s IHRA-based definition of antisemitism, “including the examples referenced in that term,” when deciding whether a student’s code-of-conduct violation was motivated by antisemitism; it passed the Texas House 129–8. At a CNN town hall on October 14, 2026, answering a Dallas rabbi, he said Israel, “like any nation, has a right to defend its people. But I don’t believe that Benjamin Netanyahu has a right to wage war against civilians or use collective punishment or restrict aid to civilians,” and called for “a two-state solution where we have security for Israel and we have freedom and self-determination for Palestinians.” When she said she wanted his words to be heard as he meant them, he answered, per Jewish Insider: “I take that feedback. As a leader, I know that my words carry weight, and I’m always trying to improve how I talk about things.”
A 3. A Texas state representative, not in Congress, he is judged mainly on his words, plus his votes in Austin. He would cut weapons to Israel but keep Iron Dome: “I would not vote to send weapons to the Netanyahu government,” he said in August 2026, with aid “conditioned on […] ending the death and the destruction in Gaza and in the West Bank,” and Al Jazeera reports that he keeps support for Iron Dome. He speaks in moral terms — “God is screaming at all of us in Gaza” — and says Netanyahu has no right “to use famine or collective punishment.” What holds him at 3 is an act: on April 30, 2025 he voted for SB 326, which requires Texas public schools and universities to apply the state’s IHRA-based definition of antisemitism, “including the examples referenced in that term,” in student-conduct cases. He also voted for the Texas House resolution of October 9, 2023, adopted 147–0, that backed “Israel’s right to pursue without interference or condemnation the elimination of Hamas” and called on the United States “to provide all assistance as may be required to support Israel,” and in April 2021 for the bill, passed 147–0, that wrote the IHRA definition and its examples into Texas law. Beside it he affirms Israel’s right to exist and defend itself, called for a two-state solution at an October 2026 CNN town hall, and has declined the word genocide. Counter-case: 3/4, weighing his refusal to send weapons over his state votes, two of them unanimous.
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elect26 places 2026 midterm candidates on a six-tier spectrum, from 1 (most pro-Israel) to 6 (most critical of Israel).