Can James Talarico Reclaim Christianity for the Left?

The Ezra Klein Show

New York Times Opinion

News, Government, Society & Culture

4.3 • 14.5K Ratings

🗓️ 13 January 2026

⏱️ 88 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

State Representative James Talarico of Texas might have been our most requested guest last year. And he seemed to come out of nowhere. Talarico started breaking through with viral videos on TikTok and Instagram. And in those videos, he didn’t sound like your typical Democrat. He’s forthrightly Christian, quoting Scripture to defend progressive positions and challenging Christian nationalism on Christian grounds. And he is now running for Senate in Texas — in a primary field that includes U.S. Representative Jasmine Crockett — in what will be one of the most important Senate races this year. So I wanted to have Talarico on the show to talk about his faith, his politics and the way those two have come together in this attentional moment. Because he’s clearly saying things that people are hungry to hear. Mentioned: The Sabbath by Rabbi Heschel “#2352 James Talarico”, The Joe Rogan Experience Common Sense by Thomas Paine Book Recommendations: Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry Jesus and the Disinherited by Howard Thurman The Upswing by Robert D. Putnam and Shaylyn Romney Garrett Thoughts? Guest suggestions? Email us at ezrakleinshow@nytimes.com. You can find transcripts (posted midday) and more episodes of “The Ezra Klein Show” at nytimes.com/ezra-klein-podcast, and you can find Ezra on Twitter @ezraklein. Book recommendations from all our guests are listed at https://www.nytimes.com/article/ezra-klein-show-book-recs. This episode of “The Ezra Klein Show” was produced by Marie Cascione. Fact-checking by Kate Sinclair and Mary Marge Locker. Our senior engineer is Jeff Geld, with additional mixing by Aman Sahota. Our executive producer is Claire Gordon. The show’s production team also includes Annie Galvin, Rollin Hu, Kristin Lin, Emma Kehlbeck, Michelle Harris, Jack McCordick, Marina King and Jan Kobal. Original music by Pat McCusker. Audience strategy by Kristina Samulewski and Shannon Busta. The director of New York Times Opinion Audio is Annie-Rose Strasser.

Transcript

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0:00.0	The
0:07.0	The One of my obsessions over the past few years has been the role of attention in modern American politics, the way attention is a fundamental
0:39.2	currency, and the way it works differently than it did at other times when it was controlled by
0:44.6	newspaper editorial boards and nightly newsbookers. And so I've been particularly interested
0:50.8	in politicians who seem native to this attentional era, who seem to have
0:54.8	figured something out. We've talked a lot about how the Trump administration uses attention,
0:59.8	Azarman Dani uses attention, but somebody who's been breaking through over the past year
1:05.9	in a very interesting way is a state representative from Texas named James Telerico. And Tullerico is a little
1:13.1	bit unusual for a Democratic politician. He's this very forthrightly Christian politician. He roots his
1:20.0	politics very fundamentally in a way you don't always hear from Democrats in his faith.
1:24.0	Because there is no love of God without love of neighbor. But he began
1:30.3	emerging as somebody who was breaking through on TikTok and Instagram and viral videos where
1:34.8	he would talk about whether or not the Ten Commandments should be posted in schools.
1:40.7	This bill, to me, is not only unconstitutional, it's not only un-American.
1:46.8	I think it is also deeply unchristian.
1:50.1	And the ways in which the Bible's emphasis on helping the poor and the needy had been perverted
1:55.8	by those who wanted to use religion as a tool of power and even greed.
2:01.0	Jesus liberates.
2:03.3	Christian nationalism controls.
2:06.6	Jesus saves.
2:08.6	Christian nationalism kills.
2:11.5	And that what was really surprising to many people is that he ended up on Joe Rogan's podcast.
	...

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