Talarico Sells Himself as a 'Border Security Democrat.' His Girlfriend's Father Says He Wants Citizenship for Everybody

On the eve of the Texas Senate election, James O'Keefe dropped a hidden-camera video aimed straight at the pitch Democrat James Talarico has built his whole campaign on: that he is the moderate, faith-talking, "border security Democrat" who can win a red state.

The people on the tape are not random. One is Matt Menard, who tells an undercover O'Keefe Media Group journalist that his daughter Brianna "is his girlfriend." Another is Kim Collins Gilby, the elected chair of the Williamson County Democratic Party. Their message, in their own words, is that the moderate Talarico on TV is a campaign setting, not the real thing.

"He's not going moderate. He's not going to the middle," Menard says. "Don't put too much stock into border security comments."

What the girlfriend's father said

Menard did not stop at the border. Asked whether Talarico would allow what ICE is doing in Texas, he answered, "Heck no." Then: "He's offended by ICE and the Gestapo when we should be welcoming people here. He and I have spoken about these issues. James doesn't want them gone. That's not what he wants. He wants a pathway to citizenship for everybody."

And if Democrats win both chambers? "I think if we take control of the House and Senate, he'll absolutely stop it."

Later in the video, Menard sums up the strategy: "James isn't going, he's not going middle. He's a progressive, but he was speaking on topics that resonate to all voters."

What the county chair said

Gilby, who tells the undercover journalist she was on the March ballot and is an unpaid elected official, says Talarico "will not vote to close, you know, the border," and adds that he once said "we ought to put a welcome mat at our border."

Asked about Talarico's recent turn on transition surgeries for minors, which she called "like 180 degrees," she gave the most honest line on the whole tape:

"I think he was probably just trying to push to the center, because that is, sadly, life in Texas," Gilby says. "I'm one of the most liberal people you'll ever meet. But we've gotta get, and I'm not saying I would compromise my principles, but we've gotta get elected."

A regional organizer at Travis County Democratic headquarters says the same about abortion: "He's definitely going to play the middle ground because he's in Texas. But he is a lot more progressive on it." Her read of where he really lands: "It's not the government's job. We shouldn't ban this or anything."

What Talarico says in public

Put the tape next to the candidate's own words and the gap is hard to miss. At the CNN and Jubilee town hall in Fort Worth on Oct. 14, Talarico said, "I'm a border security Democrat," and that "Joe Biden failed us during his administration by not securing the border." Asked whether he supports abolishing ICE, he said, "No, and I never have." On abortion, he said that "if we treat this issue as a public health problem and not a culture war problem, then we can actually make progress together."

The same town hall also showed why ICE is a sore spot. In a January primary debate, Talarico said it was "time to tear down this secret police force and replace it with an agency that actually is going to focus on public safety." At the town hall he said he still sees "a secret police force" but does not want ICE abolished. Five days before the election, he thanked a pastor who called ICE "the new KKK" for "those kind words." Menard's "Gestapo" line fits that pattern better than the town hall answer does.

The welcome mat, in full

Fairness matters here, because it makes the point sharper, not weaker. Talarico's actual "welcome mat" line, fact-checked by PolitiFact in May, compared the border to a front porch with "a giant welcome mat out front and a lock on the door." Republican ads have been knocked for cutting off the lock.

But on this tape it isn't a Republican ad doing the cutting. It's Talarico's own county party chair, a volunteer working to elect him, who remembers the welcome mat and leaves off the lock. The people who know him best keep hearing the first half.

The record the tape points to

On transition procedures for minors, the tape lines up with the vote. On May 12, 2023, Talarico voted no as the Texas House advanced SB 14, the law that has barred puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones and transition surgeries for minors since Sept. 1, 2023.

Nobody on the tape is Talarico himself, and secondhand talk is not a signed pledge. We found no public response from Talarico's campaign to the video as of Monday afternoon. But Menard says he and Talarico "have spoken about these issues," and Gilby is the Democratic Party's own elected chair. These are not enemies guessing. They are allies explaining.

What happens next

Texans vote Tuesday, Nov. 3, in the race between Talarico and Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton. The question O'Keefe's tape leaves Talarico with is simple: when his girlfriend's father says "don't put too much stock" in his border talk, which James Talarico are Texans voting on?