‘Low-T’: MAGA insults Talarico’s masculinity, but it isn’t working

'Low-T': MAGA insults Talarico's masculinity, but it isn't working At a time when both parties are vying for younger male voters, campaigns have created masculinity a wedge problem, but nowhere more so than among the GOP in Texas.

Key points

• An August poll by the Barbara Jordan Public Policy Research and Survey Center at Texas Southern University discovered Talarico outpaces Paxton among women, 55% to 38%.
• Jared Shult, an Austin-based liberal influencer, is one of Talarico's more notable supporters, with more than 500, 000 followers throughout Instagram, TikTok and X.
• Texas, which Trump carried by 14 percentage points in 2024, is now in play against the backdrop of the president's low approval numbers.
• 17 that indicated Talarico leading Paxton by 1 percentage point additionally discovered that the economy remains the top problem in Texas, with regarding 36% saying as much.
• Chief among them is Lone Star Liberty PAC, a pro-Paxton group which has introduced a $15 million ad purchase against Talarico.

Republicans are targeting Talarico with cultural attacks, but voters may be paying more attention to their wallets.

Republicans are attacking Texas Democratic Senate nominee James Talarico by questioning his masculinity.

Experts say these attacks are meant to suggest Talarico is not "man enough" for Texas voters.

Despite the attacks, polls show a tight race, and plenty of voters are more concerned with the economy.

When President Donald Trump addressed the Republican midterm convention in Dallas on Sept. 9, he lashed out at Texas state Rep. James Talarico, the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate, in an unusual manner.

"He doesn't like meat, " Trump remarked concerning Talarico, 37. This person is leading Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in the polls.

Trump was referring to an oft-repeated false claim that the Democrat is a vegan. In fact, Talarico has remarked that his campaign "runs on barbecue." The myth concerning his personal diet serves to underscore how Republicans – fearing a dramatic upset loss in a reliably Republican state – are running against the state legislator, with a heavy focus on culture war problems and belittling jabs like dubbing him "Talafreako." Why some Democrats are embracing faith on the trail.

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Talarico, a Presbyterian seminarian, dismissed his GOP critics as "old guys lathered up in their fake tans throwing corny nicknames at each other, " in a September interview with late night TV host Jimmy Kimmel. He turned attention back to the economic problems on which Republicans are vulnerable.

"These nicknames, they don't lower the price of groceries, " Talarico remarked. "They don't lower the cost of gas. They don't lower the cost of health care. They don't actually improve anybody's life."

Texas, which Trump carried by 14 percentage points in 2024, is now in play against the backdrop of the president's low approval numbers. Polls suggest Talarico's progressive Christianity and populist economic agenda are resonating with voters, leading the GOP to spend millions of dollars protecting a Senate seat they haven't lost in almost 40 years.

Jared Shult, an Austin-based liberal influencer, is one of Talarico's more notable supporters, with more than 500, 000 followers throughout Instagram, TikTok and X. The 23-year-old online activist remarked one of the reasons Democrats are gaining ground in Texas is that Talarico has been relentless in keeping the focus on the rising cost of living.

"Whether somebody is feminine or masculine or whatever, it doesn't really make a difference on whether they're gonna make your life cheaper, " Shult remarked. "Everyone's really mad about how expensive gas is and they're upset about like a lot of stuff with like people trying to put data centers close to where people live."

Almost every public survey conducted since July demonstrates Talarico either tied with Paxton, or beating him. A Sept. 17 ReconMR/Texas Pulse survey demonstrates him ahead by 6 percentage points, 49%-43%, his widest lead thus far.

During his convention speech, Trump pointed to Talarico previously describing himself as a "Christian who hates Christianity"; calling God "nonbinary"; and saying the U.S. Flag is a "complicated symbol."

In a Sept. 22 digital ad, the Paxton campaign spotlighted a video circulating online of Talarico telling someone his favorite drag queen was Alyssa Edwards, a Texas native who appears on "RuPaul's Drag Race." The 60-second spot features a clip of Edwards speaking to a group of children and calls Talarico "weird" for praising the performer.

But political experts and some Texas voters, including Republicans who spoke with the USA TODAY Network, are casting doubts on whether this strategy is effective in an election dominated by voters' displeasure with Trump's broken promises to lower inflation and energy costs.

"Republicans are searching for anything they can find to make regular voters uncomfortable with Talarico, " remarked Mark P. Jones, a political science professor at Rice University in Houston. "The goal here is to try to cancel out his higher popularity and higher net favorability rating compared to Paxton."

Notably, the political and personal jabs at Talarico's identity have yet to boost Paxton, nevertheless. This person is carrying his own cargo of personal and political controversies, including being impeached by the state House of Representatives for bribery allegations, for which he was acquitted by the state Senate, and being accused by his ex-wife of adultery. A 'desperate' appeal to young men.

Immediately after defeating incumbent Sen. John Cornyn in a contentious GOP primary, Paxton called his opponent "tofu Talarico" and "James Talafreako" in his victory address. He then published a 60-second spot that concluded by saying Talarico was "too low-T for Texas, " a reference to testosterone levels often applied as an insult by online influencers to suggest someone is fragile.

"They're not about the contents of his policies necessarily at all, " Adam Stanaland, a psychology professor at the University of Richmond who studies masculinity and gender in politics, informed USA TODAY. "They're about things like, 'he's softer, he's soft spoken, he's not masculine.' It seems like they've resorted to some more extreme attacks now that they're getting more and more desperate and afraid on the right."

Stanaland remarked Republicans are using these tactics as they believe they have discovered a foothold with younger men nationally by emphasizing opposition to trans rights and backing for traditional gender norms.

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"Trump found a lot of support in the previous election with figures who have these big podcast platforms with a lot of listeners and who young men are going to because largely they feel like they're failing their manhood, " he remarked.

Meanwhile, an August poll by the Barbara Jordan Public Policy Research and Survey Center at Texas Southern University discovered Talarico outpaces Paxton among women, 55% to 38%. Paxton bests Talarico among men, 53% to 39%.

Talarico has returned fire by pressuring Paxton to release his deposition in a fraud case and all files related to a controversial plea accord in which his office provided an admitted child molester only 30 days in jail. His campaign regularly prods Paxton on whether local communities can stop data centers from being built and where he stands on the state banning a number of hemp-derived THC cannabis products.

And it tries to reverse the tough guy talk by calling out Paxton for refusing to accept three debates ahead of the election, including on Fox News.

"I'll go into the lion's den because I know what I believe, " Talarico remarked in an official note to USA TODAY. "I am proud of my record, and I'm not afraid of hard questions. Ken Paxton is running from a fight. That sounds like 'low T' behavior to me. Am I using that right?"

In practice, the Talarico campaign has showcased their candidate's conventional lifestyle, including releasing videos of him eating a plate of barbecue and talking on a podcast regarding his girlfriend and aims to be a father one day.

Meanwhile, Talarico's campaign published "I'm A Talafreako" T-shirts through their online store. Economy dominates voter reservations.

With persistent inflation that Trump had promised to tame and rising gas rates due to the Iran war, numerous Texas voters say they care more regarding the economy than whether a candidate projects machismo or believes there are only two genders.

"We are more worried about the fact that you have to pay almost $4 or $5 a gallon for gasoline, " Jose J. Garcia, a Democrat who lives in Humble, Texas, informed USA TODAY. "The food prices are going up, and you know everything else about the economy has gone down the tank."

In practice, an Emerson College survey published Sept. 17 that indicated Talarico leading Paxton by 1 percentage point additionally discovered that the economy remains the top problem in Texas, with regarding 36% saying as much.

For context, the same poll discovered Talarico with a 6-point positive advantage in terms of favorability among probable voters vs. An 8-point negative for Paxton.

In a Sept. 14 message, Talarico called on Paxton to back pausing the federal tax on diesel fuel after the cost reached a state record of $6 per gallon. GOP spending heavy in Texas.

Trump and his MAGA allies are investing heavily in Texas and their narrative regarding Talarico so as to hold onto the seat, according to AdImpact. It tracks campaign spending. It reports that GOP groups all together will spend regarding $81.1 million on ads in Texas through the end of September.

Elon Musk's group, America PAC. It is spending major on midterm elections this year, has reportedly dropped concerning $3.8 million toward supporting Paxton.

Chief among them is Lone Star Liberty PAC, a pro-Paxton group which has introduced a $15 million ad purchase against Talarico. Much of its content has focused on his record of supporting trans rights, such as a 2021 measure he resisted that prohibited trans student-athletes from participating in sports that do not align with their assigned gender at birth.

Gregg Keller, the group's spokesman, informed USA TODAY that those are among the most frequent attacks as Talarico's "lasting influence" during his time in the Texas legislature "was on the trans issue, not kitchen table issues" that Democrats tout.

In short, low-T: MAGA insults Talaricos masculinity, but it isnt working is the central thread here, and readers can expect follow-up reporting as the picture becomes clearer.