The 36-year-old Talariko, candidate for pastor and member of the House of Representatives of Texashas emerged in recent months as one of the new figures of the Christian wing of the Democrats in USA.
He often emphasizes his Christianity as the basis of his progressive positions – particularly on immigration and social justice – and says he wants to “win back the Christians” who left the Democratic Party in the US state of Texas. It has received public support from Barack Obama, but also from the well-known podcaster Joe Rogan.
However, an Axios investigation into his Instagram activity drew strong reactions to the consistency between his word and his image: Talarico’s account — with more than 1.7 million followers and about 3,700 accounts he follows — has in his “following” at least ten accounts of women posing as porn actresses, escorts or OnlyFans models.
According to Axios, Talarico has also “liked” photos of an Austin woman who maintains both an OnlyFans account and a page on EscortBook.com, an escort platform. The photos in question did not contain nudity, which is largely prohibited by Instagram’s rules anyway.
Among the accounts he follows is that of well-known porn star Giselle Palmer (@honky_tonkangel, nearly 250,000 followers). Some of the same usernames also appear on websites related to the porn industry or escorting, as well as on OnlyFans, with clearly sexual content.
Talarico’s answer: “We follow accounts without verification”
In response to Axios, campaign spokesman JT Ennis maintained that the account is run by both Talarico himself and his team, and that their practice is to follow back accounts with high profile “without investigating their background.” Most of these accounts have, according to him, at least 50,000 followers.
Ennis further assured that Talarico has “never joined OnlyFans or used escort services” and that he “didn’t know how these women make a living”. However, he added that the candidate “does not judge them” and “is not going to participate in an effort to drag them out for the sake of clickbait articles”, as – as he said – “his Christian faith calls him not to do that”.
The campaign also says he has only messaged one of the accounts in question, replying with a simple “thank you” to a story that appeared to promote his campaign. Talarico himself was not available to the media for immediate comment.
Highly-touted candidate in critical Texas Senate race
As a candidate for the Democratic nomination in the 2026 Texas Senate race, James Talarico has built his campaign around a strongly religious discourse, going so far as to compare, in his campaign launch video, the biblical scene of Jesus driving the money changers out of the Temple to the need today to deal with billionaires and “powerful interests”.
In the Democratic primary, he will face Colin Allred, a former member of the House of Representatives who was defeated by Ted Cruz in the 2024 election. In the Republican camp, incumbent Senator John Cornyn is being challenged by the highly controversial Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a close ally of Donald Trump. Trump.
In deeply conservative Texas, Democrats believe they still have a “window of opportunity,” especially if Republicans choose the scandal-plagued Paxton over the more “traditional” Cornyn. The question is whether this affair with the Instagram accounts will damage the image of Talarico, who is trying to appear as the spokesman of a “Gospel-inspired” left.