If you’re over fifty, you probably remember when showing ID at the polling place was about as controversial as showing it at the airport. Nobody marched in the streets over it. Nobody called it an assault on democracy. You proved you were who you said you were, you cast your ballot, and you went home. Simple. Sane.

Yet somehow, a new breed of politician has emerged — one who wrings his hands about election integrity on camera while systematically dismantling every safeguard that makes integrity possible. And one Texas Senate race puts this contradiction on full display.

From the Daily Wire:

Texas Democrat Senate candidate James Talarico recently suggested that the November election will not be “free and fair.” But when in a position to improve election integrity in his state, Talarico said he hated the effort with “every fiber of my being.”

As a state lawmaker, Talarico was one of the Democrats who fled the state after a Republican-backed effort in 2021 to require proof of identity when voting by mail and increasing the oversight of poll watchers. After Democrats failed to block passage of the bill, Talarico called the election safeguards “voter suppression” and said he hated the proposal.

Got that? The man demanding fair elections is the same man who torched every measure designed to deliver them. That’s not principled opposition. That’s a con.

The record speaks for itself

So what exactly did Talarico hate with every fiber of his being? The 2021 Texas election integrity law created uniform statewide voting hours. It required an ID number for mail-in ballots. It ended drive-through voting. It gave poll watchers more oversight authority. Radical stuff — if you’ve never run a lemonade stand, let alone an election.

Talarico branded it “an immoral, anti-American, anti-Democratic bill.” Then he did something remarkable. He didn’t just vote no. He boarded a plane and fled to Washington, D.C., begging Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, and congressional leaders to ram through federal legislation overriding Texas’s election laws. When that stunt collapsed, he slunk back and tried to gut the bill from the inside.

Here’s the part that should make your jaw hit the floor. During a 2023 appearance on the Lone Star Left podcast, Talarico said he didn’t think poll watchers “should be in the polling place at all.” A man running for the United States Senate genuinely believes nobody should be watching the people who count your votes. Let that marinate.

Suppression or security?

Talarico hasn’t been shy about voter ID either. “I oppose having to have a driver’s license to vote,” he declared publicly. “I oppose voter ID.”

Quick reality check. In Texas, getting a driver’s license requires proof of citizenship or legal residency. Proof of Texas residency. A written exam. A driving exam. Talarico considers those requirements too onerous to ask of someone choosing the next senator.

His opponent, Ken Paxton, has made the SAVE Act — requiring photo identification for federal elections — a central campaign promise. Left-leaning outfits like Democracy Docket label even these bare-minimum safeguards “extreme anti-voting policies.” That framing tells you everything about how warped the conversation has become.

Setting up the excuse

Now comes the predictable final act. Talarico recently claimed he’ll need to “overperform” to overcome “voter suppression” and unspecified “shenanigans” in November. Translation: If he loses, it wasn’t fair.

You almost have to admire the audacity. The man who opposed every election safeguard Texas enacted is now preemptively claiming the system is rigged — the exact accusation Democrats have spent years lobbing at Republicans.

GOP spokesman Zach Kraft didn’t mince words: “James Talafreako is openly admitting his only path to victory in ruby red Texas is eliminating voter ID and allowing illegal aliens to vote.”

Texans face a sharp choice this November. One candidate wants to verify that every voter is who they claim to be. The other spent years making sure nobody checks — then dared to complain that elections aren’t secure enough. That’s not a policy disagreement. That’s a man who wants the game rigged in his favor and dressed up in the language of fairness.

Key Takeaways

• Talarico actively opposed voter ID, poll watchers, and mail-in ballot verification measures.
• He fled Texas in 2021 to block the state’s election integrity law.
• He now claims the upcoming election won’t be “free and fair” — despite fighting every safeguard.
• Voters deserve candidates who secure elections, not ones who sabotage protections, then cry foul.

Sources: Daily Wire, Democracy Docket