A new advertisement in the contentious Texas Senate race features an AI-generated version of Democratic candidate James Talarico singing a song about transgender children. The spot was purchased by Citizens for Sanity, a pro-Trump political action committee, through a small ad buy, as reported by the Daily Caller.
Content of the Advertisement
In the ad, a fake Talarico performs a parody of "My Favorite Things" from the 1959 musical "The Sound of Music." The lyrics include lines such as "Boys in white dresses with blue satin sashes / Girls dosed with hormones til they grow mustaches." Notably, the advertisement does not indicate that the video was generated by artificial intelligence.
Political Context
State Attorney General Ken Paxton, who is running against Talarico for the Senate, has used his position to attack transgender children. Talarico, who is not transgender, has expressed support for trans youth and once stated in an interview that "God is nonbinary." During the campaign, Paxton and his allies have employed terms like "transgender" and "gay" as slurs. In his victory speech, Paxton referred to Talarico by derogatory nicknames, including "Tofu Talarico," "six-gender Jimmy," "James Talafreako," and "Low-T Talarico," based on unsubstantiated rumors about Talarico's vegetarianism.
Reactions from Other Conservatives
Other prominent conservatives have joined in the attacks. When Talarico won his party's primary last month, White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller posted on X that Democrats had "made history in Texas by nominating their first transgender senate candidate." Fox News' Jesse Watters suggested that Talarico is a gay vegan while criticizing him, but later clarified that neither characterization is accurate.
Citizens for Sanity did not immediately respond to HuffPost's request for comment. Similarly, the campaigns for Talarico and Paxton did not provide responses.
