Ken Paxton Campaign Uses AI-Generated Talarico in New Texas Senate Ad

Ken Paxton Campaign Uses AI-Generated Talarico in New Texas Senate Ad

Ken Paxton says Talarico is 'weaponizing faith to sell a radical agenda.'

Raeylee Barefield
Raeylee Barefield
September 9, 2026

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's (R) U.S. Senate campaign released a 30-second advertisement that uses Artificial Intelligence (AI) to depict Democratic Senate Candidate James Talarico (D) making fictional statements about God, Jesus, and Christianity.

The ad shows an AI-generated version of Talarico sitting with a book labeled "The King James Talarico Bible" before appearing to read from a fictionalized Bible. The video includes statements about God being nonbinary and Jesus being a "radical feminist," among other claims. A disclaimer at the bottom states that certain video content was generated using artificial intelligence.

Paxton's campaign characterized the advertisement as a criticism of Talarico's past comments about Christianity. Paxton wrote on X that Talarico was "weaponizing faith to sell a radical agenda" and referenced Talarico's 2021 statement describing himself as a "Christian who hates Christianity."

The ad combines several actual comments Talarico has made previously with fictional statements presented through the AI-generated likeness.s In 2021, Talarico said, "God is both masculine and feminine and everything in between. God is nonbinary," while discussing transgender student-athlete legislation. He also previously referred to Jesus as a "radical feminist."

Talarico later said he was intentionally provocative when making the "God is nonbinary" comment and explained that he meant God could not be defined by human categories. He has also acknowledged that some of his past remarks "missed the mark."

The advertisement comes as Paxton and Talarico campaign to win the Texas U.S. Senate seat.

Raeylee Barefield

Raeylee Barefield

Raeylee Barefield is a Legislative Correspondent based in Austin, Texas, specializing in state government and public policy. With one year of reporting under her belt, she covers legislative developments, committee hearings, and policy debates. She has been cited by Texas Politics and Big Energy for her coverage and analysis of legislative and regulatory issues. Her reporting typically focuses on Public policy, Stare government, environmental policy, and energy regulation. To contact her, please reach out at [email protected]

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