Talarico Courts Muslim Voters While Defending Interfaith Views

Democrat U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico attended an event in Irving, Texas, that was dedicated to speaking with the Muslim community. 

Talarico held a meet-and-greet with the Muslim Democrat Caucus of Irving, where he met with Richardson Mayor Amir Omar, Councilman Fahad Ahmed of Irving, state Rep. Salman Bhojani, and Nima Bhojani. 

The event, held at a halal barbecue restaurant, Kafi Barbeque, aligns with Talarico’s record of supporting Islamic ideology and acting on behalf of that community.

Amy Mek, founder and editor-in-chief of the RAIR Foundation USA, highlighted some of Talarico’s past Islamic advocacy in an X post. She noted Talarico is endorsed by Emgage Action, a 501(c)(4) nonprofit “advocating for Muslim American communities” and which has links to the Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR.

Talarico, who serves in the Texas Legislature, authored and helped push House Bill 2039 in 2021, legislation intended to strip explicit naming of Christian ministers and Jewish rabbis from marriage law so imams could perform marriage ceremonies. The bill was written by Muslim activists and specifically thanked Insiya Aziz of Emgage Action for her role and testimony on the bill. 

HB 2039 passed the House but was left to die in the Senate. 

In 2025, Talarico also joined Bhojani to author House Bill 1044, legislation that would have added Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim, and Sikh officiants to Texas marriage law. That bill retained Christian ministers, priests, and Jewish rabbis. It did not receive a vote in the House. 

His legislative record isn’t the only example. Talarico has also equated Christian nationalists with the Taliban and al-Qaida, and he claimed Christians, Jews, and Muslims worship the same God. 

“Christians and Muslims and Jews all worship the same God,” Talarico said. “Muslims love Jesus. They love Moses and Abraham. We are all branches on the same tree as the Abrahamic faiths.”

“It’s heartbreaking to watch extremists, whether they are Christian nationalists or whether they are the Taliban or al-Qaida, perverting these beautiful traditions that have so much in common,” he added.

During an interview on The State of Belief podcast in 2024 with Bhojani, Talarico said that Islam helped shape his religious beliefs.  

“I’ve learned as much about my faith from Salman’s tradition, from the Islamic mystics, from poets like Rumi, as much as I have from Christian authors and Christian writers,” Talarico said. “This kind of interfaith dialogue, it doesn’t water down your tradition, in fact it strengthens it, it brings out new flavors and new colors.” 

Talarico has made other statements about Islam, including one statement in which he said that different faiths are “equal pathways to truth.”  

“That’s how I think, you know, I always think of all of the world’s faith traditions as like a circle with that divine mystery of the universe in the middle,” he said. “And we all have different names for that mystery, right? Whether it’s God or Yahweh or Allah, or Nirvana, the Great Spirit, whatever you call it—this is all different pathways to the same kind of fundamental truth of reality,”  

Polling shows that Talarico leads Paxton by 2 percentage points, as of Oct. 16, with the race still being viewed as a toss-up. 

Early voting in Texas runs from Oct. 19 through Oct. 30. 

Election Day is Nov. 3.

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