Ken Paxton's AI Ad Turns Real Talarico Quotes Into a Fake Sermon

FactCheck.org traced all six statements in the ad back to things Talarico genuinely said — but found the ad strips out context that changes their meaning ^[1]. "I always think of myself as a Christian who hates Christianity" came from a March 4, 2021 podcast, where Talarico immediately clarified he finds Jesus's teachings "truly radical" and keeps returning to them ^[1]. "God is nonbinary" is drawn from Oct. 14, 2021 remarks on the Texas House floor opposing a bill restricting K-12 athletes to teams matching their biological sex, where Talarico argued biblical Hebrew uses both masculine and feminine terms for God ^[1][4]. "God is not a Christian" came from an October 2023 sermon titled "God Is Not A Christian: Confronting Christian Nationalism," arguing God transcends religious categories ^[1]. "Let there be six genders. And there were" was said during a 2021 legislative hearing while Talarico described six biological sex-chromosome combinations ^[1]. Talarico has since partly walked the line back, telling Fox News in September 2026 that "there are not six sexes, there are two" and that his "nonbinary" remark was him "being provocative" ^[1]. Every phrase traces to a real Talarico statement, but the ad strings together remarks made across four years and wildly different settings — a sermon, a floor speech, a podcast, a hearing — into one fabricated monologue.

The National Republican Senatorial Committee first weaponized the "God is nonbinary" clip in an AI-generated digital ad after Talarico won the Democratic primary in March 2026, with Rep. Ronny Jackson calling it "as bizarre as 'God is nonbinary'" while branding Talarico a "RADICAL LEFTIST" ^[4]. Paxton's campaign ad built on that groundwork, and Citizens for Sanity ran its own wave of AI attack videos through the summer ^[2]. Talarico told CBS News that Paxton and "his billionaire backers in DC" are "using AI in order to mislead the people of this state" ^[3]. Talarico's own campaign, by contrast, says its ads are "made by human beings, and we're very proud of that fact" ^[3].

The ad is misleading, not fabricated from nothing: Talarico did say versions of nearly every line attributed to him, and when CBS News pressed him directly, he said "not all of those statements" were accurate word-for-word — acknowledging most were ^[1][3]. What the ad omits is the theology behind each remark: in every case, Talarico was making an argument about scripture and religious pluralism, not declaring that he personally believes in "six genders" or that Christianity itself should be hated ^[1]. Real quotes, wrong context — the ad converts a seminary student's theological arguments into a caricature by cutting the sentence that explained them.