James Talarico wants Texas to believe he's a moderate. A humble seminarian, faith over ideology, above the usual Democratic culture-war garbage.
His own church torches that act in about four clicks.
Talarico has gone to St. Andrew's Presbyterian in North Austin since he was 2 years old, and he's preached there himself while at seminary. St. Andrew's calls itself "Presbyterian & Progressive," which is putting it mildly. Pull up the homepage and there's no scripture, no sin, no salvation, nothing that would've made sense to a Presbyterian fifty years ago. Just a pledge to "affirm the full participation of all ages, sex and gender identities, races, color, and ethnicities in all our endeavors," like an HR seminar broke into the sanctuary and started redecorating.
Keep scrolling. It gets worse. St. Andrew's is a "More Light" congregation, the PC(USA) label for churches that fully affirm and ordain LGBTQ clergy, and the church says outright it exists to help congregations "lead LGBTQIA+ service and advocacy." It's partnered with Out Youth Austin, an outfit built around "youth of all sexual orientations and gender identities." So when Talarico told his own congregation in 2022 that "our trans community needs abortion care, too," nobody there should've blinked. He was quoting the mission statement.
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