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Democrat darling and Texas Senate candidate James Talarico is taking heat after it was discovered that, as a public school teacher in San Antonio, he made his sixth-grade students write “Obama memoirs” celebrating his election.
Corey DeAngelis, a school choice advocate and research fellow at the Heritage Foundation, called the assignment “disqualifying” for a Senate hopeful in Texas.
In a Facebook post by Talarico dated Nov. 13, 2012, he announced, “Today, we finished writing our Obama memoirs,” explaining that “students wrote a memoir of Election Night from the point of view of a member of the Obama family.”
One of the memoirs shared by Talarico showed one of his students writing as if they were former President Barack Obama’s child, saying, “I was crying when my father was giving his speech” and praising “those lovely words that came out of his mouth” during his election night speech.
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Texas Senate Democratic candidate James Talarico is taking heat for giving his sixth-grade students an “Obama memoir” assignment in 2012. (John Moore/Getty Images; Jeff Swensen/Getty Images)
The Democratic Party has high hopes that Talarico, a progressive state representative, can flip a critical Senate seat blue and become the first Democratic senator from Texas in decades. Since winning the party’s nomination, however, many have called out his history of progressive statements, including saying “God is nonbinary” and using the Bible to justify abortion.
In another Facebook post, dated Nov. 16, 2012, Talarico shared an image of a poster board full of Obama memoirs with a banner reading “Mr. Talarico’s Wall of Fame.” The display featured more than a dozen memoirs along with photos of Obama and his family, as well as presidential seals and Obama’s campaign emblem. Talarico commented, “Our Wall of Fame has been updated with our awesome Obama Family Memoirs!”
The Obama memoirs are not the only posts from Talarico’s teacher account drawing criticism. Some have also taken issue with a Sept. 14, 2011, post depicting a classroom “free thinker” display. Among the figures labeled as free thinkers were Obama, Bill Gates, Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor and Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro.
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Texas Democratic Senate candidate and Texas state Rep. James Talarico, D-Austin, waves before speaking for the first time since winning the Democratic nomination in Austin, Wednesday, March 4, 2026. (Eric Gay/AP Photo)
Other figures included in the display ranged from Ludwig van Beethoven to Frida Kahlo to Jay-Z. Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling was also included. Not included, however, were any Republican or conservative leaders.
Some have also criticized Talarico for a Sept. 4, 2012, post in which he encourages students to watch the Democratic National Convention to see Castro, a former mayor of San Antonio, give the keynote speech.
DEMOCRAT RISING STAR CALLED OUT FOR ‘CREEPY’ COMMENT ABOUT TRANSGENDER CHILDREN
Conservative commentator Steve Guest slammed Talarico for this, writing on X, “What Talarico was doing as an ‘educator.’”
The National Republican Senatorial Committee also chimed in, writing, “James Talarico made his public school students write ‘Obama memoirs’ and encouraged them to watch the DNC What else was he telling Texas kids in his classroom?”
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and his bitter rival, Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, are heading to a runoff in Texas, further extending their bloody primary battle until late May. (Photo by Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images; Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
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A Talarico spokesman responded to conservative critics in a statement to Digital.
“John Cornyn, Ken Paxton, and the billionaires who prop them up are scared of James Talarico for good reason: our campaign is building a movement poised to change the politics of this state and take power back for working people,” press secretary JT Ennis said. “While they spend their time lobbing stale attacks to mislead Texans, we are uniting the people of Texas to win in November.”
Talarico will be facing off against either incumbent Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, or state Attorney General Ken Paxton this November. Cornyn and Paxton are currently locked in a bitter primary runoff that will come to a head this May.
