Talarico raises eyebrows for quick answer about 'favorite drag queen' in Texas: 'Deeply sick'

By Jon Brown, Christian Post Reporter Tuesday, September 15, 2026

Democratic U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico raised eyebrows for readily naming a man who has expressed a desire to influence young children as his favorite drag queen during a brief interaction at a campaign event.

"Oh my gosh, probably Alyssa Edwards," Talarico quickly replied to someone who asked him to name his "favorite drag queen in Texas." A clip of the exchange, circulated by the Republican National Committee Research, has garnered 1.9 million views on X since it was posted Monday afternoon. 

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James Talarico says his “favorite drag queen” is Alyssa Edwards — who has described himself as "a drag performer that works with children." pic.twitter.com/u5HNKh4CQt

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) September 14, 2026

The speed with which Talarico was able to name his favorite Texan drag queen prompted scorn from many Republicans on social media, including his opponent, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.

"What normal person can name their favorite drag queen this quickly? When James Talarico isn’t advocating for children to dress in drag, he's watching drag performances and saying that Texas produces the best drag queens," Paxton said.

"James Talarico is too weird and too radical for Texas," he added.

"Why was he able to name someone so fast?" asked former White House deputy press secretary Abigail Jackson.

"The fact that James Talarico didn't skip a beat is legitimately worrisome," said Republican communications veteran Steve Guest.

"Talafreako is a deeply sick and disturbed individual," said White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller.

Throughout his tight Senate race against Paxton, Talarico has fielded backlash to comments he has made for years about children who exhibit transgender behavior. Last month, The Washington Free Beacon reported that he headlined an LGBTQ festival in 2021 that featured "the absolute cutest & youngest of our drag performers," including an 11-year-old boy "drag queen."

In a 2023 remark that detractors described as "creepy," Talarico said, "I love, I’m just saying this because it's on my mind, the trans children who showed up yesterday at the state Capitol to advocate for their humanity."

In a 2021 address on the floor of the Texas House of Representatives in opposition to a bill requiring students to play on sports teams that align with their biology, Talarico claimed God Himself is non-binary and warned the law would drive trans-identifying children to suicide. During the same speech, he claimed "trans children are God's children, made in God's own image."

Last week, Talarico walked back his previous comments about the existence of six biological sexes, clarifying that he was referring to various chromosomal disorders that deviate from the typical XX-XY. He also expressed an openness to banning sex-change procedures for minors and restricting trans-identifying male athletes from competing in women's sports in some cases.

Alyssa Edwards is the stage name of Justin Dwayne Lee Johnson, 46, who was one of seven children in a working-class Texas family.

Johnson's father attempted to involve him in athletics when he was a boy by signing him up to play Little League football even though he was afraid of getting hurt, according to a 2018 profile in Esquire. He was sidelined after being tackled and breaking his arm.

While he was unable to play with the other boys, Johnson found himself "fixated on the drill team members, cheerleaders, and dancing during the games' halftime shows," which Esquire described as "the seeds" for his eventual drag queen identity.

Esquire, which referred to Johnson using feminine pronouns, noted that Johnson's mother and gay uncle, whom he described as his "fairy godmother," supported him in theatrical pursuits. He began frequenting gay bars as a teenager and would go on to star in the fifth season of "RuPaul's Drag Race" in 2013.

Johnson, who works closely with young student dancers and has amassed a sizable social media following, expressed a desire to mentor the next generation of LGBT-identifying children.

"I think with things being so mainstream, there might be another little boy or another little girl somewhere that might stumble across something they see — whether it's on the internet or on TV — and it may really inspire them," he told Esquire.