‘The Chosen’ actor backs Talarico as both Senate candidates court faith voters
Jordan Walker Ross, who plays Little James on “The Chosen,” is endorsing Democrat James Talarico for U.S. Senate and helping launch the campaign’s coalition for voters of faith.
In a Facebook video released Thursday, Team Talarico shared a clip of Ross endorsing the Democratic candidate. Ross began the video by listing his most notable work as “1883” and “The Chosen." He plays the character “Little James,” one of the apostles, on the series, which recently wrapped filming its seventh and final season in Midlothian. According to the Internet Movie Database, Ross has appeared in 39 of the 44 episodes in the series.
“I grew up in Texas surrounded by faith my entire life so that’s exactly why I’m proud to be supporting James Talarico and launching Faithful Texans for Talarico,” Ross proclaimed in the video. “A lot of politicians like to talk about Christian values, but you don’t really see that reflected in their legislation or the way that they live, but you do see that in the way that James lives. He loves his neighbor; he takes care of the needy, the sick, the immigrant.”
Ross praised Talarico’s record as a state legislator of “bringing Democrats and Republicans together to take on corporate special interests and lower costs for his neighbors.” Insisting that “Our political system isn’t working for Texans” and “it’s time for a change,” Ross invited people to “join Faithful Texans for Talarico” and “help us talk to as many Texans from now until Election Day.”
The caption accompanying the video announced that Ross will appear in a “Faithful Texans for Talarico coalition Zoom” at 6 p.m. on Oct. 19.
Ross’ endorsement of Talarico comes as the state legislator and seminarian is facing off against Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton for the U.S. Senate seat in Texas. The RealClearPolitics average of polls sampling voter intentions in the race shows Talarico leading Paxton by 2.2 percentage points. Texas hasn't elected a Democrat to serve in the U.S. Senate since 1988.
Paxton announced his own faith coalition, “Pastors for Paxton,” with 27 faith leaders the same week, The Dallas Morning News reported.
Ross has been an outspoken progressive for several years. In 2023, when the series became the subject of controversy because one of the camera operators had an LGBT rainbow flag displayed on set, Ross told a journalist who called for a boycott of the series to “get outta here with your hate, homophobia and ignorance.”
Ross later claimed that his words were "directed at the people who were bullying, threatening and condemning my friend” for having a rainbow flag on set and not Christians as a whole. He identified himself as “a supporter of my LGBTQ+ brothers and sisters” while acknowledging that he was “Fully aware that many of our fans may not align with me in that area,” Ross said at the time.
The actor also pushed back on the idea that endorsement of LGBT ideology directly contradicts the Christian faith. Maintaining that “Christianity is not a monolith,” Ross asserted that “There are gay Christians, trans Christians, straight Christians, liberal Christians, conservative Christians.”
“Stop gatekeeping the Christian faith. It’s not your place to determine whether or not someone is a ‘true Christian,’” Ross concluded.
As for Talarico, the candidate has sought to make his Christian faith an essential part of his candidacy. The aspiring senator has claimed that his progressive views on abortion do not contradict the teachings of the Bible, most notably during Wednesday’s CNN and Jubilee town hall in Fort Worth, which Paxton did not attend.
During a conversation with a Catholic professor at the town hall, Talarico insisted that “the Bible is silent on abortion.” The professor strongly pushed back on this view: “The Bible is not silent on abortion. There is the Ten Commandments: ‘Thou shalt not kill.’ And as Catholics, we take great insult, I guess sometimes, when it’s spouted that way.”
Talarico replied, “It’s OK that you and I come to different conclusions about that.”
Ross’ endorsement of Talarico has caused renewed scrutiny of Texas’ Senate Bill 22, which provides grants to production companies that employ Texans as at least one-third of the cast and crew and film the majority of a production in Texas.
Texas State Rep. Brian Harrison, a Republican, reacted to Ross’ endorsement of Talarico in an X post on Thursday.
Harrison told Texas taxpayers that they were “subsidizing this leftist actor’s salary” while denouncing the Texas Legislature’s “Hollywood subsidies program” as “a socialist scheme.” He lamented that SB 22 “gives BILLIONS of tax dollars to Hollywood liberals like this.” In a follow-up X post in the same thread, Harrison wrote: “Your money is being used to help elect Democrats like James Talarico.”
An image accompanying Harrison’s X post features a screenshot of Google’s answer to a question asking whether "The Chosen" received grant money. Google responded: “Yes, The Chosen receives state grants through the Texas Moving Image Industry Incentive Program (TMIIIP).” The grants totaled over $850,000 to film its second season.
Ryan Foley is a reporter for The Christian Post. He can be reached at: ryan.foley@christianpost.com
