James O’Keefe’s O’Keefe Media Group released undercover video Monday featuring people connected to Democratic U.S. Senate nominee James Talarico’s campaign, a day before Texas voters decide the race between Talarico and Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton.
The footage includes Williamson County Democratic Party Chair Kim Collins Gilby, Matt Menard, who is identified in the recordings as the father of Talarico’s girlfriend Brianna Menard, and Andhi Beltran Garcia, a Travis County Democratic Party regional organizer.
In the recordings, Gilby says Talarico “will not vote to close… the border” and has talked about putting “a welcome mat out at our border.” She also says his comments at a CNN town hall on transgender surgeries for minors were meant “to make himself appear more centrist,” adding, “he’s very liberal” and “we’ve got to get elected so that we can do something.”
Menard tells the undercover O’Keefe Media Group journalist not to “put too much stock into border security comments,” calling Talarico “not going moderate” and “a progressive.” He says Talarico supports a pathway to citizenship for everyone in the country and claims Talarico would “absolutely stop” current ICE enforcement tactics if Democrats gained control of Congress.
Beltran Garcia says in the video that Talarico will “play the middle ground because he’s in Texas” on abortion, while holding views that are “a lot more progressive” in private.
Publicly, Talarico has described himself as a “border security Democrat” and has criticized the Biden administration for “not securing the border,” positioning himself during the campaign — including at a CNN town hall — as pragmatic on border policy.
“James [Talarico], he’s not going middle.”
That line, attributed to one of the people recorded, is featured in O’Keefe Media Group’s release along with other clips contrasting Talarico’s public statements with the private characterizations offered by Gilby, Menard and Beltran Garcia.
Part of a recurring pattern
O’Keefe Media Group has released similar undercover recordings targeting Democratic campaigns in past election cycles. In October, the group published footage of a regional field organizer for Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed discussing alleged foreign donations and other topics; the Michigan Democratic Party later confirmed that staffer had been terminated.
As of this writing, neither the Talarico campaign nor the Texas Democratic Party had publicly responded to the videos released Monday.
Voters in Williamson and Travis counties, along with the rest of Texas, will cast ballots Tuesday in the race between Talarico and Paxton. The newly released recordings are now part of the public debate heading into Election Day.
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