Early voting begins next week, and in the state of Texas, we are faced yet again with a difficult task in the voting booth. It would be really great if a political party could pick a decent candidate, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. Now, to be clear, I know that the Democratic Party will not be choosing a decent candidate for any office anytime soon. The platform they run on stands against nearly everything a decent candidate would hold. When I say a decent candidate, I mean someone who is opposed to murdering babies, someone who understands that gender isn’t fluid, someone who is against sexualizing children, and someone who believes in the God of the Bible and recognizes His authority over them. Ken Paxton definitely fails that last qualification. His corruption is well documented. He was impeached by the Texas House in 2023, and while the Senate acquitted him, he only avoided trial on securities fraud charges through a pretrial agreement in 2024. All of that is a violation of his oath of office, an oath sworn with his hand on the Bible. Ken Paxton does NOT fear God.
Now, you may say, “But Trevor, James Talarico believes in God!” And to that I would ask you, “What god does Talarico believe in?” Because it isn’t the One True God who revealed Himself in the Bible. What Talarico calls god is not the God I’ve spent my entire life studying and getting to know. In 2021, on the floor of the Texas House, Talarico said that God is both masculine and feminine and everything in between, that God is nonbinary. Now, Scripture is clear that God is spirit (John 4:24). I’m not arguing that God the Father has a body or is biologically male. That isn’t the point. The point is that God has told us who He is and what to call Him. He reveals Himself as Father, and He reveals Himself as Son. Jesus taught us to pray “Our Father.” And when the Son took on flesh, He came as a man and was circumcised on the eighth day like every Jewish boy (Luke 2:21). God chose His own names. We don’t get to rename Him. When a man takes the way God has revealed Himself, reshapes it to fit transgender ideology, and then uses it to argue for public policy, that isn’t theology. It’s a lie about God, and it entices people to accept what God calls sin.
Talarico and those like him have twisted the words of Scripture to form a god made after their own sinful and depraved image. The god Talarico talks about is not the sovereign, uncreated, unchanging God of the universe but a god shaped by a sinful, depraved, and godless culture. The god Talarico talks about blesses the killing of unborn children. Talarico went on Joe Rogan’s podcast and argued that the Bible supports a pro-choice position because God asked for Mary’s consent before the Incarnation. God did NOT ask for consent and Mary’s humble “let it be to me according to your word” (Luke 1:38) has nothing to do with ending the life of a child already in the womb. Abortion may not look exactly like the child sacrifice of Canaan, but the heart behind it is the same: children sacrificed on the altars of comfort, convenience, and sexual freedom. To that the God of the Bible says, “You shall not worship the LORD your God in that way, for every abominable thing that the LORD hates they have done for their gods, for they even burn their sons and their daughters in the fire to their gods” (Deuteronomy 12:31 ESV).
“Well, Trevor, we are not electing Talarico to be our pastor.” That’s the same argument people used to excuse the unacceptable and abhorrent words and actions of Donald Trump, and I’m sure it’s being used right now to excuse Ken Paxton’s corruption. The Apostle Paul tells us the governing authorities are God’s servants (Romans 13:4), and Christians have voted for unbelievers for as long as there have been elections. But here’s where the argument falls apart with Talarico: he isn’t keeping his theology to himself. He has made himself a Bible teacher in the public square. He is a seminary student, he quotes Scripture on the campaign trail, and he builds his policy positions on his twisted and false interpretation of the Bible. You can’t separate Talarico the candidate from Talarico the teacher, because he refuses to separate them himself.
Here’s the thing Christians need to realize: this is the major difference between these two HORRIBLE candidates. One is a corrupt liar who has abused the power of his office, and the other claims to be an authority on the Bible and ties damning lies about the Bible to his political policies.
So, which is worse?
The answer is simple, and it’s not even close… Talarico is the worse of the two. There is nothing worse than blaspheming God and leading people to the gates of hell. “But Trevor, just because I vote for him doesn’t mean that I agree with him on everything.” The Bible gives us clear direction when it comes to false teachers like Talarico. In speaking of false teachers, the Apostle John, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, says: “If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting, for whoever greets him takes part in his wicked works” (2 John 10-11 ESV).
In the first century, traveling teachers depended on believers to house them, feed them, and send them on to the next town. John’s immediate concern was teachers who denied that Jesus came in the flesh, but the principle reaches every teacher who brings a different god than the one revealed in Scripture: don’t give him a platform, because if you do, you share in his wicked works. Notice that John doesn’t say you have to agree with the false teacher to be guilty. You only have to help him. A vote isn’t a room for the night or a hot supper, sure. But a seat in the United States Senate is a bigger platform than any first-century teacher could have dreamed of. To vote for Talarico is to go far beyond simply greeting him. You are helping him gain a greater platform, which he will most certainly use to blaspheme God and to lead more people to the gates of hell, and in so doing you join him in his wicked works.
Honestly, I’d rather vote for Bernie Sanders, an atheistic, communist fool, than vote for James Talarico. At least Bernie doesn’t claim to speak for God. I’d rather Ken Paxton continue to take advantage of and abuse his elected office, a sin he will answer to God for one day, than put my name next to the heretic and false teacher James Talarico.
If you claim to be a Christian and still plan to vote for Talarico, I want to plead with you as a pastor. Sit down with 2 John, Genesis 1:26-27, Luke 1:26-38 and Deuteronomy 12:29-32 and ask yourself honestly whether you can put your name next to a man who teaches lies about God. If you can give Talarico a bigger platform to blaspheme God and lead people to hell without any fear at all, then I fear for your soul, because that is not how someone who knows and fears the God of the Bible thinks.
Paxton is a different matter. His sins are serious, and he will answer for them, but he isn’t standing in the public square redefining who God is. That’s why I can leave Paxton to your conscience, but not Talarico. I want to be abundantly clear, though: this does NOT mean that you have to vote for Ken Paxton. If your conscience and conviction won’t let you vote for Paxton, then don’t. He hasn’t earned anyone’s trust. I also wouldn’t consider Ted Brown, the Libertarian candidate, a good candidate either. The most conservative official write-in candidate appears to be Avery Ayers, from what I can tell. (This is not an endorsement, because I don’t know all his policies well enough.)
The reformer John Calvin taught that when God wants to judge a nation, He gives them wicked rulers (see Institutes of the Christian Religion, IV.20.25).
This is America in 2026. But the same God who gives a nation the rulers it deserves is still seated on His throne, and no election in November will change that. Pray, vote with a clear conscience before the Lord, and fear Him more than you fear the outcome.