James Talarico was not a name on Democrats‘ minds a few days ago, but after famous podcast host Joe Rogan pressed him to run for president, the party is paying more attention.
The Texas state representative went on Rogan’s podcast on Friday, and Rogan backed him after the pair spoke about the disillusionment with politicians.
“Look, if you have so much interest in getting to the bottom of this, like, universally on both sides of the aisle, and yet nothing gets done, that tends to give people this fear that cynicism is the correct perspective,” Rogan said.
Talarico responded, “I want to validate that. There is reason and good reasons to be disillusioned. All I’m pushing back on is that second step of, it’s always going to be this way. That is the key step.”
“That’s ’cause you need to run for president. We need someone who is actually a good person, but Democrats have very few candidates.” Rogan said, before Talarico interjected that people should not place “all of their faith in a politician.”
Holy sh*t. Democrat James Talarico did so well on @joerogan that Rogan said he should run for President. pic.twitter.com/W8U9mVVxOi
— Democratic Wins Media (@DemocraticWins) July 18, 2025
The exchange and Talarico excited Democratic influencers on social media. “I’ve been a fan of @jamestalarico for quite some time and man oh man, did he absolutely kill this interview on Rogan. This is the way friends. This is the way,” influencer Jo Carducci posted on X.
Another liberal influencer, Brian Tyler Cohen, had Talarico on his podcast days later. Further media coverage rolled in after Politico published an interview with Talarico on Saturday.
Talarico, 36, is a Democratic state representative for Texas’s 50th State House of Representatives
district, which covers a part of Austin and Pflugerville in Central Texas. He formerly represented the 52nd district in Williamson County before he chose to run in the 50th due to redistricting.
He has served in the Texas House since 2018, when he won election as a 28-year-old to become the legislature’s youngest representative.
He is a self-professed “devout Christian,” which played a role in Rogan inviting him on his podcast. Rogan saw Talarico giving a speech on why the Ten Commandments should not be enshrined in public schools after Texas Republicans introduced a bill aiming to do that. He called the bill “un-Christian” in a viral TikTok from October 2023. Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX) signed the bill into law in May, though it is expected to undergo considerable legal challenges.
Talarico earned a bachelor’s degree in government from the University of Texas at Austin before getting a master’s degree in education policy from Harvard University. He is also studying to earn a master’s degree at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary.
In the Texas House, Talarico serves on the Administration Committee, Public Education Committee, the Public Education Subcommittee on Academic and Career-Oriented Education, and the Trade, Workforce and Economic Development Committee. He is the vice chairman of the latter two panels.
He has authored 48 bills in this year’s legislative session and co-authored 20. None of the bills he has authored solely have become law.
One of his most significant legislative accomplishments was his assistance in drafting House Bill 3, which provided billions of dollars in funding for education, as a member of the Public Education Committee. Abbott lauded the bill as he signed it into law in 2019, saying, “This one law does more to advance education in the state of Texas than any law that I have seen in my adult lifetime in the state of Texas.”
As for Talarico’s next steps, he would be an improbable presidential candidate for 2028. He has expressed interest in running for Texas’s U.S. Senate seat in 2026.
He told Politico that he was “seriously considering” running but has not made a decision yet. He says people have pushed him to run for Senate because he’s disconnected from Washington.
“Part of why some people have been asking me to look at the Senate race is because I am very, very disconnected from Washington, D.C., and and I’ve never worked there, never served there, have not spent much time there in my life, and so I’m not even up to date on the the D.C. drama between these different factions of the party,” he told the outlet.
If Talarico runs, he’d have to bypass a Democratic field that, for now, only features former Rep. Colin Allred. Allred ran against Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) in 2024 and lost. The Republican primary features incumbent Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.
Talarico said he is not factoring in the timing of his popularity boom to his decision about a potential run.
“It’s not the biggest factor in my decision,” he told Politico. “The decision to run for statewide office, especially in a state as big as Texas, that’s not just a political or career decision, that’s a life decision.”
“That’s where my mind is — not really about the political opportunity and more about: Is this the right fit for me given where I am in my life right now,” he added.
Talalrico said he is particularly troubled by the prospect of Paxton winning the primary, calling him the “most corrupt politician in the state of Texas.”
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“I would only run if I felt like I have something unique to offer the party and, more importantly, the state,” Talarico said. “And so yes, I would hope that if I did this, it would be because I have something different to say and something different to provide to voters in the primary.”
“If we’re going to put up someone against Ken Paxton, you’ve got to have a nominee who can reach people where they’re at and move them to change the politics of the state,” he concluded.