Meet the Texas Democrat Who Earned Joe Rogan’s Presidential Nod

James Talarico is everywhere now. He’s on major television networks. He’s on the front page of news websites. He’s even been on the most popular podcast in America, The Joe Rogan Experience. But the one place he’s not, is in the Texas Capitol building, where his Republican adversaries in the State House of Representatives aim to redraw electoral districts in their favor ahead of the 2026 midterms.

The thirty-six-year-old middle-school teacher-turned-politician isn’t in Texas at all, actually. He’s in an Illinois hotel room no bigger than a college dorm, barely sleeping in a twin bed that faces a lonely sink, taking calls from the media and constituents back home. It’s not that he and his fellow Democratic representatives don’t want to be there. But without their presence in the state house, a vote can't occur—which is exactly the point. They're breaking quorum to protest Donald Trump's attempt to “rig the next election,” as Talarico wrote on Instagram.

But by being everywhere except the Lone Star State, he’s made himself a national name—one that might grace an upcoming Senate ballot. Esquire talked to Talarico about fleeing Texas, how his Christian faith informs his politics, and what the Democrats can do to earn America’s favor.

Questions and answers have been edited for length and clarity.

Esquire: How are things in Illinois? What’s the morale like?

James Talarico: It’s an intense work road trip. I had a journalist asked me what I was going to do on my break. And this is the break. It’s the worst break I’ve ever had, because we have been working around the clock here, talking to media and talking to our constituents about what's happening in Texas, shining a national spotlight on this redistricting power grab.

But even though we’re not in Texas, we’re still serving our constituents. I’ve been on the phone with my team back in the Capitol, ensuring that the folks in our district have everything they need.

It’s been exhausting to say the least. Early mornings, very late nights. But I would say the morale is good. I am here in Illinois with probably the largest group of Democratic members. Yesterday was a little scary when we woke up to a bomb threat and had to evacuate the premises.

But we shouldn’t have been shocked, given that [Texas Attorney General] Ken Paxton has put out a tweet asking for his followers to “hunt us down.” Some of our Republican colleagues have put our location out on national news outlets. Of course this was going to be a security risk, but we all know that we have right on our side, and that we are fighting for our constituents, for all Texans, and their right to elect representatives of their choice. That’s bigger than any one of us. It’s bigger than any one politician or any one political party.

How are your accommodations in Illinois?

The rooms where we’re staying are probably the smallest hotel rooms I’ve ever stayed in. They’re much more like a college dorm room or a prison cell, whichever way you want to look at it. One twin bed with a sink across from the bed—not in a bathroom. But we’re on a budget on this quorum break. But we’re all very proud to be doing this important work, standing up to these wannabe tyrants.

You’re fined every day for your absence, and there’s also the cost of hotels, meals, and so on. How long do you and your colleagues think you can hold out?

We earn $600 a month for our service in the legislature. We have day jobs. That’s how we make ends meet, pay our bills, and support our families. And we’ve left those jobs behind and families behind to do this. It was not a decision we made lightly. Quorum breaks are not easy, which I think is important. If they were easy, the minority party would probably do it all the time. But they’re incredibly hard—personally, financially, politically, legally, and logistically. They’re only reserved for the most egregious abuses of power, whether it’s voter suppression or mid-decade redistricting.

When Trump called Georgia Republicans and asked them to find him 11,000 more votes after he lost the 2020 election, they said, “No, sir.” But when Donald Trump asked Texas Republicans to find him five more congressional seats, they said, “How about Thursday?” So, the responsibility to defend this American experiment fell to Texas Democrats. We are proud to answer the call.

The governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, has threatened to remove you and your colleagues from office. How have you reacted to that threat?

It’s concerning when a governor tries to remove duly democratically elected representatives from office, especially when they are engaging in a constitutional activity. Quorum breaks are protected in our state constitution. They are a tool the minority has to check the abuses of the majority, so we haven't broken any law.

There’s two hundred years’ worth of history of quorum breaks in this country. We’re here in Illinois, the land of Abraham Lincoln, where he broke quorum as a state senator back in 1840 by jumping out of a window of the Illinois State Capitol. Thankfully, I didn’t have to jump out of any windows in Texas. But we are participating in a long American tradition of standing up to bullies, speaking truth to power. Of civil disobedience, of good trouble.

The current special legislative session is slated to end August 19, but the Texas House Republicans could always call another session. How do you see this playing out?

We were most worried about, what if we had done nothing? What if we had just allowed this blatant power grab to go through with maybe a few floor speeches? That, to me, was a much more disturbing reality.

I don’t know what the future holds. I don’t know what will happen. But I know we have to take a stand. If throughout American history, people only took a stand when they knew they were definitely going to win, I fear to think about what our country would look like right now.

I’m proud that we’re taking this moral stand against this power grab. That said, we do want to be strategic. The last quorum break I was a part of was in 2021, against the voter suppression bill. It shined an international spotlight that pressured our Republican colleagues to take the worst parts out of that bill. It still passed, and I voted against it, but it was materially less harmful to my constituents and the people of Texas because of our quorum break. I think it’s important for national outlets to remember that, although they sometimes want to look at it as a loss, there are shades of gray.

I think our act of civil disobedience is inspiring Democrats in blue states to retaliate or at least threaten retaliate. If Texas Republicans cheat in this way, then we can at least even out the playing field and ensure that the American people can elect to Congress to hold the President accountable next year.

Two thousand years ago, when the powerful few abused the many, that barefoot rabbi didn’t stay in his room and pray. He walked into the seat of power, and he flipped over the tables of injustice. I would say to my fellow Christians, that if we love democracy, if we love our neighbors, it’s time to start flipping tables.

Do you think that it’s the necessary next step, for blue states to redistrict in retaliation?

When one side shoots, all bets are off. I pray every night that Texas Republicans don’t cheat and don’t break the next election. But if they do, it requires a response. We have to look bullies in the eye and not blink. That’s the only way you beat a bully, and that’s exactly what I expect other states to do.

We want gerrymandering out of every state. I’ve introduced a bill to create an independent citizen-led redistricting process in Texas, and I want that in every state, blue or red. We’ve got to get the politics out of map-drawing, but we cannot unilaterally disarm as Democrats.

Is it simply a left versus right battle? Because you’ve also said it’s a top versus bottom economic battle in this country. What are your thoughts on that?

I do not think this is an issue of party. I think this is an issue of power. People in power want to stay in power. The only way that you can check power is through free and fair elections.

This is not about the Democratic Party. It’s about the democratic process. I am fighting for Democrats, independents, and Republicans alike, and their ability to change their government from the bottom up, their ability to elect the representatives of their choice, their ability to hold the most powerful politician in the country accountable. That is what this is about.

I know people are tempted, especially in the media, to make this just a red team versus blue team thing. That couldn’t be further from the truth. They may be coming for Democrats right now, but they come for all of us in the end. That’s how this playbook works in other countries. We need to wake up through that fact before it’s too late.

Texas Representative James Talarico boards a plane at Signature Aviation at the South Terminal on Sunday, August 3, 2025 in Austin, Texas, to break quorum.

In your role as a red-state Democrat, what’s the lesson you’re learning right now, and how can that apply to blue-state Democrats?

I don’t think the divide the Democratic Party right now is moderate versus progressive. I think it’s fighters versus holders. I hope Texas Democrats are reminding the Democratic Party nationally how to fight for the people. That’s why most folks are frustrated with the national Democratic Party: Its inability to get things done and inability to deliver for our constituents.

How do you delineate between actions that make a difference and performative action?

We have to play to the fullest extent of the rules. We have to use every tool in our toolbox. I’m not going to diminish speeches. Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech was performance, but I hear what you’re saying. Getting on cable news and saying some sound bites into the camera when you may have actual tools that you can use legislatively or legally or politically, that’s just theater. Rhetoric used to be an art form, and I do think communication is a tool in that toolbox. But if it’s your only tool, I would encourage you to think more deeply about the power you actually have to fight for your constituents and fix this democracy.

You’ve gained national attention partially because of your identity as a Christian who’s also a Democrat. How does your faith inform your politics?

I can talk about how my faith is informing quorum break. It’s what gives me the courage and the strength and the peace to do something like that, to risk arrest, to risk financial ruin for my constituents. I don’t think most normal people would want to do that, right? I don’t think I would want to do that normally. But my granddad was a Baptist preacher who taught me that we follow a barefoot rabbi who gave us two commandments: Love God and love neighbor. Loving thy neighbor requires action, not just in the sanctuary, but in the streets.

That’s why I went into public service, first as a middle school teacher, and now as a state representative. This democracy is more than a Constitution. It’s a covenant, a relationship between neighbors, a promise that we make to each other, to share this country, even when we disagree, even when we're different.

Two thousand years ago, when the powerful few abused the many, that barefoot rabbi didn’t stay in his room and pray. He walked into the seat of power, and he flipped over the tables of injustice. I would say to my fellow Christians, that if we love democracy, if we love our neighbors, it’s time to start flipping tables.

That’s an interesting analogy. People sometimes forget about that story from the Bible, that Jesus was taking action.

It’s what got him killed by the government. He was killed by the Roman Empire and executed. Crucifixion was the punishment for rebels.

We sometimes over-spiritualize the gospel. Our whole faith is built on incarnation, the idea that God took human form, that God cares about our human bodies and our physical existence. How much we have to eat and drink, whether we have health care, and that. We miss that when we over spiritualize. Spirituality is a central part of my faith, but has to be balanced out with concrete action in the world, for human beings.

How can Democrats win over the evangelical Christian vote?

There’s a lot of diversity within the Christian church. Black Christians are some of the most deeply religious Christians in our country and historically and continue to this day to vote for Democratic candidates. When we’re talking about white Christians, which is an important caveat, I think part of the problem is that my party has stopped talking about faith over the last forty, fifty years, really since Jimmy Carter.

Of course, there are candidates who do the obligatory church visit and all that. But I’m talking about how central our faith is to everything we do. And it is central for me. It is my foundation for everything I do in my life, including public service. So I’m going to talk about that. I’m not going to be ashamed to talk about it. And it may, it may rub some people in my coalition wrong in the wrong way, and I've gotten pushback from some progressive Democrats about how outspoken I have built my faith. But I’m going to show up as I am, and I’m going to be myself, even if that bothers some people my own party.

I do think that it’s helpful, building a bridge to folks who don’t feel like they belong in the Democratic Party because of their faith. I want them to know they have a seat at our table if they'd like to join us.

There is data I’ve seen from groups that have been reaching out to evangelicals that it is moving the needle. In Pennsylvania, some of the only counties that that moved toward Vice President Kamala Harris were counties where the group Evangelicals for Harris campaigned, which I helped support.

You recently went on The Joe Rogan Experience. What did you think of the reaction to your appearance? Do you think it will help you spring into the next phase of your political career?

I was surprised to get the invite to go on Joe Rogan, the biggest podcast in the country, as a state rep in Texas. We got an email, and all it said was, “Joe saw one of your social media videos, and he’d love to talk.” That was it.

Typically, when a journalist interviews an elected official, they lay out the topics they’re going to cover to give a sense of what the conversation is going to be about. That was not the case, probably because I don’t think Joe Rogan considers himself a journalist. He’s, in a lot of ways, just a very curious guy who is a good conversationalist. It was unusual, as an elected official, to engage in such a long, unscripted conversation with someone who’s a little skeptical the Democratic Party.

I was a little nervous, to be honest, because of those things, and that it’s such a big audience. But Joe Rogan is good at what he does. Once I put on those headphones, he drew me into a real human conversation, like you would have at a bar with friend. Two and a half hours flew by. It was a shock when they were over. I had a blast. Like any really great conversation, it went down all these different rabbit holes and explored all these weird ideas and hot takes. It was cool to have a conversation like I would have with a friend on such a big platform.

It seems like people responded to that. It’s been overwhelming. I’m flooded with messages and calls and DMs and emails from people who are not partisan Democrats. A phrase kept popping up in almost every message that I got: “This is the first time I’ve messaged a politician.” I must have received thirty or forty messages that started with that exact phrase, which I thought was interesting. It shows you the kind of audience he has: People who aren’t super partisan. They’re very suspicious of this corrupt political system and are sick of both parties. It certainly is reaching a whole group of people that don’t watch MSNBC or Fox News or tune into the legislative live stream here in Texas.

There is a clip going around in which Rogan told you to run for president. What’s the next step in your political career?

I am seriously looking at the U.S. Senate race. I haven’t made a decision yet. I’m trying to figure out if I should run for that seat or whether I should continue my work in the legislature. I see drawbacks and advantages to both positions. But ultimately, I’ve got to figure out what's right for me and more importantly, what’s best for the people of the state.

I had set a deadline to make a decision next week, funnily enough, and then this quorum break happened. So, it’s kind of been pushed off the agenda for me right now. I was elected by 200,000 people in Central Texas to fight for them at the state capitol. I’m basically their lawyer in state government, even though I’m not a lawyer. I am fighting for their interests here in Illinois by breaking quorum. I take that very seriously, and so I intend on doing this job before I start applying to other jobs.

Talarico at SXSW in 2024.

If you were to pursue the Senate and win, what would you hope to accomplish on a national level?

I have worked hard in Texas to get big money out of our politics. I've been outspoken about the billionaire mega donors who basically run our state government. And if that's true in Texas, it's certainly true at a national level, increasingly so. I would hope to be a voice against corruption. I would hope to fight for specific systemic changes to our political system that would allow us to make progress on all the other issues we care about, housing, healthcare, education.

But I’m not sure if there’s enough voices really talking about anti-corruption measures at the national level. That would certainly be even more important if Ken Paxton is the Republican nominee for the Senate seat. He is perhaps the most corrupt politician in the entire country. I was part of the bipartisan effort in the Texas House to impeach Paxton, so I know his crimes more than most people do so. I hope that whoever Democrat nominee is, whether it’s me or one of my colleagues, shines a spotlight on how corruption is preventing us from being the country we can be.

What does the Democratic Party need to do next to address these things and create a fairer system?

We have to remember our heritage as Democrats, that we’re the party that fights for regular people, for the little guy. That was true in the New Deal era, and it was true in the Great Society era, when another Texas Democrat was transforming this country to help working people. We’ve lost touch with that unfortunately in the last few years, and we need to remember that legacy.

How can you reconnect with that legacy?

This quorum break is showing you how you how you can have a backbone, have a spine, and fight. There’s a Spanish word here in Texas, ganas, which is hard to translate in English. But it means heart, desire, passion that comes from something deeper, somewhere else. That’s what our party, our politics in general, is missing.