James Talarico voted to defund the police.

Posted by The Benny Show, Oct 26, 2026Checked Nov 2, 2026

Polygraph verdictFalse

Sources: 5 contradict1 context
Said: 1 time·
Confidence: 60%

The Benny ShowOct 26, 2026

No source reports Talarico casting a vote to defund the police. The sources describe his legislative record as votes for law enforcement funding, and CNN found he avoided endorsing the defund slogan, though a low-credibility X review of House journals says he voted against a bill penalizing cities for cutting police budgets.

A guest makes this claim. Listeners heard it, so it counts against the post, and on the guest's own record.

What we found

Contradicts. Talarico's campaign and the record described in the sources show votes for billions in law enforcement funding; Talarico said in the Texas Legislature he voted to allocate $56 billion to law enforcement agencies.[2][3][4]

Contradicts. A review of House journals reports Talarico voted against HB 1900, which penalizes large cities for cutting police budgets, though this comes from a low-credibility source.[5]

Contradicts. CNN's investigation found Talarico avoided endorsing the 'defund the police' slogan in 2020 and framed the issue as reallocating certain police responsibilities, not cutting police funding.[1]

Context. Paxton's attacks cite Talarico's donation to the Austin Justice Coalition, a group pushing to defund the Austin Police Department, and votes on qualified immunity and bail, but none of the sources identify a vote to defund police.[2][4][6]