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.

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]