Who Is James Talarico? Get To Know The Rising Texas Democratic Star

Joe Rogan shocked much of his fanbase in July of 2025 when he encouraged James Talarico, a Democratic state representative from Texas, to run for president.

And it turns out, the rising politician's made quite the impression on state voters for his progressive views -- and for his liberal interpretation of biblical matters.

We're going to check out how the rising Democratic star is making waves within his home state ... and see what he's got planned for his future.

Talarico was born in Round Rock, Texas, and was educated in local schools before he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Government from the University of Texas at Austin.

The politician continued his studies at Harvard University, and he holds a Master of Education degree from the prestigious institution.

Talarico later began working as a middle school teacher in San Antonio before he moved back to Austin in order to pursue his political interests.

By the way, in addition to his career as a politician, he's pursuing his calling as a pastor, and he's currently enrolled at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, where he's studying for a Master of Divinity degree.

Talarico, who was first elected to the Texas House of Representatives in 2018 and has since repped both its 50th and 52nd districts, made waves across the nation when a video featuring him went viral in 2023.

In the clip, the politician argued against a bill that would have required the Ten Commandments to be posted in classrooms across the state, which he described as "not only unconstitutional and un-American, it's deeply un-Christian."

Talarico even quoted a Bible verse while arguing against the bill's passing, and the video of the exchange received more than a million likes on TikTok.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott ultimately signed Senate Bill 10, which requires public school classrooms to display the Ten Commandments, in May 2025.

One of the people who took notice of the video was Rogan, who invited Talarico to appear on his podcast ... although the politician later told Politico he thought the invitation was "a phishing scam" at first.

He described the podcast host's way of maintaining a conversation "very natural and fluid," and expressed he felt as if the show's popularity is largely due to Rogan's style of conversation.

Talarico claimed the show's host was "not loyal to either political party," and described him as "deeply skeptical of our political system" -- and he called Rogan, who described the politician as "someone who is actually a good person" on the episode, and his team "very genuine and very, very chill."

The state representative then described Rogan's willingness to speak with people from across the political spectrum as "refreshing" and floated the idea of bringing people with differing opinions together as "maybe how we can fix this democracy."

Although Talarico's focused on the politics of his home state at the moment, he could be heading to Washington, D.C. in the future, as he's floated the idea of a run for U.S. Senate.

The Texas state rep told Politico he hadn't made a solid decision regarding the run, although he described himself as "seriously considering" the possibility of continuing his political career at the national level in the future.

Talarico attributed much of his popularity with Texas Democrats to the fact that he's "very disconnected from Washington, D.C" and "not even up to date on the D.C. drama" within Democratic factions.