On July 20, inside a church in DeSoto, Texas, Democrat Senate candidate James Talarico stood before a congregation and explained that Jesus Christ's real mission on earth was to lay the groundwork for a Medicare public option.
"If you read our scriptures, if you read the New Testament, what does Jesus spend most of his time doing?" Talarico asked. "It's not preaching, it's not teaching, it is healing. Healing the sick."
So Jesus was a single-payer advocate. Good to know.
Talarico, who is running against Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton for a Texas Senate seat, used the town hall — which his campaign titled "James Talarico Unveils Plan For Black Voters" — to roll out a healthcare platform built around a Medicare public option that would allow any American to buy in. The plan also includes drug price negotiation, out-of-pocket cost caps, and a $25 insulin copay cap per prescription. He pledged $25 million for Black voter outreach.
"Health care is a human right. It is not a privilege," Talarico told the crowd. "Health care is truly a human right for every single person in this state."
He then cited Matthew 25, telling the audience that "scripture says that's how we will be judged" — as in, God will evaluate America based on whether we passed a government-run insurance expansion. "So this is an emergency across the state of Texas," he added, in case the theological argument wasn't landing hard enough.
Now here's where it gets interesting.
This is the same James Talarico who, at the same event, described conservative Christian political engagement as a product of a "Christofascism movement." The word does a lot of work. Christians who vote their values? Christofascists. A Democrat quoting the Gospel of Matthew to sell a healthcare plan from the pulpit of a church? That's just good governance.
The theological framework here is worth examining for about thirty seconds, because that's how long it holds up. Jesus healed individuals. Personally. By hand. He did not petition the Roman Senate for a public option. He did not negotiate drug prices with Pharisees. He did not create a bureaucracy and staff it with people who take four months to process a form. The leap from "Jesus healed the sick" to "therefore Washington must administer your insurance" requires ignoring roughly two thousand years of Christian thought on charity, subsidiarity, and the difference between a person and a government.
But Talarico isn't really making a theological argument. He's making a political one — and borrowing the language of faith to try to hide his uber-liberal policies. According to Democrats the Bible is a dangerous theocratic weapon when Republicans cite it on life, marriage, or religious liberty, but it becomes a moral imperative the moment a Democrat needs it to sell an entitlement expansion.
If you genuinely believe the New Testament commands a government healthcare system, then you believe Christianity should inform public policy. That's the position. Own it. But Talarico wants it both ways — scripture as his campaign platform and scripture as a threat when the other side uses it.
Matthew 25 does talk about judgment. It talks about feeding the hungry and clothing the naked and visiting the imprisoned. It says "you did it to me." You. Not your congressman. Not a federal agency.
Funny how the verse works perfectly until you read the pronoun.