Deceptively edited Talarico clip spreads after Texas Democratic primary win

"The Democrat nominee for U.S. Senate in Texas: 'Our southern border should be like our front porch. There should be a giant welcome mat out front,'" the account wrote in a March 3, 2026 post sharing the 6-second clip of Talarico on X.

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Screenshot from X taken March 4, 2026

Similar posts, including from Republican US Congressman Brandon Gill of Texas and conservative commentator Benny Johnson, spread across the Musk-owned platform as news media projected that Talarico, a state lawmaker, had defeated US Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett in the Democratic primary for US Senate.

The clip was originally shared in January by the National Republican Senatorial Committee -- and amplified at the time by the two Republican candidates vying for the same seat, incumbent US Senator John Cornyn and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who are slated to advance to a runoff vote after a bruising primary.

Talarico will face off against the winner of the May runoff vote in November's midterm elections, during which voters across the United States will choose every member of the House of Representatives and 35 of the Senate's 100 seats. 

The contests -- already impacted by the redrawing of electoral districts in Texas and other states -- will determine whether Trump governs with a cooperative Congress or faces a Democratic majority empowered to block legislation and launch investigations.

On Truth Social, Trump said March 4 that Talarico is a "Radical Left Opponent" and called for Republicans to coalesce around one candidate to "TOTALLY FOCUS on putting him away, quickly and decisively."

The video the president's allies are sharing of Talarico discussing the border, however, is deceptively edited, with his "front porch" analogy chopped mid-sentence to change the meaning of his remarks.

The footage comes from Talarico's January 24 debate with Crockett, when a moderator asked how he would "balance" his feelings towards Immigration and Customs Enforcement with representing Texans who support deporting undocumented immigrants.

"So, my family is from the border," Talarico responded in full. "My mom grew up in Laredo, Texas. I feel like Texans understand this issue of immigration more so than people in other states, because we live with it, both the benefits and the challenges. So, what I have said is that our southern border should be like our front porch. There should be a giant welcome mat out front and a lock on the door.

"We can welcome immigrants who want to live the American dream, we can build a pathway to citizenship for those neighbors who have been here making us richer and stronger, and we can keep out people who mean to do us harm."

Talarico's campaign account posted a video of his complete answer to X at the time (archived here).

Reached by AFP on March 4, Talarico's press secretary JT Ennis pointed to a series of posts on his X account in which he wrote that the America PAC, Gill and the Senate Republicans had "conveniently cut Talarico's full quote" (archived here, here and here).

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Screenshot from X taken March 5, 2026

Talarico has repeated the "front porch" line on several occasions. It appears in boldface text and as a pull quote on his campaign website under a section on immigration and border security (archived here).

He also delivered it on the campaign trail and in interviews with Politico and the Texas Observer (archived here, here and here).

AFP has debunked other misinformation about US politics here.