Republicans are accusing Democratic Senate nominee James Talarico of “blatant corruption” over consulting income he earned from a progressive firm while he sat on the Texas House Public Education Committee, a panel that oversees the state agency that awarded that same firm millions in contracts. Talarico’s campaign calls the accusation “a lie.”
The dispute lands as Talarico leads Republican Ken Paxton in recent polling in the closing stretch of Texas’s Senate race, a contest Republicans are anxious not to lose as they defend their Senate majority.
Talarico has spent months hammering Paxton over corruption, running ads that call him “the most corrupt politician in Texas.” Republicans are now firing back with their own corruption narrative, this time aimed at Talarico’s past work for a firm called MAYA Consulting, since rebranded as VIDA Collaborative.
The consulting arrangement
Talarico announced he was joining MAYA Consulting in a 2019 Facebook post, saying he would be “working with districts, nonprofits, and communities to build excellent and equitable educational opportunities for all our students.” A Senate campaign financial disclosure filed in 2025 shows he worked with the firm from 2019 until 2025.
Over that same span, legislative records show Talarico served as a voting member of the Texas House Public Education Committee, which oversees the Texas Education Agency (TEA). TEA registers from 2021 and 2022 show the agency awarded MAYA two contracts worth $3.578 million and $1.635 million, tied to priorities Talarico was pushing at the time, including addressing pandemic-era learning loss.
Talarico’s disclosure shows he earned $83,333.40 from the nonprofit in 2025, on top of his $13,904.92 part-time salary as a state representative.
Firm and campaign push back
Kassi Longoria, CEO of VIDA Collaborative, told Fox News Digital that Talarico worked as an “independent contractor consultant” from 2019 to 2025 and now “has no current role with our organization.” She said his consulting work “was structured, specifically to remain separate from his role as a Texas state legislator,” and that he “never worked under, received compensation from, or was involved in securing any state- or federally-funded contracts.” She added that the firm discloses any outside employment or conflicts of interest, including Talarico’s legislative role, when it applies for publicly funded work, and that his relationship with the firm was also disclosed in his required financial filings.
Republican National Committee spokesman Zach Kraft rejected that account, calling it a “textbook pay-to-play scheme with James Talarico steering millions in taxpayer funds to his DEI consulting agency under the condition he gets commission through a scam no-show job.” He went further, calling Talarico “one of the most morally bankrupt individuals to ever run for public office in Texas.”
“This is a lie,” said JT Ennis, a spokesperson for Talarico’s campaign.
Ennis said Talarico’s relationship to MAYA “was fully disclosed in compliance with Texas House rules,” that he “had no involvement in MAYA Consulting securing any public contracts,” and that his contract barred him from representing MAYA before the Legislature or education agencies. Ennis pivoted to Paxton, alleging he “has been impeached by his own party for bribery, reported to the FBI by his own staff, and indicted for investment fraud for scamming his own friends,” and calling Paxton “the most corrupt politician in Texas.”
Fox News Digital said it is not aware of any evidence that Talarico received a commission tied to contracts awarded to MAYA, a claim both the firm and the campaign deny. As a committee member, Talarico did not vote on or otherwise take part in TEA’s contract-award process.
Paxton’s past legal trouble
Paxton was indicted in July 2015 on charges he misled tech startup investors and failed to disclose he was being paid to promote the company’s stock. Prosecutors agreed in 2024 to drop the charges under a deal requiring Paxton to pay roughly $271,000 in restitution, perform 100 hours of community service and complete 15 hours of legal ethics courses. He did not enter a plea and was never convicted.
Paxton campaign spokeswoman Madison Cercy said, “It couldn’t be clearer: James Talarico sees Texans tax dollars as his own personal slush fund,” calling him a “taxpayer-funded DEI consultant whose employer receives millions of dollars from Texans while pushing radical ideology in our schools.” Fox News Digital said it is not aware of any evidence that Talarico misused tax dollars.
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