Texas Senate hopeful James Talarico once pushed ending a $1 billion natural gas tax exemption while rolling out a state Green New Deal, a stance that collides with his current pro-oil campaign line.
The Washington Free Beacon reported that a 2019 Austin Chronicle interview caught the then-state representative arguing for elimination of the high-cost natural gas tax exemption just as he advanced a Texas version of the Green New Deal.
Talarico is now the Democratic nominee in a tight Senate race against Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton. On the trail he stresses oil and gas jobs, family ties to the industry, and an “all-of-the-above” energy approach. The earlier record shows a different priority.
In the 2019 interview he called the exemption an “outdated and inefficient” loophole kept alive by special interests.
"It was put in place in the 1980s when it was more expensive to drill for natural gas. Technology has advanced and it's no longer as difficult, but because of special interests that exemption is still in place in our tax code."
Texas created the high-cost natural gas exemption in 1989. A 2023 state report to the governor and legislature found it has saved the industry about $1 billion per year since 2023, with the value projected to hold steady through 2028.
The Texas Comptroller’s Office sets the rules. Wells qualify based on a statewide median-cost benchmark for drilling. High-cost gas must come from depths greater than 15,000 feet, certain geological structures, or tight formations. More expensive wells relative to the benchmark can claim a larger tax break.
Talarico did not stop at the tax exemption. In March 2021 he introduced two climate bills.
One, HB4157, aimed to “ensure every public school student in Texas has a strong science-based understanding of human-caused climate change and its consequences.” He said it would “inspire a new generation of climate activists.”
The other, the Texas Climate Action Act (HB2206), would have required the state to cut carbon emissions in half by 2030 and by 90 percent by 2050, targets nearly identical to the federal Green New Deal framework associated with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
Two years earlier, in September 2019, he marched with students at a Youth Climate Strike at the Texas State Capitol and posted about it on Facebook.
"So proud to stand with our young people during their Youth Climate Strike at the Texas Capitol. Students around the world are walking out of school to save our planet. It's time for the grown-ups to follow their lead. #ClimateStrike."
The Free Beacon noted the post showed him posing with two young girls at the event. The strike was linked to the Fridays For Future movement associated with Swedish activist Greta Thunberg.
This month Talarico’s campaign released an ad promising to “fight for the good-paying oil and gas jobs that power our economy.”
At a recent CNN town hall he went further, tying his personal story and public schools to the industry.
"I've had family members who have worked in the oil and gas industry here in our state. I went to public schools here in Texas that were funded by the oil and gas industry. That's how we fund public education in the state. So, I owe a lot to that industry, as most Texans do. And so I'm campaigning on an all-of-the-above energy strategy that includes oil and gas."
When the Free Beacon asked for comment, a Talarico campaign spokesman pointed back to those town-hall remarks and a related line: “What I don't want to see is politicians, frankly, in both parties playing politics with Texas energy.”
Federal data and American Petroleum Institute figures cited in the reporting underscore why the industry matters in Texas. The state is the nation’s largest energy producer. Oil and gas produce more than $400 billion to state GDP and more than $250 billion in total labor income. Roughly 620,000 Texans work in the sector.
Mike Palicz, vice president of federal affairs at Americans for Tax Reform, told the Free Beacon the old positions still matter.
"Talarico can't run from his record. As a lawmaker he supported tax hikes and sweeping new regulations on American energy producers that would've hammered Texans with higher energy bills and rising gas prices. Talarico sided with the Green New Deal Democrats over Texas workers and families, he'll do it again in Washington if given the chance."
Industry voices flagged the same risk years earlier. In a 2012 column, San Antonio oil-and-gas accountant Craig Clayton defended the exemption after advocates called for its elimination.
"Why raise taxes on an industry that is the growing bright spot for our local and regional economy?"
The Free Beacon piece frames the 2019 interview and 2021 bills against Talarico’s current Senate-race messaging. It does not show a recorded floor vote specifically repealing the exemption, only his public advocacy for ending it and the broader climate package he introduced.
Passage status for HB4157 and HB2206 is not detailed beyond introduction. Exact dates for the campaign ad and CNN town hall are given only as “this month” and “recent” relative to the October 21, 2026 Free Beacon article.
What is clear is the sequence. In 2019 Talarico labeled a long-standing natural-gas tax break a special-interest loophole and stood with climate-strike students. In 2021 he filed bills to mandate climate curriculum and deep emissions cuts. In 2026, running statewide against Paxton, he highlights family oil-and-gas roots, school funding from the industry, and a pledge to protect those jobs.
Texas voters now get to weigh which version of the record they believe will show up in Washington.
