Talarico put on defense after 2020 comments about defunding police resurface: 'We must replace'

By Fox News · Fox News

Texas Democratic Senate nominee James Talarico's campaign is denying that he ever supported the "defund the police" movement after a video resurfaced showing the then-state lawmaker arguing at the height of the 2020 racial justice protests that it was "rich" for defunding police to be considered "off-limits" in political debate. "James did not call for and does not support defunding the police, and he strongly supports Texas law enforcement and first responders," Talarico campaign spokesperson JT Ennis told Fox News Digital, noting the comments were taken out of context by Talarico's critics after the remarks resurfaced Monday. Talarico made the remarks during a 2020 virtual discussion with Texas Rising, a progressive youth activist group, as protests and a national debate over policing swept the country following the death of George Floyd. UNEARTHED INTERVIEW EXPOSES WHAT TALARICO THOUGHT ABOUT 'TOUGH-ON-CRIME' TACTICS "As an educator, it's always rich to me that 'defund the police' is considered off-limits in our political debate, when defunding health services, defunding public education has been the stated policy of our state government for decades now," Talarico said. In a separate September 2020 interview with the local publication Honest Austin, Talarico echoed the same argument his campaign said was taken out of context when asked point-blank about the "defund the police" movement, according to CNN . "Our system of policing is deeply broken. We must replace it with something new and something better," he said before questioning whether armed officers were needed for every emergency. EXCLUSIVE: RESURFACED VIDEO SHOWS JAMES TALARICO DISCUSSING 'EXCITING' OPPORTUNITY TO END 'OVER-POLICING' During the Texas Rising discussion, Talarico acknowledged that the "defund the police" slogan was getting people "all riled up" in his community, but argued that voters were receptive when asked whether armed officers should respond to minor traffic accidents or mental-healt…