The Republican National Committee (RNC) has criticised former Texas State Rep. and 2026 Democratic U.S. Senate nominee James Talarico for his inappropriate Facebook posts, accusing him of poor judgment and inappropriate behavior towards his former students. The RNC highlighted several posts from Talaric's time teaching sixth-grade language arts in San Antonio, including a 2012 post asking students to find similes in a passage from "The Handmaid's Tale," a novel with strong themes of sexual violence that critics argue is inappropriate for sixth-graders. The party alleges that Talarica also posted his personal cell phone number multiple times and frequently shared photos of his young students on social media. His team denies these allegations.