Texas Democrat James Talarico is running for the Senate, and his campaign thought it had a clever play. Reveal the girlfriend, and treat it like a power move against those questioning his sexuality. Instead, the move has sparked new questions that his campaign needs to answer, but so far won’t.
Last week, perhaps in response to Republicans mocking him as “Low-T Talarico,” his campaign cleverly revealed that he does, in fact, have a girlfriend, and she isn’t some mystery girl who lives in Niagara Falls, either. Her name is Brianna Manard, and she’s a radical left-wing lobbyist.
But that’s not the whole story.
She may be a lobbyist today, but she also used to be a Talarico legislative staffer. That’s actually where the uncomfortable questions start piling up. As Townhall previously reported, Talarico used his position as a Texas state legislator to help Menard land a taxpayer-funded chief-of-staff job in another Democrat’s office.
Rep. Salman Bhojani confirmed to the Texas Tribune that he hired Menard after Talarico personally emailed him with a recommendation for the position.
A 2022 Texas Tribune interview with Salman Bhojani reveals that James Talarico used his position to secure a taxpayer-funded job for his soon-to-be girlfriend Brianna Menard. The Talarico campaign has acknowledged that Menard left his staff so that they could date. pic.twitter.com/V0t2LRAL1r
— Joe Chalfant (@JoeChalfant) May 30, 2026
Talarico claimed in a podcast interview that Menard only left Talarico’s office after the two had “developed feelings for each other,” but he didn’t want to reveal her name at the time. And there may be a good reason for that: The claim that she only left after they discovered their feelings for each other has a timeline problem. Talarico has publicly stated the relationship has lasted roughly four years. Menard departed in January 2023. Work the math backward, and the relationship traces directly to her tenure as his chief of staff. The campaign has offered no explanation for that discrepancy.
The story gets messier from there.
Today, Menard works for the Texas Medical Association as a lobbyist. According to TexasLobby.org, abortion is among her areas of expertise.
Talarico’s campaign says the couple developed feelings while Menard worked as his chief of staff but did not begin dating until after she left his office. The campaign did not address questions about whether Talarico sees any concerns with lawmakers being in relationships with lobbyists.
Additionally, Talarico’s campaign did not answer whether this was the only romantic relationship the candidate has had with a staffer.
Outside of the timeline questions, Menard’s personal background reflects many of the progressive causes often associated with Talarico’s political brand.
A lawmaker dating a lobbyist is technically legal, but it raises serious ethical questions. Heck, even non-romantic relationships with lobbyists can be seen as a conflict of interest for lawmakers.
After Current Revolt broke the story of the secret staffer relationship, Texas Scorecard asked a pointed question: Has Talarico pursued inappropriate relationships with staffers before Menard? His campaign reportedly declined to answer.
“James Talarico needs to be transparent with Texans about how many staffers he has been inappropriate with, including interns,” RNC spokesman Zach Kraft said in a statement. “Every Texas Democrat should be asked if they think it is acceptable for elected officials to pursue romantic relationships with their staff and interns.”
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