Religion / Church-State
John Cornyn (R)
Cornyn was one of 12 Senate Republicans who voted for the Respect for Marriage Act in 2022, providing federal recognition for both same-sex and interracial marriages while building in religious-liberty protections for nonprofits and houses of worship. He has consistently voted for religious-liberty protections including the Equal Access Act and supports Title VII religious-employer accommodations. He has not co-sponsored federal Ten Commandments classroom mandates or chaplaincy laws, treating those as state-level questions where federal preemption is unwarranted. He attends Highland Park Presbyterian Church in Dallas and frames his faith in personal rather than majoritarian terms. He has been measured in the Paxton-led litigation against Muslim and Catholic institutions, declining to endorse the investigative posture against CAIR, East Plano Islamic Center, or Annunciation House.
James Talarico (D)
Talarico is a Presbyterian seminarian (Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary) studying to become a pastor. He calls himself 'a vocal critic of Christian nationalism' and 'the most vocal defender of the separation of church and state' in the Texas House. He opposes Ten Commandments mandates in classrooms, school chaplain laws, and Bible-infused public curricula, saying forcing the Commandments 'violates the most important commandment: love thy neighbor.' He has said 'the only thing worse than a tyrant is a tyrant who thinks they're on a mission from God.' He would pass the federal Do No Harm Act to prevent religious discrimination and reject policies forcing religion into neutral public spaces.
Sources
- Sen. John Cornyn, official Senate website and 2026 re-election campaign issues page, accessed May 2026 (cornyn.senate.gov; johncornyn.com). (full list)
- Talarico for Texas, official campaign issues pages (taxes, education, healthcare, immigration, social media/AI, freedom-family-faith, public-safety-justice, corruption-democracy, labor-business), accessed May 2026. (full list)
- Gabby Birenbaum, 'On the issues: A Q&A with Ken Paxton and John Cornyn,' Texas Tribune, April 20, 2026; companion Cornyn interview, April 2026. (full list)
- CNN interview, April 2026; Breitbart coverage of Paxton-Talarico exchange, April 23, 2026; Talarico op-ed on Christian Nationalism, Religion News Service, March 2026. (full list)