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Texas Democrats’ newly minted Senate nominee James Talarico is facing a wave of backlash after an old social media post in which he said his “white skin” gave him “immunity” from the “virus of racism” resurfaced online.

Republicans and commentators blasted the remarks as “peak woke,” arguing the comments could become a major liability in the November election.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott quickly seized on the post, predicting the Democrat’s campaign is already doomed as Democrats try to flip one of the state’s two U.S. Senate seats for the first time since 1988.

“If this is a real Talarico post, he is toast,” Abbott wrote.

“This is Tim Walz clone territory. He could win in Minnesota, but not in Texas,” the Republican governor added.

Talarico, a Democratic state lawmaker, clinched his party’s nomination Tuesday after defeating Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, in the primary. But critics wasted little time resurfacing a May 8, 2020 post he made during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and the national uproar following the killing of Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia.

In the message, Talarico likened systemic racism to a contagious virus carried by white Americans.

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“White skin gives me and every white American immunity from the virus,” Talarico’s full post read. “But we spread it wherever we go—through our words, our actions, and our systems. We don’t have to be showing symptoms—like a white hood or a Confederate flag—to be contagious.”

The comments drew swift condemnation from Republican leaders.

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, blasted the remarks, writing, “Left-wing zealots are very, very different from ordinary Americans. Among other things, they are open racists.”

Iowa Solicitor General Eric Wessan also criticized the message.

“Officials should not treat people differently based on skin color. There is nothing magic in Mr. Talarico’s complexion. It’s not infectious, evil, or bad,” Wessan said.

“To the extent he is trying to attack ‘the West’, that’s wrong too. Stereotyping whiteness as KKK or confederate is gross,” Wessan further said.

Pundits across the ideological spectrum piled on, with some suggesting the post could haunt Talarico in a statewide race.

“Talarico should try something unusual that worked for [New York City Mayor] Zohran Mamdani: He should apologize for bad past comments,” journalist Josh Barro wrote.

“Mamdani didn’t win skeptics over just by being handsome and charming — he announced that he had changed and said he was sorry. (Kamala should have tried this too!)”

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Commentary editor John Podhoretz tied the resurfaced post to another controversial moment from Talarico’s time in the Texas legislature.

“Add this to ‘God is non-binary‘ and you have a Republican campaign against him,” Podhoretz wrote, referencing a 2021 video in which Talarico used the phrase during remarks on the state House floor.

Fox News contributor Mary Katharine Ham argued the remarks reflect a broader problem for Democrats who embraced similar rhetoric in the early 2020s.

“There’s a rational desire from Dems to find a candidate who didn’t say this stuff publicly in 2020-22, so they can pretend they didn’t put us all through this nonsense,” Ham wrote. “But it will be hard to find a non-R person old enough to run for office who didn’t [because] ‘silence was violence.’”

Abbott again highlighted the post after his own primary win.

“If this is a real Talarico post, he is toast,” said Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, who drew attention to the remarks after having just won his primary race for re-election.

Talarico’s campaign pushed back, accusing Republicans of trying to distract voters.

“While they lob stale attacks to mislead Texans, we are uniting the people of Texas to win in November,” Talarico campaign spokesman JT Ennis said.

Ennis also took aim at the state’s top Republican leaders.

“Our campaign is building a movement poised to change the politics of this state and take power back for working people,” Ennis added, accusing Sen. John Cornyn, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, Abbott and “the billionaires who prop them up” of being “scared of James Talarico for good reason.”

Talarico will face either Cornyn or Paxton in November. Both Republicans advanced to a May 26 runoff after neither candidate secured a majority in Tuesday’s GOP primary.

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