NEW: Talarico Campaign Hit With Major Allegation: ‘Blatant Corruption’

Texas Democratic Senate nominee James Talarico is facing fresh Republican accusations of “blatant corruption” over consulting work he performed for an education firm while serving on the Texas House Public Education Committee.

Talarico’s campaign has denied the allegation, calling it a “lie.”

The controversy centers on Talarico’s work for MAYA Consulting, now known as VIDA Collaborative, between 2019 and 2025.

During the same period, Talarico served as a voting member of the Texas House Public Education Committee, which oversees the Texas Education Agency.

State records cited in the report show TEA awarded MAYA contracts worth roughly $3.58 million and $1.64 million in 2021 and 2022.

Talarico publicly announced his consulting role in 2019, saying he would be “working with districts, nonprofits, and communities to build excellent and equitable educational opportunities for all our students.”

A federal financial disclosure later showed Talarico earned $83,333.40 from the organization in 2025, in addition to his legislative salary.

Republicans have seized on the overlap between his consulting work and committee assignment.

Republican National Committee spokesman Zach Kraft called the arrangement “blatant corruption.”

TEXAS SENATE RACE: While Talarico was responsible for oversight of the TEA, MAYA consulting was paying him 500% more per month than he made as a state legislator. Meanwhile, the TEA awarded MAYA millions in state contracts. The firm cannot explain what Talarico did to earn his… pic.twitter.com/KNh6ye1IJw

— @amuse (@amuse) September 18, 2026

“We are looking at a textbook pay-to-play scheme with James Talarico steering millions in taxpayer funds to his DEI consulting agency under the condition he gets commission through a scam no-show job,” Kraft told Fox News Digital.

But the available evidence does not show that Talarico personally awarded, voted on or controlled the contracts given to MAYA.

Fox News Digital reported that members of the Public Education Committee were not involved in TEA’s process for awarding those outside contracts.

Kassi Longoria, CEO of VIDA Collaborative, confirmed that Talarico worked as an “independent contractor consultant” from 2019 through 2025.

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She said Talarico “has no current role with our organization” and that “during his time at VIDA, his consulting work was structured, specifically to remain separate from his role as a Texas state legislator.”

Longoria also said Talarico “never worked under, received compensation from, or was involved in securing any state- or federally-funded contracts.”

She added that “as a matter of standard practice, VIDA discloses any outside employment or potential conflicts of interest for our staff — including Rep. Talarico’s legislative role — in our proposals when we apply for publicly-funded opportunities” and that “similarly, Rep. Talarico’s relationship with VIDA was disclosed in his required public financial disclosure filings.”

Talarico’s campaign also denied any wrongdoing.

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JT Ennis, a spokesperson for the campaign, said, “This is a lie.”

Ennis said that “James’ relationship to MAYA was fully disclosed in compliance with Texas House rules” and that “James had no involvement in MAYA Consulting securing any public contracts and his contract with MAYA barred him from representing MAYA before the Texas Legislature or education agencies.”

Republicans have continued hammering the issue as Talarico campaigns against Republican nominee Ken Paxton.

Madison Cercy, a spokeswoman for Paxton’s campaign, said, “It couldn’t be clearer: James Talarico sees Texans tax dollars as his own personal slush fund.”

Fox News Digital reported that it was not aware of evidence showing Talarico misused taxpayer money.

Cercy also called Talarico a “taxpayer-funded DEI consultant whose employer receives millions of dollars from Texans while pushing radical ideology in our schools.”

The accusation comes as both campaigns trade corruption charges in one of the country’s highest-profile Senate races.

So far, the dispute centers on Talarico’s disclosed consulting relationship and the firm’s state contracts, not evidence that he personally steered those contracts or received commissions from them.

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