Did James Talarico, a candidate for U.S. Senate in Texas in the 2026 midterm campaign, say that the U.S. should have a "welcome mat" on the southern border? Yes, he did, but that was not a full quote of his words: Talarico said the border should have a "giant welcome mat," and then he added that it should have "a lock on the door." The post, which quotes Rep. Brandon Gill, left out the second half.
The claim appeared in a post (archived here) on X where it was published by the @Republicans account on Oct. 29, 2026. It opened:
@realBrandonGill: "[James Talarico] believes that we should have a 'welcome mat' on our southern border...and flood American communities with some of the worst of the worst... We're not going to allow to happen because we're going to elect KEN PAXTON!'
This is how a video of Talarico saying the phrase in question appeared on YouTube at the time of writing:
(Image source: short by @Politico on YouTube.)
The post reviewed in this fact check concerned the words of James Talarico (archived here), the Democratic candidate competing for a Texas seat in the U.S. Senate against Republican opponent Ken Paxton (archived here).
The claim has been online at least since March 3, 2026 (archived here), but in the final days before the 2026 Election Day, when early voting was already in progress (archived here). It resurfaced again when U.S. Rep. Brandon Gill (archived here) spoke at an Oct. 29, 2026, midterm rally in Weatherford, Texas. In the clip attached to the post that is the focus of this fact check, he said in part:
... most notably, James Talarico is somebody who has said, openly, that he believes that we should have a welcome mat on our southern border. And let me tell you, that is a euphemism for James Talarico telling you that he would like to, once again, reopen our southern border and flood American communities with some of the worst of the worst...
That, however, was not an accurate summary of Talarico's public stance on the issue.
His campaign website (archived here), which uses the same wording, says:
James Talarico believes our border should have a welcome mat out front and a lock on the door. His plan, endorsed by a Republican sheriff, hires more Border Patrol agents, cracks down on the cartels, and passes comprehensive immigration reform to fix a broken system.
Talarico also used the words in question during a conversation with POLITICO's journalist Dasha Burns (archived here), which was uploaded on YouTube on Sept. 27, 2026. Here is the full transcript of that clip:
TALARICO: We should treat our southern border like our front porch. We should have a giant welcome mat out front, and we should have a lock on the door. Those two things are not mutually exclusive. You have a right to know who's coming into your house, and you should be welcoming the stranger into your home and providing that hospitality.
BURNS: Do you think Democrats have put forth that kind of policy so far, though, to hold both of those at once?
TALARICO: Clearly not well enough, because we lost the last election, partly because of the issue of immigration. So, no, I think the Democratic Party has got to validate the desire for public safety. I mean, I've said before that we should be the party of public safety on immigration, on crime, on any of these issues, because Democrats are the ones trying to make government work for people. And not only does the government do public education and public health, but public safety is maybe the most important thing that the government does, at all levels: local, state, and federal. And we should be that party. We should be the ones against chaos at any level.
This claim was earlier reviewed by AFP Fact Check here.
