Texas Dem Senate Nominee James Talarico Had Public School Students Write ‘Obama Memoirs’
Cameron Arcand
Daily Wire
March 12, 2026
Texas Senate Democratic nominee James Talarico is facing scrutiny over social media posts from his time as a teacher in a public middle school, including assignments in which students were instructed to write “Obama memoirs” and encouraged to watch the Democratic National Convention.
Facebook posts reviewed by The Daily Wire from Talarico’s teacher page during the 2011-2012 school year show the then-sixth-grade language arts instructor incorporating his own political perspectives at Jeremiah Rhodes Middle School in San Antonio.
In a November 13, 2012, post, days after President Barack Obama defeated Republican Mitt Romney, Talarico posted: “Today, we finished writing our Obama memoirs. We’ve been learning about narrative non-fiction writing like memoirs for the past 2 weeks.”
“Students wrote a memoir of Election Night from the point of view of a member of the Obama family. Awesome job, Wildcats!” he added. A photo accompanying the post showed a student essay beneath the word, “Victory!!!!!!”
In another post, Talarico highlighted the student memoirs on a classroom wall alongside images of the Obama family and the Obama campaign logo.
Other posts show students participating in “debate bingo” during the presidential and vice presidential debates and being asked which candidate they thought won.
On September 4, 2012, Talarico encouraged his students to watch then-San Antonio Democratic Mayor Julian Castro deliver the keynote address at the DNC.
“Tonight, our own San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro will give the keynote speech at the Democratic National Convention!” Talarico wrote. “Mayor Castro grew up near Rhodes Middle School although he went to Tafolla MS. You can watch his speech tonight at 9pm on WOAI or KENS 5.”
Photos from the classroom also show a “free thinker” wall featuring public figures including Obama, Castro, leftist activist Dolores Huerta, Cesar Chavez, Bill Gates, and Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, and various writers and artists, according to a September 2011 post.
The Daily Wire reached out to Talarico’s campaign and the San Antonio Independent School District for comment.
Republicans have commented on the resurfaced posts.
“From these Facebook posts it is clear he was pushing a partisan political message to middle school students in a deeply inappropriate way,” said Matt Mackowiak, a senior advisor to incumbent Sen. John Cornyn’s campaign. “It makes you wonder what he was teaching those kids in class behind closed doors.”
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