JD Vance, who once thought he was gay before changing his name twice, suggests James Talarico is gay

This story appeared first on Them.On Tuesday, Vice President JD Vance was filmed making assertions about Democratic U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico’s sexuality at a Republican campaign rally in Tyler, Texas. At the rally, held at the old terminal of Tyler Pounds Regional Airport, Vance stood at a podium in front of a U.S. aircraft carrier, as C-SPAN captured in footage. With cheers from the audience, Vance seems to hear a fan say, “I love you,” to which he replies, “I love you too, sir. In a totally platonic way, to be clear. I’m the vice president, not James Talarico.”Talarico, who has expressed support for LGBTQ+ people in the past, is straight and has confirmed being in a long-term, approximately four-year relationship with a woman named Brianna Menard. Talarico has made no public mention of being gay as Vance implied in his Tuesday morning statement. Rather, this marks one of several attempts by Republicans to insult the Texan candidate for Senate ahead of the midterm election. In fact, this most recent jab came just six days before Texans’ early voting period began.Vance attended the rally to support Talarico’s Republican opponent, current Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who also recently appeared to diss President Donald Trump on a hot mic. In the same speech, Vance called Talarico “Tala-freak-co,” “fake and a fraud,” “a freak,” “a content machine,” and other ad hominem statements while criticizing several of the Senate candidate’s political stances. Vance also said, You gotta wonder what the internet search history of a man like that looks like. Ladies and gentlemen, you don't want to find out. Neither do I.” X users had a lot to say, weighing in on Vance’s statement. One person said, “Same guy btw,” above a photo of J.D. Vance doing drag. Another said, “Its over vance.. texas turning blue 💙.” Several social media users pointed out the irony of Vance’s statement, given the photographic evidence of his