Jordan Walker Ross, who plays the apostle Little James on the television series The Chosen, announced his endorsement of Texas Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico and helped launch a faith-based voter coalition called “Faithful Texans for Talarico,” the campaign said.
The endorsement drew criticism from Republican figures, including a spokesperson for Ken Paxton’s campaign and state Rep. Brian Harrison, R-Texas, according to Fox News Digital.
A Paxton campaign spokesperson told Fox News Digital that “Everything about James Talarico is fake,” and accused the Democrat of using his religious beliefs to justify progressive positions on social issues.
Harrison criticized the endorsement on X and linked it to state film incentives, saying, “Your money is being used to help elect Democrats like James Talarico,” the report said. He also cited Texas Senate Bill 22, which expanded the state’s film incentive program.
Texas Film Commission records cited by Fox News Digital show The Chosen Texas LLC received approximately $862,527 for its second season in 2022 and $1.995 million for its fourth season in March 2025, totaling near $2.86 million. The story says both payments preceded the legislation’s Sept. 2025 effective date.
Harrison told Fox News Digital he viewed the film program as a “socialist scheme” and pledged to introduce legislation next session to repeal what he called Hollywood subsidies.
Ross defended the incentives and rejected calls to tie production opportunities to actors’ politics, saying the growing film industry in Texas “creates thousands of jobs for Texans” and that it would be unconstitutional to remove opportunities because actors endorse candidates, Fox News Digital reported.
Other critics quoted by Fox News Digital included Media Research Center host Brittany Hughes and Lisa Cusack, president of the Don’t L.A. My Burbank PAC, who questioned whether the endorsement would help Talarico with voters and cautioned about alienating some audiences.
Talarico, described in the report as a Presbyterian seminarian, faces Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who announced a “Pastors for Paxton” coalition with 27 faith leaders the same week, Fox News Digital said.
Fox News Digital reported it reached out to Talarico and the Texas Film Commission for comment and did not immediately receive a response.
Jon Ross Myers is the executive editor and publisher of the Mississippi News Network, Mississippi's largest digital only media company. He can be reached at editor@tippahnews.com
