On August 3, an email arrived in James Talarico's campaign inbox from an account calling itself GANGSTEROFLOVE817. According to a Texas Department of Public Safety affidavit obtained by KXAN, the sender threatens to kill Talarico, saying they will slit the candidate's throat in front of the world and "drag your body through the streets."
Eight days later, a second message arrived through Instagram from a nearly identical handle, GODFATHEROFLOVE817, the sender threatens to kill Talarico. This time saying they will castrate him and drag his corpse through the streets if he ever says such a thing again.
The “such a thing” Talarico said was about Black Americans being owed something for slavery.
Talarico had taken a question about reparations at a July 23 town hall in DeSoto and answered it honestly.
He floated tuition relief, homeownership grants, and baby bonds as ways to start repairing the damage, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported, and said the country won't get back on track until we commit to righting those wrongs.
For that, a 29-year-old man in River Oaks allegedly sent him two messages so thick with profanity and slurs that every outlet covering the story had to redact them.
(Antonioaesparza CC BY-SA 4.0)
What Investigators Found
Talarico's chief of staff reported the messages to DPS on August 12. Investigators sent search warrants to Google and Meta the next day. On August 17, Google handed over the account holder's billing and identifying information, which pointed to Billy James McFatridge.
Agents interviewed him at his workplace on August 19. He admitted the accounts were his. He admitted he sent the messages. He said he never meant to hurt anyone, that he just wanted to scare Talarico.
He also volunteered information about access to a rifle, a pistol, and a shotgun — and the affidavit notes that investigators do not currently know where those guns are.
That last detail matters, because this man doesn’t have a clean criminal history. The affidavit says Fort Worth police arrested McFatridge in 2018 for allegedly stabbing his mother with a long stick with a blade attached to the end.
In 2023, he allegedly sent a rambling threatening message to a former supervisor about bending the fabric of reality to his will and crushing anything in his way. The DPS agent wrote that those incidents point directly to the potential for violent escalation.
Talarico and several staffers signed sworn statements saying the messages made them fearful, afraid for their safety. The campaign added security at upcoming events, including one in the Fort Worth area — where a man with a history of violence threatens to kill Talarico and is charges with a misdemeanor.
Threats to Kill a Candidate Have the Same Consequences as a Bar Fight
McFatridge was arrested August 25 and faces two counts of terroristic threat against a public servant. Under Texas Penal Code 22.07, that's a Class A misdemeanor: up to a year in county jail and a $4,000 fine, as the San Antonio Current noted.
Threaten a peace officer or a judge in Texas and the same statute bumps you to a state jail felony. Threaten a candidate for the United States Senate and you’re on the same tier as a first-offense DWI.
DPS asked for bond conditions if he's released: GPS monitoring, a mental health evaluation, no firearms, no contact with Talarico or his staff, and no going near the Texas Capitol.
Darryl Paulson, an emeritus professor of government at the University of South Florida, told CBS Austin that threats against political figures keep escalating.
"Really, the time to stop any political violence in the United States was yesterday," he said. Threat assessment expert Park Dietz added that people who fire off threats online badly underestimate how easily they get identified.
A problem can’t be solved without first admitting the problem. The Trump administration ignores the violent, bloodthirsty threats coming from people on the Right. The former FBI Director told Congress that the biggest threat to the country was “racially-motivated violent extremists.”
“The top domestic terrorism threat we face continues to be from domestic violent extremists (DVEs) we categorize as racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists...” (White Supremacists, white nationalist groups)
Christopher Wray, FBI Director in 2023
The Trump administration has already identified their national secuity strategy: Go after far-left terrorists and groups like antifa (that dont exist). DSA candidates are the “communists” in Red Scare 2.0.
Meanwhile, there’s an alarming rise in radicalization and extremism in our military. But the Pentagon is worried about trans people in the military.
They won't admit the actual cause of the problem, so it will continue to get worse and politicians could be injured or killed (Melissa Hartman and husband).
This is Trump’s America
Talarico has been marinating in this for months. In March, a Tennessee pastor who serves as a spiritual adviser to Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said on a podcast that he wanted Talarico "crucified with Christ," while his co-host prayed for God to kill him and suggested he be stopped by any means necessary if his heart couldn't be changed.
Austin residents have reported his yard signs being stolen. Now a man with three guns and a stabbing arrest is telling federal agents he just wanted to scare him.
The numbers back up Talarico’s reality. The U.S. Capitol Police opened 14,938 threat assessment cases in 2025, a roughly 60% jump over the year before.
Chief Michael Sullivan told a House subcommittee in March that 2026 is on pace to blow past that, growing at what he called an alarming rate.
We reported on another incident of political violence two days ago. An armed man rushed Ohio Democratic candidate Amy Acton at the Canfield Fair, knocking two older volunteers to the ground before police took him into custody. He had two guns, a taser, and brass knuckles on him.
The Other Part of This Story
Get rid of the case numbers and the statute citations and what's left is a man who allegedly sent racist, homophobic messages threatening to kill a Senate candidate because that candidate suggested the country should help Black families buy homes and pay tuition.
Talarico is running a genuinely competitive race against Ken Paxton in a state Democrats haven't won statewide in three decades, with record-shattering fundraising behind him. He’s not a fragile figure.
It takes strength to stand up and fight for the people of Texas in a government where the Republican Party controls the offices of governor, secretary of state, attorney general, and both chambers of the state legislature.
Talarico has stood up again and again. He was able to get legislation passed, like the cap on the cost of insulin for diabetic Texans.
Young people answering campaign email for a living — had to read those messages first, then sign sworn statements about being afraid to do their jobs.
Talarico may be strong, but nobody can have their life threatened in such violent ways and not be affected by it.
But it looks like that’s the price that must be paid right now by anyone who steps forward to run for office, and by everyone who works for them. First come the threats. Sometimes that's where it ends. Increasingly, it isn't.
