James Talarico’s U.S. Senate campaign held a Boston fundraiser attended by the founding CEO of a Massachusetts clinic that offers puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones to children as the Texas Democrat defends his record on transgender issues.
At the June 3 fundraiser, Talarico posed for a photo with Dallas Ducar, a transgender-identifying man who is also the founding CEO of Transhealth, a clinic in Northampton, Massachusetts, that provides gender-transition procedures to pediatric patients. Ducar posted the photo to LinkedIn that evening, praising Talarico and calling him “the real deal.” He also posted a photo of himself with Talarico the night of the fundraiser.
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“His message on civil rights isn’t a talking point; it’s conviction, and it’s the kind of leadership we need right now more than ever,” Ducar wrote.
The invitation described the event as a “reception in support of James Talarico’s campaign for U.S. Senate.” It was paid for by Talarico Victory Fund, a joint fundraising committee authorized by Talarico for Texas, the Texas Democratic Party, and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.
Ducar, who transitioned to living as a woman two years ago, led Transhealth from its founding in 2020 through 2024. The clinic offers gender-affirming procedures to patients up to age 21, including puberty blockers and hormone therapy, according to its website. Federal Election Commission filings show Ducar has repeatedly donated to Democratic candidates and ActBlue.
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In July 2022, Ducar told the Texas Observer that “delaying transition until adulthood is likely to cause lasting and irreparable psychosocial harm.” In a 2022 NBC News interview, she said, “We know trans childhood is not a trend” and “This is not a culture war. This is health care.”
“We know that gender diversity is part of the human experience. It’s been documented since the Neolithic period and the Bronze Age,” Ducar told the outlet.
The Boston fundraiser comes as conservative critics argue Talarico is misleading voters about his record on transgender issues. In 2021, Talarico voted against Senate Bill 29 while serving on the Texas House Public Education Committee. The legislation sought to require public-school athletes to compete according to the sex listed on their birth certificates. Talarico was one of five committee members to vote against the bill, which passed the committee 8-5.
During a Fox appearance earlier this summer, Talarico said he would support a national ban on gender-transition surgeries for minors. Asked about such a ban, he answered, “Absolutely.”
“If you go back and check, I voted for a major amendment to limit the bill to banning surgeries for minors,” he said.
“As a lawmaker, my job is to try to sift through everything the bill does. And sometimes there’s stuff in it that’s really harmful, and I have no choice but to oppose the bill as a whole,” he added.
But Talarico’s record tells a more complicated story. In 2023, he voted against a Texas law restricting gender-transition surgeries and cross-sex hormone treatments for minors, as The Daily Wire reported.
In an undercover video obtained by The Daily Wire, Talarico told a woman posing as a supporter on Sept. 13 that his views on transgender issues “haven’t changed,” despite his campaign makeover. Asked whether she could count on him to defend her transgender niece’s ability to compete in women’s sports, Talarico replied, “Always,” adding that he would continue fighting for transgender youth in the Senate as he had in the Texas Legislature.
He said sports participation policies should be decided “locally” and “sport by sport, athlete by athlete,” claiming he has “the most inclusive policy of any candidate who’s running.”
Ducar, whom he fundraised with, now holds a leadership position at Fenway Health and is vice president of the board of GLAD Law, an LGBT advocacy organization that challenged Tennessee’s ban on gender-transition treatments for minors. The Supreme Court upheld the ban in June 2025.
Fenway Health previously provided puberty blockers and hormone therapy to transgender youth but stopped prescribing the treatments to patients under 19 in October 2025, citing changes to federal grant requirements.
The Daily Wire reached out to both Talarico’s campaign and Ducar for comment.
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