Texas Republicans have nominated a Senate candidate with so many scandals to his name that an incumbent GOP Senator last month said that calling him ethically challenged was like saying serial killer cannibal Jeffrey Dahmer had an eating disorder. The GOP counter? The Democratic nominee is actually worse—a vegan.

As he claimed the Republican nomination last week, state Attorney General Ken Paxton derided Democrat opponent James Talarico as “Tofu Talarico” and “Low-T Talarico”—implying he suffers from low testosterone. A Fox News host recently called Talarico a "gay vegan” and President Donald Trump’s top adviser said Talarico is “clearly transitioning into a female.” 

To set the record straight: Talarico eats meat and has a girlfriend. That isn’t stopping this line of attacks, which make clear that the GOP hopes to make one of the marquee midterm races a referendum on what it means to be a man. 

The strategy is the most obvious example of something bigger going on. In states like Georgia and New Hampshire where Republicans hope to net seats, efforts are underway to make the race more about the personal traits of younger Democratic candidates than policy positions or relevant experiences. It’s a sign that, despite a year and a half of controlling every lever of the federal government, Republicans find themselves struggling to pitch a compelling narrative for continued dominance. The personal attacks suggest they fear a debate on merits is one they will have a tough time winning.

Nowhere is the ham-handed effort more evident than in Texas, where a blend of culture war grievance and incel-targeting rage have circled the sharp-witted but mild-mannered Talarico, whose campaign is shaping up to be a fundraising juggernaut. The race to define Talarico has almost nothing to do with the actual job of representing his state’s 32 million residents in the Senate. Instead, it’s rooted in Republicans’ framing of Paxton’s perceived masculinity—and Talarico’s perceived lack thereof because he was caught supporting a vegan local business and liking vegetarian breakfast tacos. 

Within an hour of capturing an upset of a nomination over incumbent Republican Sen. John Cornyn, Paxton was doing his best to channel Trump’s name-calling bluster. “Six-Gender Jimmy,” and “James Tala-freak-o” both came from the podium as the state Attorney General with a fat oppo file pivoted to general-election mode. 

Even though a Democrat hasn’t won statewide in Texas in decades, Republicans are still making something of a bet that the smart play is a narrow appeal to the manosphere. These Joe Rogan-types were a crucial voting bloc in Trump’s re-election bid. But it’s a strategy that risks backfiring against a candidate like Talarico, a white cisgendered man who held his own last year on Rogan’s podcast, so much that the host urged him to run for President.

To be sure, Talarico, a seminarian and state lawmaker, has been trying to walk back some of his past comments that have given Paxton and others fodder. Yes, Talarico previously said God is non-binary and that there are, in fact, six genders in terms of chromosomal combinations. Talarico has not softened on his support for transgender rights but has said his other comments were “cringey” in hindsight. 

That has not stemmed some truly ugly rhetoric being hurled. Fox News personality Jesse Watters tried to make a funny when describing Talarico as a "gay vegan.” (Watters later said he was not being serious.) Watters’ co-host also questioned if Talarico was fabricating a girlfriend: “Does she live in Canada?” co-host Greg Gutfeld quipped. White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller said Talarico is transgender. "He's clearly transitioning into a female," Miller said. "When Talarico goes in for a blood test, when he gets a physical, blood doesn't come out. Soy milk comes out."

Even the President has gotten in on the action. “He’s a vegan in Texas, and you can’t get elected as a vegan in Texas,” Trump told reporters.

Talarico, a steady and disciplined presence on the campaign trail, is responding to the attacks while staying on message. "I've been eating barbecue since before Ken Paxton's first indictment," he said, pointing to Paxton's 2015 indictment on federal securities-fraud charges. Talarico has started selling merchandise with the “Tala-freak-o” branding. And, just for good measure, his campaign confirmed the identity of Talarico’s girlfriend after Texas outlet Current Revolt published her name despite the campaign’s requests of other newsrooms to do the opposite.

That’s not to say Talarico is focused entirely on white papers. It’s just that his critique of Paxton is one rooted in his real record, one that includes felony securities fraud charges and being federally investigated—but never charged—for public corruption. “The most corrupt politician in America just became the Republican nominee for the United States Senate,” Talarico said almost immediately after Paxton prevailed. “For 50 years, megadonors and their puppet politicians like Ken Paxton have stolen from us, with their bribes, bailouts and billionaire tax breaks. Ken Paxton has gotten away with it. They’ve all gotten away with it. But that ends this year, in this state, in this race.”

In his updated standard campaign speech, Talarico distills the argument neatly: “I have a legislative record. Ken Paxton has a criminal record.”

Thus unfolds the next six months of competing pitches to the electorate: Republicans say the Democrat is a cultural mismatch; Democrats say the Republican is corrupt to his core. It may be the most revealing race of the midterms.