Texas state Rep. James Talarico, the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate, has gone roughly two weeks without an in-person campaign event in Texas, less than a month before the general election. His campaign says he has the flu. Republican rival Ken Paxton's campaign and several conservative commentators say the explanation doesn't account for the length of the absence or the timeline the candidate himself has given.
Anja Schlein/The Dallas Morning News
Talarico's last in-person event in the state took place Sept. 26. His campaign has attributed the gap to illness and said it expects him back on the trail this weekend. His only appearance since then came Sept. 30, when he delivered virtual remarks to the Hispanic Business Council.
That appearance is the source of the timeline dispute. Talarico reportedly traveled to New York on Sept. 29 for a private fundraiser featuring Robert De Niro. In his remarks to the Hispanic Business Council the next day via Zoom, he said he had checked himself into an urgent care facility in Dallas.
Republican strategist Caroline Wren laid out the sequence on Real America's Voice. She said Talarico last appeared at a Texas campaign event at a football game on Sept. 26, and that fundraising invitations listed events for him in New York City on Sept. 28 and 29, including one at 5:30 p.m. on Sept. 29. She said the business council forum had been planned as an in-person event, and that Talarico apologized on the call for his absence and said he had been sick enough the day before to go to urgent care.
"I don't understand how you could be at a fundraising event in New York City and in a Dallas urgent care," Wren said.
Wren also questioned the flu explanation. She said a case of the flu typically means a few days of serious illness and a few more of recovery, which she put at "a week tops," and that a sick candidate would still hold virtual events or record videos. She cited Michael Jordan playing in the NBA Finals with the flu and President George H.W. Bush attending a state dinner in Japan in 1992 while ill.
"That just does not make sense," she said of Talarico's flu excuse.
Paxton's campaign has made the absence a feature of its closing message.
The dubious absence has also produced a second, unverified account of where Talarico has been. Spencer Pratt, the former Los Angeles mayoral candidate, wrote on X that Talarico is in a mental health facility, citing sources he did not name. No one has confirmed the claim, and Pratt offered no documentation.
"My sources are telling me Talarico is in a mental health facility," Pratt wrote. "His campaign has stopped actively planning events in the vital homestretch of the campaign."
Pratt wrote that the report, if accurate, would be disqualifying for a Senate bid, and he blamed Talarico's advisors, saying they pushed the candidate to be something he isn't. He also wrote that he does not wish Talarico harm.
"If this is true, this is actually a time to pray for Talarico," Pratt wrote. "I'm praying that this isn't true, and he's OK. You want to win these fights on the battlefield of ideas, not the minefield of poor health."
Sara Gonzales of Blaze Media and Texas Scorecard wrote in a Thursday post that drew wide circulation that she had received unverified information about Talarico's whereabouts. She said the information would end his campaign if true, and asked anyone who could confirm it to email her, promising anonymity.
Paxton weighed in himself, posting that "Jimmy" appears to be having a mental "Tala-freak-out" on the national stage. Gonzales repeated the line in her own post.
The Talarico campaign has not publicly addressed the mental health claim, and it has not explained the overlap between the Sept. 29 New York fundraiser and the Dallas urgent care visit the candidate described. Whether Talarico appears in person this weekend, as his campaign has said he will, is the next test of its account.
Wren said the campaign's handling of the absence indicates it is covering something up, and she pointed to the money at stake in a race she expects to top $400 million.
"You don't just call out sick for two weeks unless you are dying in a hospital bed, and your campaign communicates that," Wren said. "But we have nothing; they're not telling us anything."
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