James Talarico has returned to the campaign trail after a several-day absence caused by the flu, while rejecting a rumor that he had been receiving treatment at a mental health clinic.
The 37-year-old Texas Senate candidate last appeared in person on September 29, when he attended a fundraiser in New York City. The next day, he joined a business council meeting virtually and explained that he had become ill and did not want to risk infecting others.
‘I was starting to feel under the weather a few days ago,’ he told the audience, according to The New York Times.
‘Last night, it got so bad I went to the urgent care here in Dallas, and I was diagnosed with the flu, so I’m running a fever and I’m at my most contagious right now,’ he said. ‘I guess I’ve been shaking too many hands on the campaign trail.’
Talarico, a Democrat locked in a closely fought race against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, said he wanted to do everything possible to ‘keep everybody safe.’
‘If I was passing on this illness to somebody and got someone’s grandmother or someone’s baby sick, I couldn’t live with myself,’ he said.
He resumed campaigning Friday at the Austin City Limits Music Festival, 10 days after his last in-person appearance. Talarico again said he had been battling a ‘nasty case of the flu’ and had been ‘home, stuck in bed.’
His absence, coming just weeks before the midterm elections, nevertheless fueled a wave of conspiracy theories, including a claim that he had been admitted to a mental health clinic in Ohio.
Democratic Senate hopeful James Talarico (center) said he spent 10 days away from the campaign trail while recovering from the flu
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, Talarico’s opponent, and President Donald Trump shared posts suggesting the Democrat was ‘missing in action’
Speculation intensified after Paxton hinted online that Talarico was concealing an underlying issue. Paxton and his allies also created ‘missing’ posters targeting the Democratic candidate.
At one point, the attorney general demanded that Talarico pose for a photograph holding a newspaper with the date clearly visible as proof that he was alive.
‘We’ve tried posters. We’ve tried a formal proof-of-life request. Now we’re asking every Texan to join the search for Jimmy,’ the Paxton campaign declared.
Republicans also launched a telephone hotline called the ‘Tala-Freak-Out Tip Line,’ asking Texans to report any sightings of their political opponent.
President Donald Trump added to the speculation Wednesday, posting that Talarico was ‘MISSING IN ACTION!’
‘No one has seen him for an extended period of time. Where is he? What is wrong with him?’ Trump wrote on Truth Social, adding: ‘Bad rumors are coming out.’
Later that evening, Paxton led thousands of supporters at a rally with Trump in a chant of ‘Where is James Talarico?’
The next day, Senator Ted Cruz joined the campaign of speculation by sharing an image of Talarico’s face on a milk carton, styled like a missing-child poster, with the words: ‘Have you seen this man?’
Paxton’s Republican allies, including Trump and Senator Ted Cruz, circulated posts claiming that Talarico had mysteriously vanished from the campaign trail just weeks before the midterm elections
Soon, some online started to claim Talarico had been admitted to a mental health facility in Ohio. Republican influencers even claimed to record a phone call with the facility while posing as his cousin.
The facility released a statement on Sunday night saying that Talarico had not been a patient there.
‘Representative James Talarico has never received treatment from Lindner Center of Hope,’ they wrote on social media.
Talarico told MS Now the rumor was ‘the craziest thing I’ve ever heard.’
‘It’s wild that someone can just put up something on the Internet, and then the media just runs with it,’ he noted, before dismissing the speculation as ‘silly season in our politics’ and issuing a fresh challenge to Paxton.
‘He asked for proof of life from me. I’m asking proof of spine from him,’ Talarico said, referring to his repeated invitations to Paxton to debate him.
‘I’ve heard credible reports that Ken Paxton has a serious medical condition that causes clinical level of cowardice,’ he then joked.
He also told NBC DFW that the conspiracies are ‘a good reminder you can’t believe everything you read on the Internet.’
‘I had the flu and I’m feeling much better, and I’m glad I had a chance to recover,’ he asserted.
Talarico returned to the campaign trail at the Austin City Limits Music Festival on Friday
Talarico is seen posing with country singer Kacey Musgraves at the music festival
‘You know, if you don’t take the opportunity to get well, sometimes you can get even sicker and so I’m glad we made the decision to just take the week, get better and now I’m glad to be back on the trail.’
Kendall Scudder, chair of the Texas Democratic Party, meanwhile, told NewsNation’s Chris Stirewalt on The Hill Sunday that the campaign is now ‘full steam ahead.’
‘And of course, you’re going to see people in the swamps of the internet making up conspiracy theories. That’s what they always do,’ he said.
‘But the fact of the matter is, people sometimes get sick when you’re diabetic,’ Scudder said, referring to Talarico’s Type 1 diabetes diagnosis.
‘It takes you a little while to get recovered.’
JT Ennis, a spokesman for the Talarico campaign, also noted that he held ‘more than 100 public events’ and shook ‘tens of thousands of hands’ before getting sick.
Still, Paxton questioned his opponent’s explanation.
‘James Talarico claims he was missing for 13 days because he had the “flu.” Who actually believes that?’ he posted on Saturday, including an inaccurate number of days Talarico had been off the campaign trail.
Our News Outlet has reached out to the clinic where the Republican influencers say Talarico had been admitted for comment.
