Highly popular GOP Texas Senate candidate Ken Paxton ripped James Talarico for his prolonged absence and questionable claims that he had the flu.
Texas Democrat Senate nominee James Talarico finally surfaced on Friday after a noticeable two-week absence from the campaign trail.
Talarico’s campaign said the Texas Democrat was gone from the public for two weeks because he had the flu.
Talarico was so sickly that he hid from Texas voters for nearly two weeks during the last leg of the race to the midterm elections.
On Friday afternoon, Talarico was spotted at ACL Fest in Austin.
Does Talarico look like he had the flu for two weeks?
ACL Fest @jamestalarico https://t.co/edKAO21FMH
— Andy Langer (@Andylanger) October 9, 2026
On Sunday morning, it was revealed that Talarico may have had a mental health crisis and was holed up at the Lindner Center of HOPE in Ohio.
In a phone call placed by political strategist Rhein Amacher and independent journalist Nick Sortor to the Lindner Center, an employee allegedly confirms that Talarico had been “just discharged” from the facility on Saturday. He was seemingly discharged the day before, on Friday, but his discharge was likely not processed or finalized immediately. She did, however, confirm that he was at the facility.
Lindner Center HOPE released a statement on Sunday evening and said Talarico has never received treatment from the facility.
Representative James Talarico has never received treatment from Lindner Center of Hope.
— Lindner Center HOPE (@LindnerCtrHope) October 11, 2026
Later Sunday, Talarico changed his story about his doctor visit during an interview with MSNOW.
Talarico previously said he visited an urgent care in Dallas. On Sunday, he told MS NOW that he visited his primary care physician, presumably near his home in Austin.
On Sunday evening, during an appearance on Fox News, Ken Paxton called Talarico a liar.
The big story is 2 weeks is a long time to be away with the flu, and it’s just a very strange time to disappear,” Paxton said.
“He spent this entire campaign lying about his positions, all those things that you heard him say about boys and girls sports, which he’s voted for twice, voting for transitioning kids, voting for state income tax, voting not to secure the border and work with law enforcement….” Paxton said.
Paxton also said that Talarico just doesn’t have the strength to serve as a US senator.
“I don’t know whether to believe him about the flu or not, I just know that almost everything he says has been false about the campaign,” he said.
“He’s not strong enough… he’s not capable…the only thing he’s capable is lying to the voters,” Paxton said.
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