Talarico Reappears on Campaign Trail After 9-Day Absence

AUSTIN, TX — After a nine-day absence from the campaign trail, Democratic U.S. Senate nominee James Talarico re-emerged Friday with an unannounced appearance at the Austin City Limits music festival.

Talarico hadn’t made an in-person public appearance since Sept. 28 at a fundraiser in New York with Robert De Niro. His last public appearance of any kind was Sept. 30 when he called in virtually to an event with the U.S. Hispanic Business Council.

Talarico’s campaign claimed he had a long battle with the flu, but there has been speculation that he checked into a mental health facility in Ohio.

A call — which has not been verified — to the Lindner Center of Hope in Ohio was released in which a receptionist is heard saying Talarico had already checked out of the facility.

Whatever the reason, the lengthy absence occurred at a curious time with Election Day just weeks away on Nov. 3.

Talarico was seen walking the grounds Friday of Austin’s Zilker Park, the site of ACL, and greeting voters.

“Hate to disappoint the conspiracy theorists, but James is still alive and meeting with voters at ACL today,” Talarico spokesperson JT Ennis posted on X on Friday afternoon, alongside a video of Talarico at the festival.

Republican Senate nominee Ken Paxton and President Donald Trump ripped the Austin Democrat for his absence from the trail. Over the past few days, Paxton’s campaign demanded “proof of life,” which was never provided.

“If James Talarico is too fragile to face Texans, he has no business asking for their vote, Paxton campaign spokesperson Madison Cercy said in a statement Thursday.

Talarico, 37, has Type I diabetes, a diagnosis he received during his 2018 campaign for the Texas House. During that race, he reportedly went into a state of ketoacidosis and fell asleep for 36 hours. 

Flu complications can be more severe for people with diabetes, though a nine-day stretch with no public appearances — not even on Zoom — fueled speculation that something else was at play.

“I guess I’ve been shaking too many hands on the campaign trail, and so I want to keep everybody safe,” Talarico said Sept. 30, when he called into an event with the U.S. Hispanic Business Council. “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.”

Talarico added during that event that his sickness sent him to urgent care in Dallas the night before.