Democratic U.S. Senate nominee James Talarico made a surprise appearance Friday at Austin City Limits Music Festival, returning to public view on the first day of Weekend 2 after days of speculation about his whereabouts in the lead-up to November’s election.
“I come to ACL every year,” Talarico told the American-Statesman backstage at the Beatbox stage during a set by World Famous Pets, the band fronted by Texas-born Edie Brickell.
The candidate said he was most excited to see Turnstile and Natasha Bedingfield on Friday.
“The best thing to do was to put safety first and put everyone’s health first,” Talarico said at the virtual forum sponsored by the United States Hispanic Business Council. He had been scheduled to attend the Rio Grande Valley event in person.
His last in-person public appearance was Sept. 28 in New York. During that visit, Talarico attended a fundraiser hosted by actor Robert De Niro.
Talarico’s campaign issued a statement Friday addressing his nine-day absence from the campaign trail, saying he was looking “forward to being back out this weekend after recovering from the flu.”
Talarico’s camp also took the opportunity to jab at his challenger, Republican U.S. Senate nominee Ken Paxton, noting that it had been “84 days since [Talarico] challenged Paxton to come out of hiding and answer Texans’ questions in debate, which even President Trump called on him to do this week.”