Prior to his appearance at ACL, Talarico had not held an in-person public event in Texas since he revealed late last month he was diagnosed with the flu.

AUSTIN, Texas — State Rep. James Talarico, the Democrat running for U.S. Senate in Texas, put Republican rumors that he’s missing to bed on Friday afternoon after he was spotted at the Austin City Limits music festival.

Republicans have been on the attack because Talarico has not held an in-person, public event in Texas since Sept. 26 in Carrollton. The Republican Senate nominee, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, and his campaign tried to capitalize on it.



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Videos and photos posted to social media on Friday showed Talarico at ACL shaking hands with festivalgoers and taking photos.

“Hate to disappoint the conspiracy theorists, but James is still alive and meeting with voters at ACL today,” Talarico campaign spokesperson JT Ennis said in a statement.

Before his appearance at ACL on Friday, Talarico’s last in-person event was in New York City for a fundraiser hosted by actor Robert De Niro on Sept. 29.

Talarico has not been on the road because he had the flu, something he publicly revealed more than a week ago.

He was supposed to appear in person at a U.S. Hispanic Business Council forum in Edinburg on Sept. 30 but appeared virtually instead. Talarico said after his trip to New York City, he returned to Dallas and went to urgent care. He appeared under the weather while speaking at the U.S. Hispanic Business Council forum.

“I was starting to feel kind of under the weather a few days ago, and last night it got so bad that I went to the urgent care here in Dallas, and I was diagnosed with the flu,” Talarico said. “I’m running a fever, and I’m my most contagious right now. And I guess I’ve been shaking too many hands on the campaign trail, and so I want to keep everybody safe.”

Talarico’s campaign said earlier Friday that he should be well enough to return to the campaign trail this weekend.

“James looks forward to being back out this weekend after recovering from the flu,” Talarico campaign spokesperson JT Ennis said in a statement to KVUE on Friday. “It’s been 84 days since James challenged Ken Paxton to come out of hiding and answer Texans’ questions in a debate, which even President Trump called on him to do this week. Ball is in Paxton’s court.”

Talarico is scheduled to appear at a CNN town hall in Fort Worth on Wednesday.

SMU Political Science Professor Cal Jillson said Talarico’s absence has been a curveball for Democrats, but as of now, it’s not something they cannot overcome.

“It’s a big deal,” Jillson said. “You’d certainly rather be out there, working through your campaign schedule and trying to keep momentum up, but there’s also a sense in which this race is pretty well fixed at this point and if you can get back on the campaign trail this weekend or soon, you should be alright.”

The absence gave Republicans plenty of fodder. At a campaign rally in San Antonio on Wednesday, Paxton led the crowd in a chant of “where is James Talarico?” To draw attention to Talarico’s absence. Paxton’s campaign also put up missing person posters of him around the state.

Even President Donald Trump weighed in, posting on Truth Social that Talarico is “missing in action,” and asking, “Where is he? What is wrong with him? Bad rumors are coming out.” 

“He is sick because he has been forced to eat meat for political reasons and he is throwing up all over the place,” Trump said while in San Antonio on Wednesday. “He is sick.”

Paxton’s campaign renewed its calls on Friday for Talarico to produce proof of life, including a video of himself with a newspaper showing today’s date, or to release a doctor’s note.

“Another day, another empty podium. Talarico’s own party chair admits this isn’t ideal, and his own supporters are melting down in Slack channels. The Democrats’ golden boy went from rising star to milk carton in under two weeks,” Paxton campaign spokeswoman Madison Cercy said. “If James Talarico can’t even reassure his own team, how is he going to stand up for 31 million Texans? Show us proof of life, Jimmy.”

Nearly every recent public poll has shown Talarico with a narrow lead or the race within the margin of error. The most recent New York Times/Siena poll showed Paxton trailing Talarico by six points. A Democrat hasn’t won statewide in Texas in more than three decades, and Democrats have real hope this could be the year they do so.

While the state tends to lean more Republican, the GOP is facing heavy headwinds over issues such as the war in Iran and the cost of living in what is expected to be a potentially tougher midterm environment for the party.

When Talarico isn’t on the campaign trail, he isn’t connecting with voters in person.

“He would rather be out there mixing with people and fundraising so that he can run through the tape in this race, but he’s not,” Jillson said. “I think it’s important for people to know that this isn’t a one-man show. There are a lot of people still working on that campaign, and as soon as he gets back, he’s going to try to go full throttle. Hopefully he won’t get sick again because it certainly doesn’t help that much.”

It is a critical point in the campaign, with 10 days until early voting starts and 25 days until Election Day, when campaigns begin their final pitch to voters.

Will any of this matter? At this point, Jillson said both candidates are well known, and many voters have already formed opinions.

“I don’t think being off the campaign trail for several days at this point in the race is going to prove to be in any way decisive, because Republicans began spending large amounts of campaign money against Talarico a couple of weeks ago, and I have not seen the polls move much,” Jillson said. “I think voters know what they’re intending to do and it will take something more than the candidate disappearing for several days or a week to change their minds.”

Now that Talarico has returned to the campaign trail this weekend, as his campaign has said he planned to do, Jillson said he believes it won’t be something voters are thinking about or talking about a week from now, unless he has a relapse or he can’t get back out on the campaign trail. 

“I think that most voters understand the cold. They understand the flu,” Jillson said. “Now, if this were a mysterious disease or if this were a cancer diagnosis or something, then people would ask themselves, ‘Will he be able to serve? Will he have the energy to do it?’ I don’t think that’s really in play here.”

Jillson said Paxton’s heavy focus on Talarico being off the trail is expected.

“I think that’s what campaigns do and what they should do because if they can instill doubt about Talarico’s health, stamina, availability, that can redound in their favor,” Jillson said. “It’s up to the Talarico campaign to also be speaking to these issues, and to be sure that people understand that this is just the flu is the way they ought to be pitching it, and that he’ll be back on the campaign trail on Saturday.”

While Talarico recovered from the flu, his campaign has kept running ads, calling on AG Paxton to debate like President Trump said he should, and capitalizing on the steady flow of leaked audio of Ken Paxton.

“The campaign is thinking about what they have to do to bridge this period when the candidate is unavailable,” Jillson said. “Maybe you increase your advertising, maybe you increase your online advertising, and you have the rest of your campaign working on the issues. Maybe you put more resources into targeting your voters so when Election Day comes, you can be sure they get out.”

Talarico has accepted multiple debate invitations from CNN and local TV stations, and last month he challenged Paxton to a debate moderated by FOX News anchor Brett Baier. FOX News said it would host the debate if both candidates agreed. To date, Paxton has not accepted any debate invitations.

“Usually the incumbent doesn’t want to debate if they’re ahead in the race in particular. But it’s also true that Paxton knows he’s not good at it,” Jillson said. “He knows that his sort of presentation, his demeanor, all that stuff that President Trump has been making fun of him about is real and that debating is not a strength of his and so he would prefer not to do it if he can get away with it. If he continues to trail in the polls, he may have no choice but to say, ‘Alright, let’s debate.’”

Paxton’s campaign has not yet said whether the attorney general intends to debate Talarico after Trump’s comments.