{"id":463464,"date":"2026-10-12T04:53:32","date_gmt":"2026-10-12T04:53:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/463464\/"},"modified":"2026-10-12T04:53:32","modified_gmt":"2026-10-12T04:53:32","slug":"i-just-had-the-flu-james-talarico-shoots-down-conservative-speculation-about-his-absence-from-the-trail","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/463464\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018I just had the flu\u2019: James Talarico shoots down conservative speculation about his absence from the trail"},"content":{"rendered":"

Texas Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico addressed his recent absence<\/a> from the campaign trail Sunday, saying it was nothing but a \u201cnasty case of the flu.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cI was in bed, drinking lots of liquids. Unfortunately, the campaign made me work from home, so I didn\u2019t even get full days off. But I didn\u2019t want to be out on the trail, and I didn\u2019t want to get anyone else sick. It\u2019s important, I think, for leaders to be responsible in these moments. And I\u2019m glad to be back. I\u2019m feeling much better,\u201d he told NBC Dallas-Fort Worth in an interview<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Talarico returned to the campaign trail Friday; his last in-person event in the state had been Sept. 26, and on Sept. 30, he spoke at a forum virtually, saying he wasn\u2019t feeling well. <\/p>\n

In his absence, some conservatives speculated that he was taking a break for mental health reasons. One right-wing influencer falsely claimed Talarico was receiving treatment at the Lindner Center of Hope, a facility in Ohio. <\/p>\n

Asked about those theories, Talarico said, \u201cThe internet\u2019s doing its thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s not true,\u201d Talarico said. \u201cI just had the flu, and I feel much better. But it\u2019s a good reminder that you can\u2019t believe everything you read on the internet.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Lindner Center also shot down the speculation Sunday, posting on social media<\/a>: \u201cRepresentative James Talarico has never received treatment from Lindner Center of Hope.\u201d<\/p>\n

Republicans latched on to Talarico\u2019s being off the trail in the final weeks of the campaign, and even some Democrats admitted to NBC News that his absence was less than ideal in the tight Senate race<\/a>.<\/p>\n

State Attorney General Ken Paxton, Talarico\u2019s Republican opponent, called for him to show \u201cproof of life\u201d with a picture of him and a newspaper showing the date. <\/p>\n

President Donald Trump, stumping for Paxton in San Antonio on Wednesday, highlighted Talarico\u2019s absence and urged him to debate Paxton. Asked about Trump\u2019s comment Sunday, Talarico said he agreed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI agree with President Trump. I think Ken Paxton should debate. The president\u2019s saying he should debate. Fox News has said he should debate. The people of Texas have said he should debate, and I think it\u2019s mysterious that Ken Paxton hasn\u2019t responded to a request for a debate in 85 days,\u201d Talarico said.<\/p>\n

\u201cKen Paxton has asked for proof of life for me. I\u2019m asking for proof of spine from him,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

So far, no debates are scheduled. Talarico has accepted debate invitations<\/a> from multiple media outlets, but Paxton hasn\u2019t done the same.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Texas Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico addressed his recent absence from the campaign trail Sunday, saying it was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":463465,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[132,134,133],"class_list":["post-463464","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-austin","tag-austin","tag-austin-headlines","tag-austin-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/463464","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=463464"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/463464\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/463465"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=463464"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=463464"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=463464"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}