{"id":463570,"date":"2026-10-12T08:44:19","date_gmt":"2026-10-12T08:44:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/463570\/"},"modified":"2026-10-12T08:44:19","modified_gmt":"2026-10-12T08:44:19","slug":"i-had-the-flu-talarico-returns-to-campaign-trail-and-dismisses-theories-about-absence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/463570\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018I had the flu\u2019: Talarico returns to campaign trail and dismisses theories about absence"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n Texas Democratic Senate nominee James Talarico on Sunday denounced the wide-ranging speculation about his whereabouts in recent days as Republicans seized on his absence <\/a>from the campaign trail.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cI had the flu. This is the craziest thing I\u2019ve ever heard. It\u2019s wild that someone can just post something on the internet and then the media just runs with it,\u201d Talarico told MS NOW<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n

\n The state representative, who is locked in a tight contest with Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, said he had been working from home as he recovered and meeting with his team via Zoom. Talarico returned to public events over the weekend, seen speaking to attendees at the Austin City Limits music festival on Friday and in the front row of a Kacey Musgraves concert <\/a>in Dallas on Saturday.\n <\/p>\n

\n Paxton and his allies, however, have zeroed in on the Democrat\u2019s absence during the final stretch of a race that could be critical to determining control of the Senate.\n <\/p>\n

\n At a rally in San Antonio on Wednesday, the GOP Senate nominee started a \u201cWhere is James Talarico\u201d chant in the crowd. Paxton\u2019s campaign also published a flurry of social media posts<\/a> claiming Talarico is \u201cnowhere to be seen.\u201d President Donald Trump has also chimed in, describing Talarico as \u201cMISSING IN ACTION\u201d in a Truth Social post.<\/a>\n <\/p>\n

\n A claim also circulated in conservative circles online that Talarico was receiving treatment for a stress-induced episode.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cThat\u2019s not true. I just had the flu and feel much better. But it\u2019s a good reminder that you can\u2019t believe everything you read on the internet,\u201d Talarico told NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth<\/a> on Sunday.\n <\/p>\n

\n Talarico revealed he had been diagnosed with the flu on September 30 during a virtual appearance at the United States Hispanic Business Council, an event he was supposed to attend in person. He said he had started to feel under the weather and visited urgent care in Dallas.\n <\/p>\n

\n Before his reemergence this weekend, his last in-person campaign appearances took place on September 26, when he held a press conference in Texas and then on September 28, when a Talarico campaign source said the candidate attended a private fundraiser in New York City featuring actor Robert DeNiro.\n <\/p>\n

\n In his interview with MS NOW on Sunday, he dismissed the speculation that there was another reason for his absence as \u201csilly season in our politics\u201d before turning the focus to Paxton, who has yet to agree to a debate.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cI\u2019ve heard credible reports that Ken Paxton has a serious medical condition that causes clinical levels of cowardice,\u201d Talarico joked. \u201cHe has asked for proof of life from me, I\u2019m asking for proof of spine from him.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Even after Talarico\u2019s return to public events, Paxton continued to cast suspicion on his absence.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cI don\u2019t know whether to believe him about the flu or not, I just know that \u2026 almost everything that he says has been false since the beginning of this campaign,\u201d Paxton told Fox News on Sunday evening.\n <\/p>\n

\n Talarico\u2019s return to the campaign trail comes ahead of a town hall<\/a> on Wednesday evening hosted by CNN and Jubilee Media and moderated by Erin Burnett, live in Fort Worth, Texas. The media outlets have also extended a town hall invitation to Paxton.\n <\/p>\n

\n This story has been updated with additional details.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Texas Democratic Senate nominee James Talarico on Sunday denounced the wide-ranging speculation about his whereabouts in recent days…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":463571,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[27,29,28],"class_list":["post-463570","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/463570","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=463570"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/463570\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/463571"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=463570"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=463570"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=463570"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}