By MELISSA GOLDIN and JESSE BEDAYN<\/p>\n
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) \u2014 Republican officials and conservative social media users spread unfounded rumors in recent days that state Rep. James Talarico, the Democratic nominee in a competitive Texas Senate race<\/a>, had suffered a mental health crisis.<\/p>\n Questions about Talarico\u2019s whereabouts began spreading after the candidate was not seen in public for nine days. But he and his campaign have repeatedly attributed his absence to the flu.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s a closer look at the facts.<\/p>\n CLAIM: Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico was being treated in an Ohio mental health facility last week.<\/p>\n THE FACTS: This is false. The facility where he was said to have been treated has denied he was ever a patient there. Both he and his campaign have said he was recovering from the flu. Talarico has type 1 diabetes<\/a>, which means he has a higher risk<\/a> of developing complications from the flu. Regardless, Talarico\u2019s schedule doesn\u2019t align with what was presented as evidence of his stay at the mental health facility and images reviewed by The Associated Press showed Talarico at home over several days last week.<\/p>\n Talarico spoke at a Hispanic Business Council event on Sept. 30 by video. He said during the event<\/a> that he had been diagnosed with the flu at an urgent care facility in Dallas after \u201cstarting to feel kind of under the weather a few days ago,\u201d adding that he wasn\u2019t there in person because he had decided to \u201cput safety first\u201d since he had a fever and was still contagious.<\/p>\n Republicans highlighted Talarico\u2019s subsequent absence from the campaign trail from Oct. 1 to Oct. 9, noting his absence came at a critical time at the end of a competitive race. His opponent, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, described Talarico<\/a> as \u201cmissing\u201d in a series of social posts and said<\/a> his campaign had requested \u201cproof of life.\u201d President Donald Trump called Talarico \u201cMISSING IN ACTION!\u201d in a Truth Social post<\/a> and asked: \u201cWhere is he? What is wrong with him?\u201d<\/p>\n Among the chatter was a rumor that Talarico had suffered a mental health breakdown. Conservative social media influencer Nick Sorter on Sunday posted a 47-second audio clip on X that he said proved that Talarico had been discharged earlier in the week from Lindner Center of Hope, a mental health treatment center in Mason, Ohio. In the clip, a woman who Sorter claimed was an employee there says it looked like Talarico \u201cwas just discharged this evening.\u201d<\/p>\n But the timeline doesn\u2019t hold up. Rhein Amacher, who describes himself on social media as a \u201cright-wing provocateur,\u201d said he made the call<\/a> on Saturday evening. Talarico was seen<\/a> at the Austin City Limits music festival on Friday. On Saturday, he made an appearance<\/a> at a Kacey Musgraves concert in Dallas<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Lindner Center of Hope wrote in an X post<\/a> on Sunday that Talarico \u201chas never received treatment\u201d from the facility. Talarico replied to the post<\/a>, saying, \u201cI\u2019ve never even been to Ohio.\u201d He included a tears of joy emoji. JT Ennis, a spokesperson for Talarico, called Sorter\u2019s claim \u201ca lie designed to promote a pathetic conspiracy theory\u201d in an X post and wrote that<\/a> Talarico had been recovering from the flu at his home in Austin.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI got the flu, and I\u2019m feeling much better, and I\u2019m glad I had a chance to recover,\u201d Talarico said in a Sunday interview<\/a> with the NBC affiliate in Dallas-Fort Worth. He confirmed<\/a> that the online rumors were \u201cnot true.\u201d In an MS NOW interview<\/a> the same day, he called such rumors \u201cthe craziest thing I\u2019ve ever heard.\u201d<\/p>\n If Talarico wins the November general election, Paxton would be the first Republican in nearly four decades to lose a Senate race in Texas.<\/p>\n