Following days of increasingly fevered speculation about his extended absence from the public eye while reportedly sick, James Talarico, the Democratic Senate nominee in Texas, was spotted Friday at the Austin City Limits music festival.
“Hate to disappoint the conspiracy theorists, but James is still alive and meeting with voters at ACL today,” spokesperson JT Ennis posted on social media.
Hate to disappoint the conspiracy theorists, but James is still alive and meeting with voters at ACL today. https://t.co/OnhpE6Ezt9
— JT Ennis (@jt_ennis) October 9, 2026
It was Talarico’s first appearance on the campaign trail since the end of September — a remarkable hiatus from one of the highest-profile elections this fall. Talarico is seeking to flip a U.S. Senate seat that has been held by Republicans for more than six decades, and polls show a close contest with Republican Ken Paxton, the Texas attorney general, despite a flood of outside spending from conservative groups.
Talarico’s campaign said he was recovering from the flu, and the Democratic nominee was last seen Sept. 30, when he joined a candidate forum virtually, appearing pale and sounding sniffily.
Republican operatives and conservative media outlets latched on to the absence this week to suggest something nefarious. President Donald Trump wrote Wednesday night on social media that Talarico was “MISSING IN ACTION” and called for him to debate Paxton. Talarico accepted the challenge on social media, while Paxton has not yet responded.
Hours before Talarico resurfaced at Austin City Limits, Paxton launched the “Tala-Freak-Out Tip Line” to report sightings of the candidate, whom Paxton claimed was “prone to illness.”
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