President Trump and Ken Paxton pressed Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico over his long vanishing act on the Texas trail, while Talarico blamed the flu and stayed off the stump.
At a San Antonio rally with Republican Senate candidate Ken Paxton, President Donald Trump zeroed in on Democratic rival James Talarico’s weeks-long absence from the campaign trail and cast open doubt on the flu explanation Talarico offered voters.
With just 26 days left until the midterm election and late September polls from the New York Times/Siena University and Fox News showing a tight Texas Senate race, the Democrat’s missing stretch handed Republicans a clear opening to keep him on defense.
Talarico’s last public event was September 26. He held a virtual appearance September 30 and canceled other stops while saying he was battling illness. His campaign promised he would be “back on the trail soon,” but gave no firm date for a full return to in-person events.
Trump and Paxton used the San Antonio event to make Talarico’s absence the night’s main target. Paxton spoke first and locked the crowd on one question.
Paxton asked the audience, “Where do you think they hid that little socialist?” He followed with a call-and-response: “Where is James Talarico?”
ABC News reported Trump then piled on with a mock diagnosis tied to older comments Talarico made about cutting meat consumption, comments Republicans have long used against him even though the Democrat is not a vegan.
"I hear the guy has disappeared -- nobody knows. You know where he is? He's sick because he's forced to eat meat for political reasons and he's throwing up all over the place,"
Trump also demanded Talarico “immediately report to a Debate Stage against Ken Paxton.” The two campaigns have already clashed over formats. Talarico previously accepted a CNN debate that Paxton declined, then challenged Paxton to a Fox News debate. A Paxton adviser said earlier in the summer that Paxton “of course” planned to debate, yet none were locked in.
Talarico has spent years building a record that fits the hard-left lane Democrats keep elevating, including a long push to prosecute and impeach Trump, the same posture that has defined much of the party’s recent energy.
That record makes the current stretch harder to shrug off. Voters expect candidates to show up when the race is still winnable and the calendar is short.
On September 30, Talarico told a virtual audience he had gone to urgent care in Dallas after feeling worse overnight. He framed the decision as protecting others.
"I was ready to eat my favorite quesadilla tacos, but 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,"
He added that he wanted to “keep everybody safe” and said he “couldn’t live with” the risk of infecting someone’s grandmother or baby. Just The News reported his team later described a diagnosed flu after the urgent care visit, with Talarico running a fever and still contagious, and said he planned to return that weekend.
Texas Democratic Party Chair Gilberto Hinojosa conceded the absence gave Paxton “a little bit of a break” while insisting Talarico was on the mend. Campaign spokesman JT Ennis said Talarico had held more than 100 public events and shaken tens of thousands of hands before falling ill.
Breitbart noted the Paxton campaign went further, circulating a “Wanted” style image of Talarico and demanding “Proof of Life” after the full 12-day stretch off the trail.
Republicans have every reason to press the point. A Senate candidate who drops out of sight this late invites hard questions about stamina, judgment, and whether the campaign can finish the job.
The day after the San Antonio rally, Trump followed up online and refused to let the flu line settle the matter.
"TalaFREAKo has been missing for 12 days! Now, after looking for him throughout all of Texas, and beyond, probably even weirder places than anyone would think possible, he put out a statement that he has the "flu." 12 days is a long time to rid yourself of the so-called flu bug. What's going on?"
Fox News reported the same post and added that Talarico has Type 1 diabetes, a condition the CDC links to higher risk of serious flu complications. That medical background may explain caution. It does not erase the political cost of nearly two weeks without an in-person event in a dead-heat race.
Leaked Slack messages from Talarico’s volunteer network showed private worry that the absence would cost momentum even if the illness was real. One volunteer wrote the attacks were “just conservatives blasting him” but admitted concern about lost ground.
Democratic strategists have spent the cycle debating how hard to keep swinging at Trump versus delivering results voters can see. Some voices have even urged the party to ease off endless impeachment talk and focus on ethics and governing instead.
Talarico’s disappearance lands in that same debate. When the candidate himself is missing, the message machine has less to work with.
Late September surveys already showed Paxton and Talarico locked in a close contest. Every day off the trail matters when the margin is that thin and Election Day is less than a month away.
The Washington Examiner reported Trump also described Talarico as “MISSING IN ACTION,” asked what was wrong with him, and said “bad rumors are coming out.” Paxton’s team treated the gap as fair game. Talarico’s side treated it as a temporary medical pause.
Talarico still had a CNN town hall scheduled for the following Wednesday and had not said he would skip it. Whether that appearance, or a weekend return, resets the race remains an open question the campaigns will answer on the ground.
Midterm momentum has shifted in both directions across recent cycles, and prediction markets have punished parties that look flat-footed in the final stretch.
Texas will not be an exception. Voters notice who shows up and who does not.
Paxton’s willingness to keep the focus on Talarico’s whereabouts fits a broader Republican pattern of drawing sharp lines against far-left contenders rather than letting soft biographies slide.
In a state that still rewards toughness and presence, a candidate who spends the closing weeks explaining an empty schedule starts at a disadvantage, flu or no flu.
Texas voters deserve to see both candidates on the same stage and on the same trail. Excuses do not cast ballots. Showing up does.
