‘We don’t want this right now’: Texas Senate candidate James Talarico off the trail with the flu

The bitter fight over a Texas Senate seat that Democrats believe is within reach for the first time in decades should be ramping up right now.

But in the final push, when campaigns believe most voters are finally tuning in, Democratic state Rep. James Talarico has been off the trail for in-person events in the state for 12 days.

His campaign says he is suffering from the flu and expected to be back in action this weekend.

While he has appeared virtually at a forum, Talarico’s last in-person event in the state was on Sept. 26. He visited New York on Sept. 29 for a private fundraiser and, according to the virtual remarks he gave to the Hispanic Business Council the following day, he returned to Dallas and visited urgent care.

It has all prompted a stream of fodder from his opponent, Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, whose campaign is calling on Talarico to produce a photo of himself with a newspaper showing today’s date.

“We have a simple request: proof of life,” Paxton campaign spokeswoman Madison Cercy said. “James Talarico wants to represent 31 million Texans in the U.S. Senate, but for 12 days, he’s hidden from every one of them. There’s a reason they call it ‘Texas Tough,’ and it’s not because Texans hide at the first sign of trouble. If James Talarico is too fragile to face Texans, he has no business asking for their vote.”

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While some Texas Democrats are shrugging it off, it is causing some consternation.

“He’s like, really sick. Believe me, we don’t want this right now,” a Texas Democrat involved in the Talarico race said. “We’d rather have him on the trail.”

Talarico’s absence is undoubtedly a curveball for Democrats who believe his best asset is connecting with potential voters in person. It also presents a turnaround for Talarico, who had been visible in the early days of the campaign as Paxton was off the trail.

“After holding more than 100 public events and shaking tens of thousands of hands, James came down with the flu but will be back on the trail this weekend,” Talarico spokesman JT Ennis said in a statement. “Ken Paxton has been ignoring Texans this entire campaign, and his priorities are clear: he doesn’t answer to the people of this state — he answers to his billionaire megadonors and special interests.”

Democratic political strategist Ed Espinoza said that some supporters he’s spoken to noted his absence from in-person campaign events and lamented that they wanted to make sure other people were seeing enough of him.

Espinoza, though, said he didn’t think that would be a problem.

“Look, he’s got like $80 million of ads going right now. So I think that’s pretty good scale for him at the moment,” Espinoza said. “He may be recovering at home, but he is still everywhere.”

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Espinoza said that he’d rather Talarico be off the trail and recovering now rather than be hampered even closer to the election.

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Texas Democratic Party Chair Kendall Scudder said Paxton “caught a little bit of a break” with Talarico’s absence.

“It’s certainly not ideal, but we want to make sure he does everything he needs to to make sure that he’s healthy and ready to go. We’re in the homestretch, and it sounds like he’s on the mend, and that’s great news,” Scudder said. “He’s a phenomenal candidate, he’s been working really hard for a long time, and everyone gets sick every now and then.”

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To Talarico’s great fortune, distractions have abounded. A steady flow of damaging audio featuring Paxton saying that Trump’s midterm convention wasn’t helpful or that cuts to “mandatory spending” were inevitable has grabbed public attention.

At the same time, both Paxton and Trump have hit Talarico for being off the trail.

“You haven’t seen him in a couple of weeks,” Trump said at a Wednesday rally in San Antonio. “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.”

After the rally, Trump posted on social media a demand that Talarico show up in person to debate Paxton.

“He should immediately report to a Debate Stage against Ken Paxton, who is ready, willing, and able, one of the best Attorney Generals in the Country, and will soon be, hopefully, a United States Senator representing the Great People of Texas!” Trump said in a Truth Social post.

It was a twist, given that Talarico has repeatedly called on Paxton to debate. Though not on the trail yet, Talarico did respond over social media:

“President Trump just said Ken Paxton should debate,” Talarico wrote. “I agree. Ball’s in your court @KenPaxtonTX.”