James Talarico’s absence gives Paxton a campaign opening

At the Sept. 30 U.S. Hispanic Business Council event in Edinburg, Talarico appeared by video instead of in person. He told the crowd¹, “I’m running a fever, and I’m my most contagious right now,” and said he wanted to keep everyone safe. He also said he had gone to urgent care in Dallas and been diagnosed with the flu.

A week later, Republicans turned his absence into a rally line. NBC News reports that President Trump told a San Antonio crowd "He’s sick, because he’s forced to eat meat for political reasons and he’s throwing up all over the place." That is Trump's jab, not a fact. Talarico's own account is the flu², and Family Brief wishes him a full recovery.

The calendar is the problem. His last public appearance in Texas, CNN reports, was a Sept. 26 press conference in Carrollton on suspending the federal gas and diesel tax and ending the war with Iran¹. By Oct. 8, NBC News counted 12 days off the trail for in-person events in Texas². Twelve days is a long time to ask Texas families to take a Senate candidate on faith.

“I’m running a fever, and I’m my most contagious right now,”

A man who asks Texas families for their vote owes them his presence and straight answers. NBC News reports that Talarico visited New York on Sept. 29 for a private fundraiser². The next day, Just the News reports, he was back in Texas and at urgent care³.

12 days

The empty chairs kept adding up. The San Antonio Current reports he also canceled a Monday appearance at the Central Texas African American Civic Engagement Symposium. Paxton's campaign says he "can’t even be bothered to show up," which is the sharpest version of a question every Texas voter is entitled to ask⁴. Nobody chooses the flu. A campaign does choose how much it tells voters while its candidate is out of sight².

This is not a matter of etiquette. Voters decide who writes the laws that govern their children. Parents raising those children deserve to see the candidate and hear his answers before they cast a ballot, not after.

The silence became a line of attack within days, and the Republican side is working it in public. At a San Antonio rally, Ken Paxton led the crowd in asking where Talarico is. President Trump posted on Truth Social that Talarico is "MISSING IN ACTION" and told him to report to a debate stage¹. Paxton's spokeswoman Madison Cercy put it as a request for "proof of life," according to NBC News².

That pressure lands in a race decided at the margins. The San Antonio Current reports Talarico leads Paxton by an average of 3.1 points, according to RealClearPolitics⁴. His own side knows what the absence costs. Texas Democratic Party Chair Kendall Scudder admitted Paxton "caught a little bit of a break" from the absence³. When the party chair concedes the point, the candidate is on defense.

Parents have questions that a television ad cannot answer. Fox News reports Talarico supports allowing children to be raised as transgender while saying he opposes sex-change surgeries on minors, a position he stated in a June interview⁵. Texas families deserve to ask him face to face what that line means for their children and their authority as parents.

The strongest case for patience is simple: he is sick. Talarico said he was running a fever and wanted to protect others³. Spokesman JT Ennis says he held more than 100 public events before getting sick and will be back on the trail². A Texas Democrat involved in the race told NBC, “We’d rather have him on the trail.”

No one owes a sick man anything but a speedy recovery. Voters, though, are owed answers, and Democrats have pointed elsewhere: strategist Ed Espinoza says Talarico is "still everywhere" because of about $80 million in ads². Can an ad take a question from a parent? Ennis, for his part, turned the subject to debates, saying it had been 83 days since Talarico challenged Paxton to one.

The next test is already on the calendar. Talarico is scheduled for a CNN and Jubilee Media town hall in Fort Worth on Wednesday, Oct. 14, and Paxton has been invited too. CNN reports Election Day is less than four weeks away¹.

If he is back on the trail this weekend, as his campaign promised², Fort Worth is where he will take questions from a live audience of Texas voters on Oct. 14⁶. The test is simple: show up, answer voters, and let Texans judge for themselves.

Sources

1. Talarico off trail for nearly 2 weeks as Paxton questions his whereabouts
2. Texas Senate candidate James Talarico off the trail with the flu
3. James Talarico missing from Texas campaign trail due to flu, team says | Just The News
4. James Talarico diagnosed with flu as he enters final stretch of Senate campaign - San Antonio Current
5. James Talarico slammed by Ted Cruz over criticizing bible-related education | Fox News, 2025-01-01
6. CNN and Jubilee Media Partner to Host ‘CNN & Jubilee Town Hall with James Talarico’