President Trump is questioning why Democrat James Talarico has stayed off the Texas Senate trail for 12 days while Ken Paxton demands proof of life.
President Donald Trump went after Democratic U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico on Truth Social, saying the Texas hopeful had been out of sight for nearly two weeks and casting doubt on the flu explanation his campaign offered.
Attorney General Ken Paxton’s campaign piled on the same day, circulating mock missing-person posters and calling for “proof of life” with early voting near and Election Day 26 days out. Texas Scorecard reported the clash as Talarico’s team insisted he was recovering and would return this weekend.
Talarico has not made an in-person campaign appearance in Texas since September 26. Paxton’s camp says he has not held a rally since September 16. The gap lands in the closing stretch of a high-stakes Senate race that Paxton has warned could hand Democrats control if Texas slips.
On Wednesday night, Trump labeled Talarico “MISSING IN ACTION.” He followed Thursday with a sharper Truth Social broadside that questioned both the timeline and the illness claim.
Trump wrote in an earlier post: “Ladies and Gentlemen, upon information and belief, James TalaFREAKo, who is running for the United States Senate in Texas, is MISSING IN ACTION! No one has seen him for an extended period of time. Where is he? What is wrong with him? Bad rumors are coming out.”
“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?”
Trump also praised Paxton as the “Greatest Attorney General in the History of Texas” and urged voters to back him. The president’s posts gave national oxygen to a fight already running hard on the ground in Texas.
Paxton’s campaign framed the absence as more than a scheduling hiccup. Spokeswoman Madison Cercy said Talarico wants to represent 31 million Texans yet has stayed hidden from them for 12 days.
The campaign’s Thursday statement put it this way:
“With 26 days until Election Day and early voting about to begin, the Paxton campaign is calling on James Talarico to show proof of life to the 31 million Texans he’s asking to represent.”
Cercy added a direct demand:
“Low-T Jimmy appears to be having a full-blown mental Tala-freak-out on the national stage. We have a simple request: proof of life.”
Paxton’s team listed specific items it wants: a video of Talarico holding Thursday’s newspaper, return flight information from a New York fundraising trip, and a doctor’s note from a Dallas urgent care visit. Mock missing-person posters went up across the state.
RNC spokesman Zach Kraft joined the call, saying Talarico’s handlers should “stop the lies and release proof of life.” At a San Antonio rally with Trump, Paxton led a chant of “Where is Talarico?”
The pressure comes as the same contest has already drawn hard scrutiny over polling and party cohesion, including a Fox News poll that earlier showed Paxton trailing amid lingering primary divisions.
Talarico’s campaign says the answer is simpler: the flu. Spokesman JT Ennis told outlets the candidate held more than 100 public events, shook tens of thousands of hands, then got sick and would be back this weekend.
Just the News reported that Talarico was last seen in Texas on September 26, appeared in New York on September 29, then returned and sought care. At a September 30 virtual event for the U.S. Hispanic Business Council, Talarico himself described the diagnosis.
“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, and I was diagnosed with the flu.”
Fox News reporting added that the flu was complicated by Talarico’s Type 1 diabetes and that the campaign plans to resume ahead of an October 14 CNN town hall. Missed or canceled stops cited by critics included events tied to the Hispanic Business Council, the Central Texas African American Civic Engagement Symposium, and a final Austin fundraiser.
The New York swing included events with allies of Democratic Socialist Mayor Zohran Mamdani shortly before the illness report. Paxton’s campaign seized on the trip as part of its demand for flight records. Talarico’s team did not respond to questions about Trump’s latest remarks or a firm weekend return schedule.
The absence is not only a Republican talking point. Fox News described Democratic volunteers worrying about lost momentum with early voting about to open. In a race this large, 12 days without an in-person Texas event is a long stretch to explain with a single urgent-care visit and a virtual appearance.
Talarico entered the Senate fight with enough Democratic energy to draw crossover staff interest, including a former Cornyn aide who joined his bid. Party unity has not been seamless either; an ex-Democratic lawmaker blasted Jasmine Crockett for snubbing the Texas Senate nominee. A candidate who asks for a statewide vote still has to show up and take questions in person.
Paxton’s operation is treating the gap as a character and accountability issue, not a medical footnote. Trump’s posts pushed the same point in plain language: nearly two weeks is a long time to clear a “so-called flu bug,” and voters are owed a clearer accounting than campaign statements alone.
Whether Talarico steps back onto the trail this weekend will answer the immediate question. The larger one is whether a Senate hopeful can go dark this late, point to an urgent care visit, and expect Texas voters to shrug.
Texans deserve candidates who face the public in the final stretch, not press releases, virtual drop-ins, and demands left unanswered until the calendar forces a return.