Where’s Weirdo? James Talarico Is MIA

It is a political maxim that, in the final 30-day sprint before Election Day, candidates try to get before every camera, stand on every stage, and press the flesh with every voter possible. Yet the Democrat nominee for the open U.S. Senate seat in Texas, James Talarico, has mysteriously disappeared from the campaign trail. He hasn’t done an in-person event in the Lone Star State since September 26—twelve days ago.

He was scheduled to speak on September 30 at the U.S. Hispanic Business Council in the Rio Grande Valley, but Talarico’s staff notified the organizers he was “too ill to travel.” They arranged for him to “attend” virtually, and he joined the event from a hotel room. According to a report in the Dallas News, he told the group that he had been diagnosed with the flu after visiting an urgent care facility in Dallas.

Next, he canceled an October 5 event with the Central Texas African American Civic Engagement Symposium. The Daily Wire reports that this group notified its members of the cancellation via Facebook without explanation: “We apologize for any inconvenience and encourage everyone to remain informed, stay civically engaged, and most importantly—make your voice heard by voting this November.”

Whatever the reason for this cancellation, it was a pretty egregious mistake. Talarico probably can’t defeat his Republican opponent for the Senate seat, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, without strong turnout from black voters. As Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX), whom Talarico defeated in the Democrat primary, told CNN when asked how enthusiastic Black voters were about him: “I don’t think that there is excitement.”

The day after that blunder, the Talarico campaign cancelled yet another event. He was scheduled to appear on October 6 at a grassroots Final Austin Fundraiser. This was supposed to be an opportunity for “neighbors, organizers, and supporters from all corners of the community to gather” and prepare for the home stretch of the race. The attendees discovered this cancellation while attempting to RSVP for the event.

Talarico’s next scheduled appearance is supposed to take place on October 14 at a CNN Jubilee Media Town Hall. According to the network, “As the consequential midterm elections near, Texas Senate Candidate Rep. James Talarico will take questions from CNN Anchor Erin Burnett as well as a live audience of Texas voters who intend to vote in November. The audience will be made up of Democrats, Republicans and Independent voters.”

It will be interesting to see if Talarico recovers from his “flu” by that date. Meanwhile, the Talarico campaign has been recycling old posts on social media to make it appear as if he is actively campaigning. On October 2, Team Talarico posted a video of a crowd which they described as follows: “Huge crowd to see @jamestalarico in deep-red Lubbock, Texas. This county hasn’t voted for a Democrat in 50 years.”

The problem with using this post and its accompanying video, as conservative radio host Larry O’Connor points out, is that Team Talarico originally posted the exact same video and verbiage on February 22, 2026. In reality, James Talarico was nowhere near Lubbock on October 2. He was still recovering from his “flu.”

It’s not a secret that Talarico is weird, but when his campaign is recycling posts like this, we have entered the Twilight Zone. The attempt to make it look like Talarico is actively campaigning when he isn’t reeks of the deception the country saw from the Biden campaign in 2020, and only raises more suspicion.

All of which begs the following question: What the hell is going on here? According to the RealClearPolitics polling average, Talarico is leading Paxton by three points. Some polls show his lead as small as one point. So, unless Talarico’s campaign manager is clinically insane, he knows they can’t sit on that lead for 27 days in an attempt to run out the clock. Paxton and aligned PACs are heavily outspending Talarico in the home stretch.

The Texas Tribune reports, “A constellation of Republican super PACs — led by a group aligned with Senate Majority Leader John Thune — has poured over $175 million into advertising to boost Paxton on TV, digital and radio platforms.” Talarico has a big war chest, but he can’t keep up with that kind of carpet bombing—and he certainly can’t maintain his minuscule lead if he attempts a Biden-style basement campaign.

Could that be what we are seeing? Maybe. Biden’s successful effort to secure the White House despite spending most of 2020 sheltered away from public view had disastrous consequences for the country, but it seems Democrats have learned all the wrong lessons from that debacle. Let’s hope we aren’t entering a new era where Democrats can win major races by simply hiding from voters and letting the media and liberal super PACs do their work for them.

Or, perhaps Talarico really is ill. If so, it must be something far worse than the flu—which voters have a right to know. An illness so debilitating that it knocks someone out of the critical final push of a campaign for nearly two weeks is serious indeed.

He could, God forbid, also be dealing with an undisclosed family tragedy or personal emergency. But even if that is the case, he owes an honest explanation to the voters of Texas. In an election as pivotal as this, which could decide control of the U.S. Senate, even private matters have enormous implications for the country, and voters deserve transparency.

Neither the Lone Star State nor the nation at large can afford a senator that can’t handle the job. And, if James Talarico can’t stand the pressure of a Senate campaign, he can’t handle the job.