President Trump and Ken Paxton blasted Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico for a week-plus absence from the Texas campaign trail, casting doubt on his flu explanation with midterms weeks away.
With 26 days left until the midterm election, the Texas Senate race turned sharper this week after Democratic candidate James Talarico stayed off the trail for more than a week. President Donald Trump and Republican rival Ken Paxton used a San Antonio rally to question where he went and whether the flu story held up.
ABC News reported that Talarico’s last public event came on September 26. He moved one appearance online on September 30, canceled other stops, and told supporters he had sought urgent care in Dallas after feeling worse overnight.
Late September polls from the New York Times/Siena University and Fox News already showed a tight contest. In a race that close, a candidate’s prolonged absence becomes its own story, and Trump and Paxton made sure voters heard it.
At the October 7 rally in San Antonio, Paxton spoke before Trump and zeroed in on the empty trail. He asked the audience a blunt question and got them shouting it back.
Paxton asked:
"Where do you think they hid that little socialist?"
He then prompted the crowd to yell together, “Where is James Talarico?” The call-and-response set the tone for the night and put the Democrat’s missing week at the center of the GOP pitch.
Fox News reported Paxton framed the gap as an 11-day stretch without campaigning in Texas, while the Talarico campaign answered that the flu hit after a heavy schedule and that he would return over the weekend.
Campaign spokesman JT Ennis told Fox News Digital the candidate had already put in a full slate of appearances before he got sick.
"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."
That promise came only after Trump and Paxton forced the issue in public. Voters still waiting for a firm return date noticed the sequence.
Trump did not soften the critique. At the same San Antonio event he mocked the explanation and tied it to older comments Talarico made about cutting meat consumption, remarks Republicans have used to paint him as out of step with Texas voters. The article notes Talarico is not a vegan, yet the line still landed as political theater.
Trump told the crowd:
"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."
The next day he followed up on social media, stretching the absence to 12 days and openly doubting a routine flu recovery.
"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 demanded Talarico “immediately report to a Debate Stage against Ken Paxton.” In a race this tight, the president treated the empty calendar as fair game and kept the pressure on.
Support for Paxton has already drawn high-profile Texas voices, including a Cowboys Hall of Famer who backed the Republican and said Talarico cannot be trusted. The rally only amplified that contrast.
On the September 30 virtual event, Talarico described feeling off for several days, then bad enough overnight to visit urgent care in Dallas. He said he canceled in-person stops to avoid spreading the bug.
"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 people safe and could not risk passing the illness to a grandmother or a baby. His campaign later said he would be “back on the trail soon,” without locking in a first in-person date beyond the weekend target given to Fox.
ABC News noted Talarico has Type 1 diabetes, a condition that can make flu recovery harder. Even so, opponents argued a multi-week gap this close to Election Day still demands answers, not just sympathy.
The same candidate has spent recent weeks adjusting earlier progressive stances, a pattern covered when Talarico admitted he “missed the mark” on gender, theology, and taxes. Absence from the trail only raises the stakes on whether voters are seeing the full picture.
While Talarico stayed home, the debate dispute stayed stuck. He has challenged Paxton for weeks, including a proposed Fox News matchup, and earlier accepted a CNN debate that Paxton declined. A Paxton adviser said over the summer that the Republican “of course” planned to debate. None is scheduled.
Talarico does have a CNN town hall set for the following Wednesday and had not said he would skip it. That stage is not a head-to-head with Paxton. Trump’s call for an immediate debate only underlined how little joint scrutiny the candidates have faced.
ABC News asked the Paxton campaign whether he would commit to any debates, including the Fox News offer. No clear public yes followed in the coverage. In a tight Senate race, that deadlock leaves Texans without a direct exchange on the issues.
Background questions about Talarico’s record continue to surface alongside the calendar fight, including past sermon language examined when he told a congregation “God is not a Christian.” Voters weighing trust and consistency now also weigh who is actually showing up.
Texas is a battleground for Senate control. Late September surveys already called the matchup tight. Trump used the San Antonio stop to stump for Paxton and push early voting that begins October 19. Every day off the trail for a major-party nominee carries weight under that timeline.
Talarico’s team insists the flu, not strategy, cleared his schedule after more than 100 public events. Trump and Paxton treated the gap as a character test and refused to let it pass quietly. The Democrat’s own words put health and safety first; the Republican ticket put accountability first.
Similar scrutiny has followed Talarico as he reversed years of progressive positions while the contest tightened. Showing up in person is the next test he still has to meet.
Campaigns get sick. Candidates still owe voters a visible fight when the race is this close and the clock is this short. Texas will decide soon enough whether a missing week was a pause, or a preview.
