Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s U.S. Senate campaign is publicly pressing his Democratic opponent, state Rep. James Talarico, to prove he is still in the race after a 12-day absence from the campaign trail.
Paxton’s campaign posted a mock “Wanted” poster featuring Talarico’s face on social platform X, demanding “Proof of Life.” At a rally in San Antonio on Wednesday, Paxton led the crowd in a chant about his opponent’s whereabouts.
Talarico’s team says the absence is simple: he’s 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,” said JT Ennis, a spokesperson for Talarico’s campaign, on Thursday. Ennis added, “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.”
Talarico first disclosed his diagnosis on September 30 during a virtual appearance before the United States Hispanic Business Council, a meeting he had originally planned to attend in person.
“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,” Talarico told the group. “I’m running a fever, and I’m at my most contagious right now, and I guess I’ve been shaking too many hands on the campaign trail, and so I want to keep everybody safe.”
Talarico’s last in-person public event was on September 26, when he held a press conference calling for suspending the federal gas tax and ending the war with Iran. “This is the kind of immediate action we need to provide Texans some relief at the pump in the middle of this affordability crisis,” he said at the time.
The 12-day gap comes as the Senate race between Paxton and Talarico enters what both campaigns describe as a critical stretch, with Republicans seizing on the absence as a new line of attack against the Democratic nominee.
