Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico made a surprise appearance at the Austin City Limits Music Festival on Friday, ending nearly two weeks of speculation about his whereabouts after a flu diagnosis kept him off the campaign trail and sparked ridicule from Republicans, including President Donald Trump and GOP rival Ken Paxton. The Texas Democrat, who is running against Paxton for the U.S. Senate, returned after Republicans spent days mocking his absence from the campaign trail, with Trump declaring Talarico "MISSING IN ACTION" and demanding he debate the GOP nominee.
His appearance comes less than two weeks before early voting begins in one of the nation's most closely watched Senate races. "Hate to disappoint the conspiracy theorists, but James is still alive and meeting with voters at ACL today," campaign spokesman JT Ennis wrote on X Friday. Talarico attended the opening day of ACL's second weekend in Austin and told the Austin American-Statesman that he attends the festival every year.
Questions about his absence began after he disclosed on September 30 that he had been diagnosed with the flu following an urgent care visit in Dallas. Speaking virtually at a U.S. Hispanic Business Council event, Talarico said he was running a fever and wanted to avoid spreading the illness.
"The best thing to do was to put safety first and put everyone's health first," he said at the time. His campaign said Friday that he had been recovering from the flu and was looking forward to returning to the trail this weekend. Talarico's last significant in-person campaign appearance in Texas was in late September.
He also attended a New York fundraiser hosted by actor Robert De Niro shortly before revealing his illness. The absence quickly became a favorite line of attack for Republicans. Paxton's campaign launched a "Where's Jimmy?" effort that counted the days since Talarico had appeared publicly, while Trump amplified the attacks at a rally in San Antonio this week.
"You haven't seen him in a couple of weeks," Trump told supporters before joking that the Democrat had become ill because he was "forced to eat meat for political reasons." In a Truth Social post, Trump later labeled Talarico "MISSING IN ACTION" and renewed calls for him to debate Paxton. Talarico's campaign has repeatedly pointed out that the Republican nominee has not agreed to any debates despite accepting multiple invitations.
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