Talarico shares home security footage to counter absence speculation

James Talarico vanished from public view for nearly two weeks in late September and early October, and the Texas Democratic Senate candidate's absence became a political weapon. His last in-person event was September 26 in Carrollton, a Dallas suburb. Two days later he was in New York raising money, including at a joint fundraiser with Ohio Senate nominee Sherrod Brown hosted by Robert De Niro. By September 30, when he was supposed to appear in person at a conversation with Javier Palomarez, president of the United States Hispanic Business Council, Talarico joined only by video. He told the audience he had caught the flu at urgent care in Dallas the night before, running a fever and contagious. He later told a reporter he had seen his primary care physician instead.

The campaign began canceling events. On October 1, Talarico's staff called to pull him from the Central Texas African American Civic Engagement Symposium, according to Essien Ita, the group's leader. Ita said the campaign declined to reschedule and had canceled other appearances through October 5. The silence stretched. President Trump arrived in San Antonio to campaign with Ken Paxton, Talarico's Republican opponent and the state attorney general. Trump mocked Talarico's past advocacy for reducing meat consumption, suggesting that was why he was sick. Paxton was more direct: "When I came in here today, we were on day 11 of James Talarico not showing up in public and canceling all public appearances," he told the crowd. "Where do you think they hid that little socialist?" The audience chanted back: "Where Is James Talarico?"

The absence fed speculation. Social media users, without evidence, began claiming Talarico had flown to Ohio for mental health treatment. On Sunday, conservative social media figures shared an unverified recording of someone calling the Lindner Center of Hope in Mason, Ohio, asking if Talarico was a patient. A voice on the recording appeared to say he had been discharged. CBS News could neither confirm nor debunk the call. The mental health facility itself issued a public statement: Talarico had never received treatment there.

Talarico reappeared on October 9 at the Austin City Limits Music Festival, captured in a video posted by his campaign. That same day he texted CBS News: "Feeling much better. Back on the trail!" Over the weekend he attended a Kasey Musgraves concert in San Antonio and gave interviews to NBC's Dallas-Fort Worth station and the Dallas Morning News editorial board. To the NBC reporter, he described it as a bad case of the flu—nothing worse. He said he had stayed in bed, drunk liquids, and worked from home because the campaign wanted him to avoid spreading illness. He never got full days off.

But skepticism lingered. Paxton posted on X: "James Talarico claims he was missing for 13 days because he had the flu. Who actually believes that?" He said Talarico "owes Texans answers." On Monday, Talarico's campaign released its counter-evidence: eight timestamped security camera images from his backyard in Austin, each stamped with the SimpliSafe watermark, showing a male figure with brown hair in different clothes at various times of day from October 1 through October 8. CBS News matched features visible in the backyard to recent satellite imagery of his address. The images were low resolution, but they placed him there. The New York Times had reported the footage first.

Talarico's campaign spokesman J.T. Ennis issued a statement calling the conspiracy theories "a lie designed to promote a pathetic conspiracy theory." "Last week James Talarico was home in Austin, Texas recovering from the flu," he said. Talarico himself, when asked about the rumors by the local NBC station, offered a simple response: "It's a good reminder that you can't believe everything you read on the internet." The campaign had moved on. Paxton's skepticism remained, but the concrete evidence—the timestamped images, the facility's denial, the resumed public appearances—had closed off the most explosive claims. What remained was a question about whether a candidate's illness, and his campaign's decision to keep him off the trail, was enough to warrant the level of suspicion his opponent had stoked.