In the midst of the most contentious Texas US Senate race in a generation, Democratic nominee James Talarico suddenly and mysteriously dropped off the campaign trail on September 29, and has yet to return, though his campaign claims a resurrection is coming tomorrow.
Talarico last appeared in public at a fundraiser alongside Robert DeNiro in New York City, which isn’t in Texas. On September 30, he showed his face on Zoom at a forum for the Hispanic Business Council, and said he had the flu. “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 said. “I guess I’ve been shaking too many hands on the campaign trail, and so I want to keep everybody safe.”
There are ‘bad rumors’ going around about ‘Tala-FREAK-o,’ President Trump said this week
It must be a bad illness if a Texan can’t eat “quesadilla tacos.” Since then, it’s been radio silence from the Talarico camp, though he is running $80 million worth of ads, including a funny one where his campaign parodies sports betting apps to attack his scandal-plagued opponent, Republican Ken Paxton. “Always bet the thing,” it says of Paxton’s many corruptions.
Paxton’s campaign, which previously had been going after its opponent with the line of attack that Talarico was “weird” for supporting men in women’s sports (a position Talarico has reversed during the campaign), appears to have found its issue, demanding “proof of life” from its opponent. At a campaign rally in San Antonio, President Trump riffed on the fact that Talarico, a former vegan, now claims to eat meat, which probably did him in: “He’s sick, because he’s forced to eat meat for political reasons and he’s throwing up all over the place.” Paxton led the crowd in a “Where is Talarico?” chant while saying: “Where do you think they hid the little socialist.”
There are “bad rumors” going around about “Tala-FREAK-o,” President Trump Truth Socialled this week. These range from the possible, like Talarico has COVID, to the highly improbable, that he is recovering from mid-campaign gender reassignment surgery. Former Los Angeles Mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt, now reduced to low-rent Nostradamus status on X, tweeted, “Talarico has been completely AWOL for like 2 weeks over ‘the flu’ Sorry, but that dog don’t hunt. Something weird is going on with this freak…” This morning Pratt said that his “sources” tell him that Talarico is in a “mental health facility.”
“As much as I don’t want Talarico anywhere near government, I also don’t want wish him harm, and no political office is worth having a breakdown. His awful advisors are at fault for this. They pushed him to be something he isn’t, and it didn’t work.”
Current polling averages show that Talarico is actually leading Paxton by about four points in Texas, which last elected a Democratic Senator in 1988, when Lloyd Bentsen took office. Assuming Talarico re-emerges to eat quesadilla tacos this weekend, the Paxton campaign will continue to push the narrative that Talarico isn’t “Texas Tough,” like a truck, or steakhouse toast.
Meanwhile, on Wednesday, Trump goaded Talarico: “He should immediately report to a Debate Stage against Ken Paxton, who is ready, willing, and able, one of the best Attorney Generals in the Country, and will soon be, hopefully, a United States Senator representing the Great People of Texas!” Talarico has been calling for a debate with Paxton for months. That’s an event that even disinterested observers would watch. Thus far, the Paxton campaign has denied the offer.
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