Where in the World Was James Talarico?

Follow @derekahunter Oct 13, 2026 12:01 AM Oct 13, 2026 Opinion The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Townhall.com.

The bowl-cut leftist in Texas, James Talarico, came off the milk carton and returned to the world of the living over the weekend. Where he was remains a mystery, as does why he was gone. What isn’t a mystery is why the corporate media didn’t really cover the story much or question anything related to a candidate in the highest-profile Senate election in the country disappearing for almost two weeks.

The “official story” is that Talarico, a very odd person to begin with, simply had the flu. I’ve had the flu, and it’s not fun. It also doesn’t put people in bed for two weeks and rob you of the ability to make any public appearances, if only via video chat. If you are that debilitated by the infection, hospitalization is likely necessary. Yet, Talarico just claims he was at home in bed.

He also told a local softball reporter his campaign made him work every day, so he wasn’t able to rest. If he was working, why could he not do video interviews or rallies? Was his face bruised or bloodied or something? The amount of time he was off the trail is long enough for a black eye and related swelling to go down.

I don’t believe James Talarico was beaten up at a truck stop or biker bar somewhere, but the world has a way of filling in voids when people try to hide things.

Was he at a mental health facility for inpatient treatment after a breakdown? The campaign denies it, but that’s exactly what the campaign has to do. Someone with every incentive to lie should not be given the benefit of the doubt. Republicans never are; Democrats never are questioned.

That’s the real shock here — Talarico’s absence was barely noticed and little remarked upon.

The New York Times — the birdcage liner that declares it has “all the news that’s fit to print” — didn’t have its curiosity tickled when the Texas Democrat disappeared. A Google advanced search of the site for “James Talarico” and “absent” turns up stories about how he “returns to the campaign trail,” but nothing about his being gone for the previous 13 days. Readers might wonder what they meant by “returns,” since they basically ignored that he was gone.

In fact, the paper did more to cover up the disappearance than it did to cover it. In one headline, the Times declares, “James Talarico Returns to Campaign Trail in Texas After a 9-Day Absence.” Curiously, after people noted it was actually 13 days (with one video appearance at the start), the Times changed its spin to “After nearly 10 days off the campaign trail.”

Maybe by the end of Election Day the Times will get close to reporting the truth.

Still, the question remains: What was James Talarico really doing during that time?

No candidate who is bedridden with a couple of weeks to go before voting would simply sit around and do nothing. We went through a pandemic where people ran for every office in the land via video streaming, and even if he were coughing and stuffed up, a phone call to print outlets would not convey snot and sneezes. He said his campaign made him work, so there was no reason not to do something. Yet, he did nothing.

What “work” was his campaign having him do, administrative paperwork?

One softball interview with no real follow-ups or any suspicion is not going to cut it. Neither will going on with someone like Rachel Maddow to discuss bowl cut secrets; Talarico needs to answer some serious questions.

Did he just go to his primary care doctor, as he has said, or was it so bad he just went to urgent care, as he also said? It can’t be both, or he’d have to explain why he said each option separately and alone, as though the other didn’t exist.

People with nothing to hide don’t hide things. A prescription or a receipt from either of those alleged appointments (if they happened) would end speculation.

The Talarico campaign will likely be living the next three weeks in fear that the truth will come out before the polls close. No one who has ever worked an election would willingly put themselves in that sort of position unless whatever they were hiding was simply awful and/or disqualifying.

If there’s one thing that campaigns dislike, it is wild speculation about their candidate. That the Talarico campaign is not proving their “story” to put this to bed leaves a lot of room for the idea that whatever really happened is much worse than anything being speculated about thus far.

Editor’s Note: The 2026 Midterms will determine the fate of President Trump’s America First agenda. Republicans must maintain control of both chambers of Congress.

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News Topics JAMES TALARICO | TEXAS | 2026 ELECTIONS Join the Conversation VIP members get the ability to comment on articles.