Ken Paxton built a conspiracy around James Talarico's flu
By Daniel Okafor · Reporting from New York ·
Ken Paxton pushed rumors and mock posters to question James Talarico's flu absence, choosing an easy conspiracy that collapsed once camera images proved Talarico was home.
Ken Paxton is wrong. He tried to turn a fever into a conspiracy. For nearly two weeks, Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico was off the campaign trail. He had the flu. Instead of waiting for the facts, Paxton and his allies spent those days building a narrative of secrecy. They did not find a mystery. They found a man in bed with a thermometer.
Where was the candidate?
Talarico's last live event in Texas was Sept. 26 in Carrollton. He attended fundraisers in New York City on Sept. 28. By Sept. 30, according to reporting by MS NOW and NBC News, he was sick. He attended a virtual Q&A with the United States Hispanic Business Council that day. He told the audience he went to urgent care in Dallas and was diagnosed with the flu.
The Republican response was immediate. At a rally in San Antonio, President Donald Trump said Talarico was "throwing up all over the place" for political reasons. Paxton asked, "Where do you think they hid that little socialist?" Senator Ted Cruz posted a mock milk carton with Talarico's face on it. This effort to use a medical absence to cast doubt on fitness for office mirrors the 2008 United States presidential campaign.
Talarico's staff canceled events through Oct. 5. Paxton took to X to ask who believes a 13-day absence was caused by the flu. This was not a question. It was a prompt for a rumor.
The evidence of a home recovery
The rumors grew into a specific lie. Social media users claimed Talarico flew to Ohio for treatment at the Lindner Center of Hope. Some shared a recording of a staff member saying Talarico had been discharged. The Lindner Center of Hope denied this on social media. They stated Talarico "has never received treatment" there.
The proof arrived in images. Talarico's campaign shared eight timestamped security camera images with CBS News. The images have watermarks from SimpliSafe. They show a male figure with brown hair at Talarico's home in Austin. The photos cover every day from Oct. 1 to Oct. 8. CBS News matched the backyard photos to satellite imagery of Talarico's address.
Talarico returned to public view on Oct. 9 at the Austin City Limits Music Festival. He told an NBC reporter that he was in bed drinking liquids. He said the campaign made him work from home. He added, "It's a good reminder that you can't believe everything you read on the internet."
A mechanism of disinformation
This is the same mechanism used in the 2016 United States presidential election. In that race, opponents used social media disinformation and unverified rumors to create a narrative of instability or secrecy around a candidate's health and location. It is a strategy that relies on the speed of a lie to outrun the slow pace of a fact. We saw this again in the 2020 United States presidential election when rivals used perceived physical frailty to question viability.
Paxton is familiar with the legal weight of evidence. He served as attorney general of Texas. He faced a felony securities fraud indictment that was dismissed in 2025. He was impeached over allegations of bribery and abuse of office, though the Texas Senate acquitted him. He knows the difference between a claim and a proof. In this race, he chose the claim.
The 2026 Texas Senate election has now entered a stage where the facts carry their own verdict. Talarico has already shown a capacity for massive support, raising over $27 million in the first quarter of his primary. He now has the chance to turn Paxton's failure into a fundraising surge.
Paxton will likely pivot to border policy and economic grievances. He will try to move past the "missing" posters. But the record shows he prefers the rumor to the report. A candidate who treats a flu recovery as a conspiracy is not running a campaign. He is running a grift.