Talarico’s Flu Excuse Draws Scrutiny Amid Campaign Absence
Texas Senate candidate James Talarico’s flu explanation faces questions as his campaign withdraws from events.
2 min read
Texas State Rep. James Talarico (D-50th District), the Democrat nominee for U.S. Senate in Texas, has vanished from the campaign trail in the middle of a general election, and the flu story his campaign is offering for his absence does not hold up.
Start with the dates. Talarico hasn’t campaigned in Texas since Sept. 26. His last public sighting came on September 28, at a New York fundraiser hosted by Robert De Niro. He claimed a Dallas urgent-care clinic diagnosed him with the flu on the night of September 29, and his campaign started scrubbing Texas appearances from the calendar the next day without a formal explanation.
As for the video in which he revealed the diagnosis, he doesn’t look sick, nor is he acting even remotely under the weather.
James Talarico says he’s skipping an event with the Hispanic Business Council in Texas because he’s “under the weather.” Talarico has time to fundraise with billionaires in New York but won’t show up to hear from Texans.
Exact same post in February? https://t.co/Qd7iiK7KOa
Even more bizarre is that on Friday, October 2, the campaign posted video from a February 22 rally, an event held before Talarico had even won the Democrat nomination, and tried to pass it off as current.
If his absence was legitimate, why would the campaign try to make the public think he was actively campaigning?
A campaign with a sick candidate and nothing to hide just says so. But from what I can tell, Talarico’s campaign made no acknowledgement of the illness and issued no broader public announcement about the flu diagnosis until October 6, and only after reporters began asking about his prolonged absence. A simple statement on September 29 from the campaign acknowledging an illness and temporary pause of campaigning would have been proper. Instead, more than a week passed between the alleged diagnosis and the formal acknowledgment of it. And even that raises questions. Talarico is 37 and otherwise in good health, and a healthy man that age should be over the flu in a few days. He’s been gone far longer than that.
Nothing about this flu explanation adds up.
Source: PJ Media
