According to Fox News, Talarico’s last public appearances were at a Texas campaign event on September 26 and a New York fundraiser on September 28.
Then, on October 9, a spokesperson for Talarico posted a video of the Democrat senate candidate meeting with people at the Austin City Limits Music Festival.
Republicans mark his disappearance around two weeks. However, the Talarico campaign insists that his attendance on a Zoom meeting September 30 counts as an appearance, making his absence around nine days.
Talarico has claimed that he was battling the flu, but during an appearance on American Family Radio (AFR)’s “Jenna Ellis in the Morning,” Chris Ekstrom, a board member of U.S. Term Limits, said that it is still a concern, and mainstream media should do better in its coverage of the situation.
“Do you want a guy who — when he has a flu — disappears for 12 days in the middle of the most important thing he’s ever done by a long shot in his life?” Ekstrom asks.
Republicans, including President Donald Trump, criticized Talarico for his departure. Meanwhile, the spokesperson who highlighted Talarico’s return posted “hate to disappoint the conspiracy theorists.”
This kind of sudden disappearance would spark immediate national outrage if a conservative candidate tried it, he argued.
Shifting focus to the broader political landscape, Ekstrom warned Christian and evangelical voters against letting minor policy disagreements or personal baggage stop them from participating in the democratic process, pointing back to the costly consequences of sitting out past elections.
“Now, stop playing games in Texas if you're an evangelical with all these nonsense reasons for not voting for Ken Paxton, and get out there and vote, from the top of the ticket all the way down, Republican,” Ekstrom says.
Ekstrom concluded that voters must look at elections through a lens of practical reality rather than demanding perfection.
During the first ever Republican midterm convention in Texas, Vice President JD Vance also urged voters to put aside policy differences and vote so a “bunch of crazy people” won’t have control over the country.
Even Texas State Senator Angela Paxton, the estranged wife of Republican Senate candidate Ken Paxton, urged voters to vote, if not for him, than against their Democrat opponent.
