James Talarico is back in front of the cameras after a lengthy absence from the Texas Senate campaign — and his explanation now comes with a detail that deserves a closer look.

In interviews Sunday, the Democrat denied claims that he had spent time at a mental-health facility. He insisted that he had the flu, said he was feeling better and mocked the political firestorm surrounding his time away.

But when he described the medical visit behind his diagnosis, Talarico gave a different account from the one voters heard less than two weeks ago.

NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth reporter Phil Prazan spoke with Talarico in Dallas and asked directly about the flu, the allegation that he received treatment for a stress-related episode and the status of a possible debate with Republican nominee Ken Paxton.

Here is Prazan’s preview of the interview:

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Talarico told Prazan that he had the flu and was glad he had been able to recover. Asked about the mental-hospital allegation, he called it untrue and warned that people cannot believe everything they read online.

That denial is straightforward. The medical timeline is not quite as clean.

On September 30, Talarico joined a United States Hispanic Business Council event virtually instead of appearing in person. As CBS News Texas reported, he said he had started feeling sick, went to urgent care in Dallas the night before and was diagnosed with the flu.

His wording was specific: urgent care, Dallas, the previous night.

The illness pulled him away from in-person campaigning at a critical point in the race. His last public Texas appearances before the gap came on September 26, followed by a reported New York fundraiser on September 29.

His campaign later confirmed that he returned to public view at Austin City Limits on October 9. By then, questions about the missing campaign appearances had already become a central attack line for Paxton and his allies.

In Sunday’s interview, Talarico instead said he had gone to his primary care physician and that the illness was nothing worse than a nasty case of the flu.

An urgent-care visit in Dallas and a visit to one’s primary care physician are not necessarily impossible to reconcile. A person can make more than one medical visit.

Talarico did not provide that explanation in the clip, however, and the change in his account is exactly why the questions have not disappeared.

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The broader controversy erupted after Talarico went roughly 12 days without an in-person campaign appearance during the final stretch of a nationally watched race. His campaign said he was home in Austin recovering from the flu.

Then independent reporter Nick Sortor and Rhein Amacher released a recorded call in which a woman, presented as an employee of an Ohio mental-health facility, appeared to say Talarico had recently been discharged.

Sortor made the allegation publicly here:

The recording is not the same thing as an independently verified medical record. The woman was not publicly identified, and the facility itself did not issue an on-the-record confirmation.

Just the News reported that the caller appeared to reach the Lindner Center of Hope in Mason, Ohio. The woman on the recording said Talarico had been discharged earlier that evening.

The report was published Sunday after Sortor and Amacher released the audio. It arrived two days after Talarico returned to public view at Austin City Limits following roughly 12 days away from in-person campaign events.

The woman was not publicly identified, and the recording does not establish how she would have known who had received treatment. The facility itself did not issue an on-the-record confirmation.

That distinction matters. A serious allegation about a person’s medical history should not be upgraded from a disputed recording to established fact simply because it is politically explosive.

Talarico’s campaign issued a categorical denial. Spokesman JT Ennis said the report was a lie and maintained that the candidate was at home in Austin recovering from the flu.

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Here is the campaign’s statement:

Talarico took the same line in a separate interview with MS NOW. According to CNN, he called the episode the craziest thing he had ever heard and complained that an online claim could quickly become a media story.

He said he had continued working from home and meeting with his team over Zoom. He returned to public view at the Austin City Limits music festival Friday and attended a Kacey Musgraves concert in Dallas Saturday.

Talarico then tried to turn the pressure back on Paxton, joking that he had heard reports of a medical condition causing “clinical levels of cowardice.” He said Paxton had demanded proof of life from him, while he wanted proof of spine from Paxton.

The line was clearly designed to move the story from Talarico’s absence to the debate stage. President Trump had already called for the two candidates to debate, and Talarico has been pressing Paxton to accept.

That does not settle the questions raised by the changed description of his doctor visit.

There are three separate issues here, and voters should not let partisan noise blur them together.

First, Talarico says he had the flu and denies being treated at a mental-health facility. Second, a recorded call has fueled an allegation that remains disputed and independently unconfirmed.

Third, his public description changed from urgent care in Dallas to his primary care physician. That part is visible on the record.

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Talarico may have a simple explanation for the difference. If so, he should give it plainly.

The fastest way to end questions about a changing story is not another rehearsed jab at Paxton. It is a clear answer.

Texas voters can judge the rest for themselves.

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This is a Guest Post from our friends over at WLTReport. View the original article here.

 

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