Security footage undercuts smear campaign against Texas Senate candidate James Talarico
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New York Times-reviewed security-camera images show Democratic Senate nominee James Talarico stayed at his Austin home while recovering from the flu, pushing back against online speculation that he was in Ohio for treatment.
The New York Times reported Monday that security-camera footage supplied by James Talarico’s campaign shows the Democratic Senate nominee at his Austin residence from Oct. 1 to Oct. 8, the span of his nine-day campaign hiatus. The time-stamped images, provided to the newspaper on the condition they not be published for security reasons, directly contradict the online rumor mill that claimed Talarico had traveled to an Ohio behavioral-health center.
Talarico’s campaign said he was ill with the flu, and the candidate appeared virtually at a Sept. 30 event looking visibly sick. Critics, including GOP strategist Mark Bednar, seized on the pause and complained that the campaign did not release the footage sooner, even though a straightforward proof of illness could have stopped the speculation.
"In October of an election year, every day and every hour count as candidates do everything they can to meet with voters. If you are out of commission for any extent of time, it's easy for voters to wonder what's going on," Bednar told Fox News Digital.
"If the flu was really the case with Talarico, it's mind-numbing malpractice that his campaign didn't quickly and easily demonstrate that," he added.
Washington Free Beacon reporter Chuck Ross wrote on X that the footage "could have been released a week ago and quashed the rumors."
Campaign spokesperson JT Ennis pushed back on the criticism, calling the allegation a conspiracy theory and saying Talarico is "excited to be back on the campaign trail after recovering from the flu."
Ennis also redirected attention to Talarico’s Republican opponent, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, noting that President Trump had called on Paxton to debate the candidate.
"It's been 87 days since James challenged Ken Paxton to come out of hiding and answer Texans' questions in a debate, which even President Trump called on him to do," Ennis said.