Texas State Rep. James Talarico finally addressed his absence from the campaign trail, but his interview with NBC’s Phil Prazan did little to quiet the questions. Instead, the Democrat nominee for U.S. Senate repeated his flu explanation while facing inconsistencies surrounding his whereabouts and medical care.

Talarico had gone roughly two weeks without an in-person campaign event in Texas. Yet Prazan described the gap as “roughly nine days” when opening an interview that proved remarkably gentle toward the candidate.

The controversy intensified after independent journalist Nick Sortor released audio that appears to involve the Lindner Center of Hope, a mental health facility in Mason, Ohio. The recording appears to show Rhein Amacher calling the facility and asking whether it had anything for James Talarico.

“It looks like he was just discharged this evening,” an unidentified female employee says on the call.

BREAKING EXCLUSIVE: Ohio mental hospital CONFIRMS James Talarico was discharged from the facility earlier this week

The “flu” thing was a BIG FAT LIE Following reporting by @SaraGonzalesTX and @CarolineWren, a hospital employee told @RheinAmacher and I that Talarico had in fact been a patient at the Lindner Center of Hope near Cincinnati, Ohio, which specializes in around-the-clock mental health treatment. While I sympathize with those dealing with mental health crises, this man is CLEARLY not suited to become a US Senator representing over 30 MILLION TEXANS. The job doesn’t get easier after being elected — it only gets MORE stressful. And Talarico clearly can’t handle it. I pray he gets the help he needs, but Texans need a real representative they can rely on. — Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) October 11, 2026

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Sortor and Amacher gave Talarico until 1 p.m. ET Sunday to explain his absence before they released the recording. The campaign did not respond before that deadline, and the audio was subsequently posted.

Campaign spokesman JT Ennis rejected the allegation outright. “This is a lie designed to promote a pathetic conspiracy theory,” Ennis wrote on X. “Last week James Talarico was home in Austin, Texas, recovering from the flu.”

When Talarico finally addressed the issue himself, he offered the same explanation. “Yeah, I got the flu, and I’m feeling much better, and I’m glad I had a chance to recover,” Talarico told Prazan. “I’m glad we made the decision to just take the week, get better, and now I’m glad to be back on the trail.”

Prazan noted that the flu can hit diabetics hard and asked whether Talarico needed treatment from a doctor or hospital. Talarico said his care did not extend beyond a visit to his regular doctor.

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“I just went to my primary care physician, but it wasn’t anything worse than, you know, a nasty case of the flu,” Talarico said. That answer kept the campaign’s flu account intact, but it did not resolve the questions raised by his extended absence.

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The campaign’s conduct during that period remains central to the criticism. Rather than publicly explaining that its candidate was recovering from the flu, the team went silent as the general election stood less than a month away.

The campaign also posted video from older rallies and presented it as current. That choice added another layer of suspicion to an already strange disappearance from public campaign events.

Talarico also gave seemingly conflicting descriptions of his recovery. He said the campaign decided he should take a week to get better, but then said he continued working during that same period.

“Unfortunately, the campaign made me work from home, so I didn’t even get full days off,” he said. The remark left an obvious question about whether he was taking time away to recover or continuing his campaign duties from home.

His description of where he received care also changed. During a Zoom appearance with the Hispanic Business Council, Talarico said he went to urgent care in Dallas, while he later told Prazan that he visited his primary care physician.

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Austin is roughly three hours from Dallas, adding to the questions about his account. Talarico did not provide further clarification about the difference between the urgent care visit he previously described and the primary care visit mentioned in the NBC interview.

Prazan eventually asked about claims from conservatives and allies of Ken Paxton that Talarico experienced an episode triggered by stress and received treatment. Talarico flatly denied that account and again pointed to the flu.

“That’s not true, I just had the flu, and I feel much better, but it’s a good reminder that you can’t believe everything you read on the internet,” Talarico said. His answer was direct, but the surrounding contradictions ensured the interview would not put the matter to rest.

The result was a polished explanation delivered in a friendly setting after days of silence from the campaign. For critics, the shifting details, recycled rally footage, and conflicting medical accounts made the flu story look less settled, not more credible.

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