The campaign of Democratic Texas Senate candidate James Talarico shared security camera footage with CBS News that appears to show Talarico at his Texas home during the first eight days of this month – pushing back against claims that Talarico was hiding the reasons for his disappearance.
Talarico was absent from the campaign trail for nearly two weeks, saying he had come down with a bad case of the flu. The disappearance sparked criticism and speculation from his Republican opponent, Ken Paxton.
But on Monday, Talarico’s campaign shared a series of security camera images that they say show the state lawmaker and Democratic candidate at his Texas home every day from Oct. 1 to 8, a day before Talarico made a public appearance.
The eight time-stamped images — which include watermarks from home security camera company SimpliSafe — appear to have been taken from a camera in the backyard of Talarico’s home in the state capital of Austin. CBS News compared the backyard features to recent satellite images of Talarico’s address. Although low resolution, the photos show a brown-haired male character at different times of the day and wearing different outfits.
The images were first reported by The New York Times.
The mental health facility at the center of the conspiracy theories, the Lindner Center of Hope in Mason, Ohio, also wrote on social media that Talarico “never received treatment there.”
Talarico campaign spokesman JT Ennis said in a statement that allegations that Talarico was elsewhere were “a lie intended to promote a pathetic conspiracy theory.”
“Last week, James Talarico was at home in Austin, Texas, recovering from the flu,” Ennis said.
Timeline: What we know about James Talarico’s whereabouts
Talarico was not seen in public for just under two weeks, from late September until Friday evening.
Its last known in-person event in Texas was Saturday, September 26, in the Dallas suburb of Carrollton. Two days later, he was in New York for a series of fundraisers, including a joint fundraiser with Sherrod Brown, Democratic candidate for Ohio Senate, hosted by Robert De Niro.
On September 30, Talarico backed out of an in-person conversation with Javier Palomarez, president of the Hispanic Affairs Council of the United States. Instead, he appeared for a virtual Q&A session.
“A few days ago I was starting to feel bad,” Talarico told the audience, apologizing for not coming in person. “And last night it got so bad that I went to urgent care here in Dallas and I was diagnosed with the flu. So I have a fever and I’m the most contagious right now.” (He later told a reporter that he had gone to his GP.)
A day later, on October 1, Talarico’s campaign called for canceling an appearance at the Central Texas African American Civic Engagement Symposium scheduled for next week, according to Essien Ita, the group’s leader. Ita told CBS News that Talarico’s staff refused to reschedule the appearance and said they had canceled other events through October 5.
The following week, President Trump traveled to San Antonio to campaign with Paxton. Both the president and Paxton, the state attorney general, made reference to Talarico’s absence.
“I heard this guy is missing – no one knows. Do you know where he is? He’s sick because he’s forced to eat meat for political reasons and he’s throwing up everywhere,” Mr Trump said, referring to Talarico’s past comments about trying to reduce meat consumption. (Talarico denied being vegan.)
Earlier in the rally, Paxton said, “When I got here today, we were on day 11 of James Talarico not appearing in public and canceling all public appearances. Where do you think they hid this little socialist?” He then asked the audience to shout “Where is James Talarico?” in unison.
Talarico was first seen in public this month on Friday, October 9, when a campaign spokesperson posted a video of him greeting festival-goers at the Austin City Limits Music Festival.
That same day, Talarico told CBS News in a text, “Feeling much better. Back on the track!”
Talarico had several other public appearances over the weekend, attending a Kasey Musgraves concert in San Antonio on Saturday and giving interviews Sunday to NBC’s Dallas-Fort Worth station and the Dallas Morning News editorial board.
“It was nothing worse than a nasty flu. So I was in bed and, you know, drinking a lot of fluids. Unfortunately, the campaign forced me to work from home, so I didn’t even have full days off,” he told a local NBC reporter, saying he didn’t want to get anyone sick.
Paxton suggested something was wrong, saying Talarico “owes the Texans answers.”
“James Talarico claims he disappeared for 13 days because he had the flu,” Paxton wrote in an article on X over the weekend. “Who really believes that?”
Around the same time, social media users began speculating — without proof — that Talarico had flown to Ohio to seek mental health treatment.
Then, on Sunday, conservative social media figures shared an unverified recording in which someone appeared to call the Lindner Center of Hope in Ohio to ask if Talarico had been recorded. A staff member at the mental health center apparently said he had been released.
CBS News could neither authenticate nor debunk the veracity of the call. The Lindner Center of Hope has publicly stated that Talarico did not receive treatment at the mental health facility.
Local station NBC asked Talarico about the rumors. He denied them and said: “It’s a good reminder that you can’t believe everything you read on the Internet.”
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