FACT FOCUS: Posts falsely claim Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico was at a mental facility

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Republican officials and conservative social media users spread unfounded rumors in recent days that state Rep. James Talarico, the Democratic nominee in a competitive Texas Senate race, had suffered a mental health crisis.

Questions about Talarico’s whereabouts began spreading after the candidate was not seen in public for nine days. But he and his campaign have repeatedly attributed his absence to the flu.

Here’s a closer look at the facts.

CLAIM: Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico was being treated in an Ohio mental health facility last week.

THE FACTS: This is false. The facility where he was said to have been treated has denied he was ever a patient there. Both he and his campaign have said he was recovering from the flu. Talarico has type 1 diabetes, which means he has a higher risk of developing complications from the flu. Regardless, Talarico’s schedule doesn’t align with what was presented as evidence of his stay at the mental health facility and images reviewed by The Associated Press showed Talarico at home over several days last week.

Talarico spoke at a Hispanic Business Council event on Sept. 30 by video. He said during the event that he had been diagnosed with the flu at an urgent care facility in Dallas after “starting to feel kind of under the weather a few days ago,” adding that he wasn’t there in person because he had decided to “put safety first” since he had a fever and was still contagious.

Republicans highlighted Talarico’s subsequent absence from the campaign trail from Oct. 1 to Oct. 9, noting his absence came at a critical time at the end of a competitive race. His opponent, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, described Talarico as “missing” in a series of social posts and said his campaign had requested “proof of life.” President Donald Trump called Talarico “MISSING IN ACTION!” in a Truth Social post and asked: “Where is he? What is wrong with him?”

Among the chatter was a rumor that Talarico had suffered a mental health breakdown. Conservative social media influencer Nick Sorter on Sunday posted a 47-second audio clip on X that he said proved that Talarico had been discharged earlier in the week from Lindner Center of Hope, a mental health treatment center in Mason, Ohio. In the clip, a woman who Sorter claimed was an employee there says it looked like Talarico “was just discharged this evening.”

But the timeline doesn’t hold up. Rhein Amacher, who describes himself on social media as a “right-wing provocateur,” said he made the call on Saturday evening. Talarico was seen at the Austin City Limits music festival on Friday. On Saturday, he made an appearance at a Kacey Musgraves concert in Dallas.

The Lindner Center of Hope wrote in an X post on Sunday that Talarico “has never received treatment” from the facility. Talarico replied to the post, saying, “I’ve never even been to Ohio.” He included a tears of joy emoji. JT Ennis, a spokesperson for Talarico, called Sorter’s claim “a lie designed to promote a pathetic conspiracy theory” in an X post and wrote that Talarico had been recovering from the flu at his home in Austin.”

“I got the flu, and I’m feeling much better, and I’m glad I had a chance to recover,” Talarico said in a Sunday interview with the NBC affiliate in Dallas-Fort Worth. He confirmed that the online rumors were “not true.” In an MS NOW interview the same day, he called such rumors “the craziest thing I’ve ever heard.”

If Talarico wins the November general election, Paxton would be the first Republican in nearly four decades to lose a Senate race in Texas.
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Find AP Fact Checks here: https://apnews.com/APFactCheck.