Republican Senate candidate Ken Paxton launched a tip line for sightings of Democratic rival James Talarico, only for the Texas Democrat to turn up hours later at Austin City Limits.
Paxton, the Texas attorney general running for U.S. Senate, rolled out the hotline on Friday and asked Texans to report any glimpse of state Rep. James Talarico. Hours later, video of Talarico walking the grounds at the Austin City Limits festival hit social media.
FOX Local reported the sequence as the two men fight a tight race with early voting set to open Oct. 19 and Election Day on Nov. 3. The Paxton campaign had spent the week hammering Talarico for skipping the stump trail. Talarico’s team said he had the flu.
The tip line number is 833-569-9258. Callers hear a message that recounts days Talarico has spent off the trail, asks them to leave a tip if they spot him, and reminds them to vote for Paxton.
Paxton’s side framed the move as the next step after earlier pressure. Spokesperson Madison Cercy put it this way:
"We've tried posters. We've tried a formal proof-of-life request. Now we're asking every Texan to help bring Jimmy home. If you spot James Talarico in Texas, call the tip line. If you spot him at a Hollywood fundraiser, don't bother. We already know he'll show up for those. Texans shouldn't need a hotline to find the man asking for their vote."
Paxton also raised the missing-from-the-trail theme during a campaign stop with President Donald Trump in San Antonio earlier in the week. The race sits inside the margin of error in most surveys.
JT Ennis, a Talarico campaign spokesperson, reposted the festival video and pushed back hard. He wrote on X:
"Hate to disappoint the conspiracy theorists, but James is still alive and meeting with voters at ACL today."
In a longer statement, Ennis said Talarico had already done heavy work before getting sick:
"After holding more than 100 public events and meeting with tens of thousands of supporters, James came down with the flu but will be back on the trail soon. Ken Paxton has spent this campaign hiding from everyone -- running away from reporters' questions and ducking repeated offers to debate James Talarico, even on Fox News. While James was meeting with Texans all summer, Ken Paxton was on a luxurious European vacation. Paxton has been ignoring Texans this entire campaign, and his priorities are clear: he doesn't answer to the people of this state, he answers to his billionaire megadonors and special interests."
That is the full Democratic counter-punch: flu explanation, event count, debate challenge, and a vacation attack. Paxton’s camp answers with a simple demand, show up in Texas and take questions from the people you want to represent.
This week Talarico attended at least one event virtually and canceled other campaign stops. The Paxton team seized on that gap and treated it as absence from the trail. Friday’s tip line made the charge public and statewide. The ACL appearance then put Talarico on camera in Austin the same day.
Both men have worked the state before. A July 21, 2026 photo caption places Paxton and Talarico speaking at separate campaign events in Fort Worth. The contrast now is sharper: one side running a tip line and standing with the president in San Antonio, the other explaining canceled stops with a flu claim and a festival walk.
Early voting begins Oct. 19. Election Day is Nov. 3. In a race this close, every day off the trail carries a cost, and every public appearance gets measured against the last one that did not happen.
Voters can decide whether a tip line was theater or a fair question. What they should not accept is a candidate who asks for their vote while staying hard to find.
