Rep. James Talarico greets voters at ACL Music Festival

AUSTIN, Texas - Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico was spotted at the Austin City Limits Music Festival on Friday during Weekend Two.

What they're saying:

Talarico spokesperson JT Ennis released the following statement:

"Hate to disappoint the conspiracy theorists, but James is still alive and meeting with voters at ACL today."

The Talarico campaign said his recent absence on the trail was because he was sick.

Paxton campaign launches tipline 

Dig deeper:

The appearance comes just hours after his Republican rival and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton launched a tipline asking supporters for sightings.

It’s a narrative that the Paxton camp has seized on this week after Talarico attended an event virtually instead of in person and canceled other campaign stops. 

People who call the tipline (833-569-9258) hear a voice that recounts the number of days Talarico has been off the stump trail, asks them to leave a message if they’ve seen the Democrat and reminds them to vote for Paxton.

Will there be a Talarico vs Paxton debate?

Big picture view:

Talarico's appearance at ACL ended one political discussion, but the discussion of debates continues.

On Friday, speculation was running hot and reportedly that was starting to cause concern regarding possible political damage in some Democratic circles.

"I think it really depends on how long this lingers. I mean, I think if he's back on the campaign trail and seems normal, back to his old self within the next few days, I think, it's probably not that big of a deal. If we're a week from now, and he's still not making campaign appearances, then this becomes a more serious issue and people will start to question the truthfulness about is this really just recovery from the flu or is there something more serious going on either in terms of his physical or psychological health," said SMU Political Science professor Mathew Wilson.

The Talarico question may be resolved, but there is still no firm answer about whether any high-profile debates will happen. 

Latest on the Texas governor's race

Big picture view:

The push for some kind of political face-off recently ramped up in the contentious governor's race. 

Democrat Gina Hinojosa has challenged Governor Greg Abbott to a front yard debate at the Governor’s Mansion next week. He hasn’t accepted.

"I also think the fact that Abbott's not taking the bait on the debate. Is that, you know, his internal tracking poll is probably showing that he's pretty safe, and he's going to just coast into the election," said political analyst Bill King.

On social media, Governor Abbott described the Hinojosa invite as "grandstanding" and went on to state that Hinojosa "is going down in flames."

Brian Smith with St. Edwards University is not surprised about Abbott, and other Texas Republicans are dodging debate invites.

"Social media killed the debates and the fact that debates have always been low reward but high risk. Republicans in Texas in this century avoided debates because they had so much to lose and so little to gain. In a very close race, the upside of a good debate is not that much, but the downside of a bad debate is too great. Also, we think about 2024. The Joe Biden debate has added a total new wrinkle to the debate strategy. A single debate in the past, you would say, that's not going to crush me. But now we look at one debate, Biden's terrible debate against Trump. He lost the debate, was removed from the ticket and his party lost the election. So now candidates have to say, do I want to pull a Biden? And if the answer is no, then you don't debate at all," said Smith.

What's next:

The only debate that’s been announced is in the Railroad Commission race. 

Reportedly, it will be held in two weeks, during early voting.

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