Somewhere in Texas this week, a cashier with a fever is deciding whether to go in anyway. She will probably go. That is the context in which James Talarico's flu has become a campaign controversy.
Talarico, the Democratic nominee for Senate, has been off the trail for nearly two weeks. His campaign says he has influenza, diagnosed at a Dallas urgent care, and that he stayed home so he wouldn't expose vulnerable people. He has Type 1 diabetes, which makes the flu more than an inconvenience. Ken Paxton and Donald Trump have treated the absence as something to be explained, with the clear implication that it is weakness, evasion or both.
This is a strange standard to set. For years, public health advice has been simple: if you're contagious, stay away from other people. Talarico did that, and the response is to count the days. A political culture that punishes the one candidate who follows the advice will keep producing candidates who campaign sick, shake hands while feverish and treat a body as an obstacle to be hidden.
The cruelty of that expectation is not abstract in Texas. In 2023 the legislature passed HB 2127, which struck down paid sick leave ordinances that Austin, Dallas and San Antonio had enacted. The state has no paid sick leave requirement of its own. Millions of Texans are told, in effect, that responsible behavior is a luxury available to people who can afford it. A Senate candidate with a campaign staff, donors and a flexible schedule can afford to be sick. Most voters cannot. If Republicans want to mock the idea of a politician staying home to protect others, they should say so to the people who clean their offices and staff their restaurants.
The hypocrisy is also worth noting. Trump's medical disclosures have been notoriously thin, and Paxton, who was impeached by the Texas House in 2023 and acquitted by the Senate, has a long record of dodging scrutiny and process servers. These are not men with standing to lecture anyone about transparency.
But the Left shouldn't pretend the campaign has nothing to answer for. Nearly two weeks is a long time, and a campaign in a state this big and this expensive cannot rely on a thin explanation. Some volunteers are reportedly anxious about momentum, which suggests the staff has not communicated well. Nobody is owed a candidate's medical file. They are owed a clear timeline and a plan for how the campaign operates when its principal is down. Over 100 public events is a real record, but it is a talking point, not an answer. A campaign that runs entirely on the candidate's presence is brittle, and it also puts a hidden burden on the volunteers and junior staff who absorb the slack.
The larger lesson is that Democrats have a rare chance to make the contrast concrete. If Talarico returns this weekend, as his campaign says, he should not apologize for the absence. He should say plainly that he did what a decent person does when contagious, and then ask why that choice is available to him and not to the Texans he hopes to represent. A flu is a poor scandal. It is a good illustration of who gets to be sick in this state and who doesn't.
How it may affect me
Texas has no state paid sick leave requirement, and HB 2127 (2023) bars cities from creating their own. Whether you can stay home while contagious depends on your employer's policy, not a legal right. Federal law gives eligible workers unpaid, job-protected leave for serious conditions, but it does not cover a typical short flu absence. Check your employer's sick-leave policy now, before you need it.
