Donald Trump asks "Where is he?" as he urges Texas Senate candidate Talarico to debate Ken Paxton
“No one has seen him for an extended period of time. Where is he? What is wrong with him? Bad rumors are coming out. He should immediately report to a Debate Stage against Ken Paxton, who is ready, willing, and able, one of the best Attorney Generals in the Country, and will soon be, hopefully, a United States Senator representing the Great People of Texas!”
Reported October 8, 2026 by thedailybeast.com. Checked word for word against that report.
Ahead of the Nov. 3 midterms, President Donald Trump posted late at night on Truth Social that Texas Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico had been absent from the campaign trail and urged him to debate Attorney General Ken Paxton, whom Trump praised. Talarico replied on X that he agreed Paxton should debate, directly challenging him. While campaigning in Texas, Paxton had similarly said Talarico had not appeared publicly for 11 days and led a chant asking where he was. Talarico’s team told Fox News Digital he had the flu and would return that weekend. At a San Antonio rally on Wednesday, Trump mentioned the illness and mocked Talarico’s diet without evidence. Polling cited in the report showed Talarico leading Paxton in the Texas Senate race, which is important to Republican hopes of keeping the Senate.
- thedailybeast.com ↗︎08 OCT 2026