Republicans Promoted a False Rumor About Talarico

“After James Talarico, the Democratic nominee for Senate in Texas, spent more than a week with no campaign appearances because of what he and his aides described as a bad case of the flu, a false rumor circulated by conservatives exploded online,” the New York Times reports.

“By Sunday, a post on X claiming that Mr. Talarico had been at a mental health facility in Ohio — a story promoted by Republican allies of Mr. Talarico’s opponent, Ken Paxton — had been viewed millions of times. Then the Ohio facility took the remarkable step of publicly announcing on Sunday night that Mr. Talarico had in fact never been treated there.”