Democratic U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico reappeared publicly over the weekend, introduced by country singer Kacey Musgraves at a Texas festival, following a nearly two-week stretch without in-person campaign appearances.
Video posted to social media shows Musgraves introducing Talarico to a crowd of thousands at a Texas concert on Saturday night. Talarico confirmed the appearance in a Sunday post on X, writing, “Thank you for having me last night, @KaceyMusgraves!” alongside photos of himself with the singer. Additional footage shows him standing near the barricade as Musgraves performed.
The appearance comes after Talarico’s Republican opponent, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, publicly questioned his whereabouts last week. Paxton’s campaign had gone 12 days without a confirmed in-person public appearance from Talarico, prompting Paxton to post a “Wanted”-style graphic of the Democrat on X.
“Jimmy appears to be having a full-blown mental Tala-freak-out on the national stage,” Paxton wrote. “My campaign has a simple request: proof of life.”
Before Saturday’s festival, Talarico’s last confirmed in-person public event was a September 26 press conference addressing suspension of the federal gas tax and the conflict with Iran. Four days later, on September 30, he appeared virtually before the United States Hispanic Business Council — an event he had originally been scheduled to attend in person — citing a bout of the flu for his absence.
Musgraves, the artist who introduced Talarico Saturday night, has previously made headlines for her own public stances. At a past concert, she agreed to perform a gender reveal for expecting parents in the audience but asked them first: “I will open this and tell you the gender if you promise that when they grow up, if they decide that’s not the gender that they feel like they are, will you honor that?”
Talarico is the Democratic nominee facing Paxton in the race for the U.S. Senate seat from Texas.
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