The campaign of Texas Senate candidate James Talarico is disputing claims that he spent part of his nearly two-week absence from the campaign trail at a psychiatric treatment facility in Mason, Ohio, calling the allegation “a pathetic conspiracy theory.”
The dispute centers on an audio recording released Sunday by independent journalists Nick Sortor and Rhein Amacher. In the recording, Amacher is heard calling the Lindner Center of Hope, a psychiatric treatment facility in Mason, Ohio, and asking about Talarico. A woman who identifies herself as an employee of the facility says, “It looks like he was just discharged this evening,” adding, “That’s why I don’t have it.” Amacher then asks whether he has reached the Lindner Center of Hope in Ohio, and the woman confirms the facility’s location.
The recording followed earlier claims from Republican strategist Caroline Wren and former Los Angeles mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt that Talarico had spent time at a mental health facility. Wren has also pointed to flight-tracking records that she says show a private aircraft traveling from Austin, Texas, to Hamilton, Ohio — near the Lindner Center — and back to Texas shortly before Talarico reappeared publicly Friday at the Austin City Limits music festival.
Talarico’s campaign has offered a different explanation for his absence. Campaign spokesman JT Ennis said: “This is a lie designed to promote a pathetic conspiracy theory. Last week James Talarico was home in Austin, Texas, recovering from the flu.”
No medical records have been made public confirming either account. The audio recording does not establish definitively that Talarico was a patient at the facility, and the Lindner Center of Hope has not issued its own public statement confirming or denying treatment of any named individual, consistent with standard patient privacy practices.
Talarico is the Democratic nominee for a U.S. Senate seat in Texas. His roughly two-week absence from campaign events drew scrutiny from reporters who had been stationed outside his home before he reappeared in public Friday.
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