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October 13, 2026 5:30 PM

The Battle of the Brands: Crosscurrents at Texas-OU Weekend

If Talarico or Hinojosa win, it gives Democrats a foothold in a state that Republicans absolutely must control if they have any hope of keeping the presidency. That’s why up to a half billion is being spent now to keep a Democrat out of statewide office

DALLAS – Taking the temperature of members and the lobby during Texas-OU weekend is always a revealing exercise, but this year presented a uniquely difficult political landscape to interpret. Amid competing crosscurrents, one overarching reality stands out: this election cycle is not a battle of the bands; it is a battle of the brands.

Nobody needs a reminder of how broken the Democratic brand is—that is a given. Instead, as hard as it may be to believe, it is the Republican brand that finds itself on trial.

With a 30%-approval president dominating the national conversation and throwing obstacles in the path of candidates down-ballot, the entire Republican strategy seems to rely on inflaming low-propensity, low-information voters just enough to stampede them to the polls.

Symptomatic of a tumultuous cycle, the chatter this past weekend exposed a party on the defensive. Consider the absurdity of rumors pushed by political bottom-feeders claiming that Democrat James Talarico had suffered a nervous breakdown and was in a mental hospital all because he stepped off the campaign trail for eight or nine days with the flu.

In retrospect, the flurry and velocity of the rumors this weekend were perversely funny. The Talarico Campaign has run nonstop for months, especially when contrasted to a largely invisible Ken Paxton. Even Fox News has chastised Paxton for being largely invisible. These smears reeked of desperation and were about as believable as the Senate Republican Leadership Committee’s ads against Talarico or Governor Greg Abbott’s mailers warning that Gina Hinojosa wants to put parents in jail over a child's gender.

But now, on to the real battlefield, the Texas House.

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By Harvey Kronberg

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October 12, 2026 8:05 PM

Kronberg: False Talarico mental health claims highlight the fact that Paxton isn't in control of his own campaign

On Spectrum News in Austin, QR Publisher Harvey Kronberg and Texas Capital Tonight James Barragan got into that and more

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October 11, 2026 6:56 PM

Updated: Mental health facility in Ohio confirms Rep. Talarico has never been treated there, refuting claims from MAGA influencers and Paxton supporters

The Paxton campaign did not weigh in on an unverified recording; Talarico’s campaign called it all “a lie” that’s “designed to promote a pathetic conspiracy theory.” Now the facility at the center of the story says it's all made up

MAGA social media influencers on Sunday released what they claimed were recordings that somehow prove Rep. James Talarico recently received treatment for a mental health breakdown – it’s a claim that Talarico’s campaign immediately blasted as “a lie” that’s “designed to promote a pathetic conspiracy theory.” Later in the evening, the mental health hospital at the center of the story released this one line statement: "Representative James Talarico has never received treatment from Lindner Center of Hope."

For the last few days, right-wing social media has been abuzz with questions about where exactly Rep. Talarico was when he didn’t appear on the campaign trail for at least 8 days or so in his bid for US Senate against Attorney General Ken Paxton.

Talarico’s campaign has maintained throughout that he’s been recovering from an illness at home. JT Ennis, spokesman for Talarico, responded to the release of the recordings by repeating that “Last week James Talarico was home in Austin, Texas recovering from the flu.”

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By Scott Braddock

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