Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico of Texas returned to public view Friday while brushing off questions about the past 13 days when he was missing from the campaign trail.

Talarico made a visible show of being affable and available at the Austin City Limits music festival, as noted by The Hill.

Talarico claimed he had a “nasty case of the flu” and had been “home in bed,” according to The New York Times.

Rumors from prominent sources tell a different story, however.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who is wagging an uphill campaign to defeat Talarico after winning a divisive Republican primary against incumbent Sen. John Cornyn, said the explanation did not pass the smell test.

“James Talarico skipped out on the Hispanic business leaders, canceled on the Central Texas African American Civic Engagement Symposium, and tried to pass off old content as new,” he wrote on X.

“He doesn’t get to reappear like nothing happened after ghosting the 31 million Texans he wants to represent for two weeks.”

“The ‘flu’ didn’t stop him from meeting with New York billionaires and Hollywood elites, or from partying with celebrities at a music festival most working Texans don’t have the luxury of attending, especially after taking two weeks off work. Must be nice after two weeks of PTO,” he wrote.

Spencer Pratt had posted on X that this was not a case of the flu.

“My sources are telling me Talarico is in a mental health facility,” Pratt wrote.

“His campaign has stopped actively planning events in the vital homestretch of the campaign. If this is true, this is actually a time to pray for Talarico.”

“We should, of course, savagely mock his smug, awful campaign advisors, by all means…and while yes, of course, this would be disqualifying for Talarico’s aspirations to be a Texas Senator, we must hold empathy for anyone undergoing crisis,” Pratt wrote.

“Campaigns are brutal, and not everybody is cut out for it. You need very thick skin. As much as I don’t want Talarico anywhere near government, I also don’t want wish him harm, and no political office is worth having a breakdown. His awful advisors are at fault for this. They pushed him to be something he isn’t, and it didn’t work.”

Last week, President Donald Trump mocked Talarico’s disappearance down a mysterious hidey hole.

“James TalaFREAKo, who is running for the United States Senate in Texas, is MISSING IN ACTION! No one has seen him for an extended period of time,” he wrote.

“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!” Trump wrote.