James Talarico has been missing in inaction for weeks.

It has gotten so bad that his GOP rival Ken Paxton has put up "milk carton" flyers asking for more info on where the Democrat Senate candidate has gone during the campaign homestretch.

The "official" word from the Talarico campaign is that he has gotten the "flu."

His campaign says he has the flu and is expected to be back in action this weekend.

While he has appeared virtually at a forum, Talarico’s last in-person event in the state was on Sept. 26. He visited New York on Sept. 29 for a private fundraiser, and, according to the virtual remarks he gave to the Hispanic Business Council the next day, he returned to Dallas and visited urgent care.

This prompted the Paxton campaign to issue a snarky response.

"We have a simple request: proof of life,” Paxton campaign spokeswoman Madison Cercy said. “James Talarico wants to represent 31 million Texans in the U.S. Senate, but for 12 days, he’s hidden from every one of them. There’s a reason they call it ‘Texas Tough,’ and it’s not because Texans hide at the first sign of trouble. If James Talarico is too fragile to face Texans, he has no business asking for their vote.”

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Now, even if you have the flu, that wouldn't necessarily keep you out of the public light for virtually two weeks. Even if you're Mitch McConnell, you'd be expected to show up at some point.

But former L.A. mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt, who is not the only one who has sources making this assertion, says that Talarico appears to have checked into a mental health facility.

"My sources are telling me Talarico is in a mental health facility," Pratt wrote on X. "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," he continued. 

"Campaigns are brutal, and not everybody is cut out for it," he added. "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."

"I'm praying that this isn't true, and he's OK," he said. "You want to win these fights on the battlefield of ideas, not the minefield of poor health."

This was an update to Pratt's earlier post, which said, "This isn’t a case of the “flu” with Talarico…this is a case of 'one flew over the cuckoo’s nest'."

Pratt wasn't the only media figure with sources telling them this may be the unfortunate situation with Talarico. 

Sara Gonzales, who is affiliated with Blaze Media and Texas Scorecard, was leaning heavily into the reports.

"I have received unverified information on James Talarico's whereabouts. If true, it will END his campaign," Gonzales wrote in a viral post on Thursday.

"I am asking anyone who can verify where James Talarico has been to email me with confirmation," she added. "YOU WILL STAY TOTALLY ANONYMOUS."

More recently, Gonzales responded to a Ken Paxton post on the report.

"Full blown mental Tala-freak out indeed," she quipped, in reference to a Paxton remark, "Jimmy appears to be having a full-blown mental Tala-freak-out on the national stage. My campaign has a simple request: proof of life."

Whether or not Talarico has a justification for being absent so long on the campaign trail remains to be seen. Let us hope he is not having a mental health crisis, not just for his own sake, but also for the sake of the State of Texas.