Exclusive | Talaricos influencer army privately frets about his 12-day absence from campaign trail, leaked Slack messages show

WASHINGTON — Texas Senate hopeful James Talarico’s social media influencer army has been privately fretting over his prolonged absence from the campaign trail, leaked Slack messages obtained by The Post reveal.Talarico, who has type 1 diabetes, last had an in-person public campaign event on gas prices on Sept.

26 — 12 days ago.He was seen at a private fundraiser in New York City headlined by Robert De Niro on Sept.

28, though he did appear at a virtual Hispanic Business Council forum on Sept.30.Privately on Wednesday, in a Slack channel featuring Talarico’s digital surrogates, several influencers raised tepid concerns about the messaging strategy amid his absence.

“I think it’ll be fine.It’s [j]ust conservatives blasting him.

I’m just worried about him losing momentum,” Alex Balderas wrote in a group chat with influencers, featuring nearly 4,000 people.“But I 100% expect him to make a comeback at the CNN [t]own hall that’s a given.”Talarico is set to partake in a CNN town hall on Oct.

14.His campaign told The Post that Talarico will reemerge this weekend.Critics, particularly allies of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, have raised doubts about whether influenza alone could explain why Talarico has been absent from the campaign trail for so long.“TalaFREAKo has been missing for 12 days!” President Trump wrote on Truth Social on Thursday, deploying his preferred nickname for the lefty pol.“Now, after looking for him throughout all of Texas, and beyond, probably even weirder places than anyone would think possible, he put out a statement that he has the ‘flu,’” the president continued.

“12 days is a long time to rid yourself of the so-called flu bug.“What’s going on?”Talarico’s allies also suggested his campaign needs to provide more updates on his health.“I suppose spokesman JT Ennis should come out and update on James health,” Balderas wrote in a Slack message Wednesday.“Conservatives doubting he’s sick bu...