The username was "mohawk787." The site was Fling.com. The profile interests included "FETISH," "GROUPSEX," "SEXUAL RELATIONS," "ONLINE FLIRTING," and "OTHER" — which, given the first four entries, really makes you wonder what "OTHER" covers.
The email address attached to the account belongs to James Talarico, the Texas Democrat currently running for U.S. Senate.
Townhall broke the story on October 30, just as early voting in Texas was wrapping up. The account was created on December 26, 2010, at 20:56:49 — the day after Christmas, for those keeping track of timing. Cybersecurity researcher Troy Hunt's database Have I Been Pwned catalogued the breach data after Fling.com was hacked in March 2011. The compromised records were added to the public database on May 28, 2016. Talarico's email has been sitting in that dataset for a decade.
The account's creation timestamp and last-login timestamp are 54 seconds apart. Fifty-four seconds. That's either the fastest hack in internet history or someone who signed up, looked around, and realized what he'd just done.
Talarico's campaign responded within 35 minutes of Townhall's inquiry — which is lightning speed for a team that apparently had no idea this existed. His attorneys claimed the "Fling.com account was created by a hacker using Talarico's email address." A hacker who, in 2010, decided the best use of a stolen email was to create an adult dating profile in Austin, Texas — the same city where Talarico lived — and list "FETISH" and "GROUPSEX" among the interests. Dedicated work from that hacker.
This isn't the first time Talarico's online habits have surfaced. Axios previously confirmed that the then-sixth-grade teacher's Instagram account followed an Austin-based account holder with an EscortBook.com page. His campaign's official response to that one: "James has never subscribed to OnlyFans or an escort service." Nobody asked about OnlyFans, but sure — good to have that on the record too.
In a 2019 interview, Talarico himself explained his social media philosophy. "It depends on what for. I feel like for political things, Twitter. For more personal things, Instagram," he said. "You know, I try not to follow celebrities or journalists or politicians on Instagram." He wasn't following politicians. That much checks out.
The timing matters. Early voting in Texas opened October 19 and closed October 30 — the same day Townhall published. Election Day is Tuesday. Millions of Texans have already cast ballots without knowing their Senate candidate's email was linked to a profile whose interests read like a checklist you'd hide from your browser history.
Talarico's defense rests entirely on the hacker theory. His own email, his own city, a profile created in 2010 when he was teaching sixth grade in Austin, interests filled out in detail no random hacker would bother fabricating — and the campaign's best play is "someone else did it."
The account was created the day after Christmas. Fifty-four seconds between signup and last login. In Austin, Texas.