Finally found an example that I was able to make sense of. Or maybe taking a break and coming back to it and the formatters and examples are clearer to me.. either way. this works

msg.ui_control = {
tabulator: {
headerVisible: false,
rowFormatter: (function (row) {
const data = row.getData();
if (data.vals) {
row.getElement().style.backgroundColor = 'red';
} else {
row.getElement().style.backgroundColor = '';
}
}).toString(),
columns: [
{
field: "vals",
width: "30%",
editor: false,
}
]
}
};
msg.payload = null;
node.send(msg);
return;