Labor Day has come and gone, and the midterm general-election cycle has officially launched. That matters most in Texas, where Democrats have dumped tens of millions of dollars into what has become an open-seat Senate election. Republicans have fretted for the past three months over Ken Paxton's struggles to raise funds directly for his campaign to secure the seat after defeating incumbent John Cornyn in the primary.
Over the weekend, however, the financial situation shifted gears along with the calendar. Donald Trump's super PAC cut a very large check to fund Paxton's media campaign, and made clear this would only be a down payment for the general election fight in Texas:
President Trump’s super PAC has entered the competitive Senate race in Texas with its largest spend of the current political cycle—a $10 million ad buy to back Republican Ken Paxton and oppose his Democratic challenger, James Talarico.
The Saturday filing with the Federal Election Commission by MAGA Inc. splits the spend evenly, with $5 million supporting Paxton and the rest opposing Talarico. The money will go toward connected TV—streaming TV on internet-connected devices—and digital ads.
The super PAC has amassed a war chest totaling more than $403 million as of the end of July. Some Republicans have privately expressed frustration that the group hasn’t been spending much of the money to help the GOP keep control of Congress.
The Wall Street Journal noted that this doesn't make up the full gap between the campaigns, but leaves out some important context:
Paxton has struggled to match the fundraising of Talarico, whose campaign has brought in some $68 million to Paxton’s $9 million. Many Republicans have been waiting for Trump to come to Paxton’s aid after the president backed Paxton in the GOP primary over longtime Sen. John Cornyn.
First off, Talarico has been fundraising for the general election since he won the primary in early March outright. Paxton had to fundraise for the runoff and has only had three months to raise money for the general election. However, the larger context is not in fundraising but in cash on hand. Talarico raised $68 million by the end of June, the last reporting period for the FEC, but he also spent $47 million of it by then as well. At that point, Paxton had $21 million cash on hand to Paxton's $1.7 million, after Paxton exhausted himself in the runoff.
What has happened since? Both men have been able to focus on raising funds for the general election. We don't have hard data on those efforts yet, but Paxton probably has closed the gap on his own; he was raising funds in the runoff against Cornyn, and he's run three winning statewide elections in Texas before that. Trump and the MAGA Inc super PAC kept its own powder dry until voters truly began to invest themselves in the general-election arguments.
One indication that Talarico may have started to run dry comes from his itinerary. Rather than raise money for his campaign from Texans, he spent his time talking to his true constituency in ...
Talarico: "This is truly a campaign of, by, and for the people."
— Western Lensman (@WesternLensman) September 7, 2026
Also Talarico: Fundraising in California with Hollywood luminaries.
Must be the people he's talking about. pic.twitter.com/EVKWlTFni6
Two of the top Democratic fund-raisers this cycle are teaming up for a finance event with some big Hollywood names.
James Talarico, the Democratic Senate nominee from Texas, and Senator Jon Ossoff of Georgia are headlining a fund-raiser on Thursday evening in Los Angeles, according to an invitation seen by The New York Times. The invite describes the event as “Two Visionaries, One Night,” and the hosts are the Hollywood showrunner Shonda Rhimes; Damon Lindelof, the co-creator of the show “Lost”; and his wife, Heidi Lindelof.
Tickets run from $1,000 to $27,000, but those in the two lowest tiers are already sold out. Mr. Talarico’s involvement in the event was previously reported by Politico, but the fund-raiser now includes Mr. Ossoff as well. Donations are to be evenly split between the two Democrats’ separate fund-raising committees.
Politically speaking, Austin is East California, so Talarico probably felt right at home this weekend. Politically speaking, however, the rest of Texas is not California, and Democrats have been slow to realize it. They may start to learn an expensive lesson soon.
Editor’s Note: The 2026 Midterms will determine the fate of President Trump’s America First agenda. Republicans must maintain control of both chambers of Congress.
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