Old and busted: James Talarico is a fundraising juggernaut who will crush Ken Paxton! New hotness: James Talarico is broke because he won't take billionaire money!
A funny thing happened on the way to the general-election forum for the Talarico juggernaut: it apparently ran out of money. People began noticing it almost as soon as the RNC Midterm Convention ended in Dallas on Thursday night. First, the GOP's Senate Leadership Fund made a $32 million commitment to Paxton's Texas PAC, and two other outside PACs – Donald Trump's MAGA Inc and Elon Musk's America PAC – committed to eight-figure ad campaigns.
Suddenly, the Texas ad space became full of Paxton-supporting ads. Most came from America PAC and MAGA Inc, and almost all of them went negative against Talarico. Texas PAC ran more positive ads on Paxton, focusing on his convictions in a major sex-trafficking case and his positions on taxes. Here in central Texas, Paxton and his allies went deep on HGTV, which aims for an aspirational middle-class demo. At the same time, Talarico never hit once the entire weekend – despite buying ads on the same channels earlier in the summer.
Where did Talarico go? This morning, the Democrat nominee attempted to apply lipstick to this AWOL pig by claiming his absence was the result of his virtue. After raising $68 million in the first half of the year – and apparently burning through it already – Talarico now declares that he's getting buried by "corporate PAC money" from "billionaires":
First off, no campaign "takes corporate PAC money," because FEC regulations prohibit it. Federal campaign finance regulations also prohibit campaigns from coordinating with outside PACs, although the lines there get blurrier every cycle as creative lawyering tests those boundaries. The regulations do allow candidates like Talarico to fulminate against "corporate PAC money" and "billionaires" when their opponents turn out to be better at that game than they are.
And that's precisely Talarico's problem at the moment – Paxton's PAC allies are better funded and smarter than Talarico's. Three months ago, the Texas Tribune gave a glowing report on outside PAC support for Talarico that pledged similar amounts of money to attack Paxton, which they did all summer:
A bipartisan group of federal campaign operatives is launching a new super PAC in support of state Rep. James Talarico, the Democratic U.S. Senate nominee, with plans to hammer Republicans’ standard-bearer, Ken Paxton, on his legal and ethical scandals.
Moment of Truth PAC, according to the group’s pitch to donors, plans to deploy “rapid, large-scale advertising” that “gives Republicans permission to defect” to Talarico and that makes the Austin Democrat “safe for moderates.” The goal of the ad blitz will be to center the Senate race around “affordability, corruption and character.” ...
Moment of Truth is looking to spend up to $62 million on advertising, polling, research and more through November, per the PAC’s donor pitch, to take aim at the attorney general and “protect Talarico from counter-definition.” The group put its “minimum viable” spend, which would establish an “initial presence” in major Texas media markets but be “limited in sustained reach,” at $41 million.
Where would this PAC get $62 million? It didn't come from grassroots Texas Democrats. The people behind Moment of Truth PAC are old hands at getting corporate support for Democrats in Texas and in California, where they supported a particularly odious gubernatorial contender:
The group’s fundraisers are Rachel Hirschberg and Stephanie Berger, who, according to reports filed with the FEC, helped fundraise for U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett and former astronaut Terry Virts in their unsuccessful Senate runs. Among numerous Democratic congressional and Senate candidates this cycle, the pair’s clients included former U.S. Rep. Eric Swalwell, who dropped out of the California governor’s race and resigned from Congress in April after several women accused him of sexual assault and harassment.
The problem isn't that Talarico doesn't benefit from "corporate PAC money" or the uber-wealthy. It's that he and his allies have apparently run through that cash. As we noted last week, Talarico spent his Labor Day weekend not among Texas voters but fundraising in Hollywood, along with Jon Ossoff. This also was no grassroots, pass-the-hat event, but instead was a big-ticket fundraiser where entry required a hefty payment for entry:
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.
Where exactly did the money for those tickets originate? It wasn't from the modest homes of working-class Texans. The money came from the wealthy progressive elite that runs Hollywood, which in modern times is every bit as "corporate" as Wall Street. It's also as One Percenter as it gets, exposing Talarico's lament about "billionaires" as hypocrisy on stilts.
The New York Times also reminded readers that Talarico was one of the Democrats' top fundraisers this year:
Joint fund-raising events are not uncommon, but this one features the two top Senate Democratic fund-raisers this cycle. Mr. Ossoff has raised $77.3 million for his campaign, and Mr. Talarico has raised $68.6 million for his.
Money used to be virtuous when Talarico had a ton of it. Now poverty is virtuous, thanks to Talarico's current funding status, also covered by the NY Times:
The new $51 million investment from Texas PAC, a group affiliated with the Senate Leadership Fund, the main super PAC allied with Senate Republican leaders, adds to the more than $23 million that has already been booked by a half dozen other G.O.P. groups on advertising for Mr. Paxton from Sept. 1 through Election Day. That gives Mr. Paxton and Republican allies a 5-to-1 spending advantage over Mr. Talarico and Democratic allies, according to AdImpact, a media tracking firm. For months, the Democratic side had possessed a clear spending advantage.
The approximate total of $75 million doesn’t include all of a $10 million Texas ad buy disclosed by President Trump’s super PAC last week or the $2 million-plus investment in voter contact work from Elon Musk’s super PAC.
Talarico's problems go way beyond money, as Kurt Schlichter pointed out in a Townhall essay overnight:
I am not seeing the Talaricomania.
I was here in Texas during Betomania, and the big difference is that Betomania existed. He excited people. He was young and cute, and they were willing to overlook his communism and his furry dalliance to surf his sporty vibe. You saw Beto signs everywhere, and you could also feel that people were interested in the guy. In the end, he came pretty close to beating Sen. Ted Cruz (T-TX). But close only counts in horseshoes, hand grenades, and #MeToo allegations, which Talarico’s allies seem to have planted about him as part of a strategy of deception.
I drove about 1,000 miles through Texas on my trek from Los Angeles because Barkey and Bitey don’t fly, and the first Talarico sign I saw was in my left-leaning Houston neighborhood. Eight years ago, I would’ve seen a ton of Beto signs. They would’ve been everywhere. Is that proof of anything? After all, I didn’t see any Paxton signs either, but Paxton seems to have adopted a different strategy, one that doesn’t count on sending his party’s base into a frenzy of excitement. But Talarico desperately needs to generate a frenzy of excitement to win. So, where is it?
Talarico is no Beto. He's not even a Colin Allred. There is no excitement for Talarico in Texas, not even in Houston, which is why his campaign and allies are targeting the urban areas that should already be centers of enthusiasm for a Democrat nominee. That is why Talarico is desperately trying to play a race card against Paxton (and failing miserably), and now why he's recasting himself as a class warrior just a week or so after begging rich celebrities for cash in Los Angeles. Talarico is out of gas, financially as well as politically, and everyone knows it.
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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