Talarico raises more money than Paxton in Senate race

By Robert Matteson
The Center Square

Texas state Rep. James Talarico, the Democratic candidate for the state’s U.S. Senate race, has raised more money for his campaign than his Republican opponent – Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.

Paxton is the Trump-endorsed candidate who defeated incumbent U.S. Sen. John Cornyn in the May 26 Republican runoff election.

Talarico announced on Wednesday that he has raised more than $30 million in campaign contributions since April. This is the largest amount of money ever raised by a U.S. Senate candidate in the second quarter of an election year, according to a press release from Talarico.

Paxton also announced a record-breaking campaign performance on Wednesday after raising over $9 million in the second quarter. According to his press release, that’s the largest campaign amount raised by a non-incumbent Republican Senate candidate in the country so far this cycle. He said most of that money came after the May 26 election.

The announcements come after recent polls show that Talarico and Paxton are statistically tied heading into the Nov. 3 election, The Center Square reported.

The last time a Democrat occupied the office of U.S. senator for Texas was in 1993. This year’s race has significant implications, as the Democrats try to take back the Senate in the midterm election.

Texas Democratic Party Executive Director Terri Burke said she was not surprised by the support Talarico received during the second quarter.

“There is an enormous enthusiasm gap between Paxton and Talarico voters,” Burke told The Center Square via email.

Talarico’s second-quarter performance brings his total contributions past $70 million. He has received more than 1.5 million donations from more than 780,000 individual contributors.

Ninety-seven percent of contributions to Talarico have been $100 or less. Talarico has also accepted zero dollars from corporate political action committees, according to Talarico for Texas spokesperson JT Ennis, on X.

“Total dollars don’t always translate into votes. But the numbers of donors – nearly 800,000 – the preponderance of small dollar donors – 97% of Talarico donations are less than $100 – suggest Texans at the grassroots are ready for big changes in our Texas leadership,” Burke said.

The most common contributors to Talarico are teachers. Talarico has also received support from farmers, ranchers, oil workers, nurses, firefighters, and other working Texans, according to the press release.

“Running a truly competitive campaign in a state with nearly three times the population of any other battleground state will take unprecedented resources,” Seth Krasne, Talarico for Texas campaign manager, said in the press release. “While the Supreme Court creates new loopholes for billionaires and special interests to prop up their puppets, we’re going to continue building a movement to take back power for working people. Because Big Money is nothing compared to People Power.”

Neither records of Paxton’s or Talarico’s total campaign money raised had been updated with the second quarter totals by the Federal Election Commission. The FEC listed that as of early May, Paxton had received $7.6 million in total contributions. As of the end of March, Talarico had received $40 million.

“Paxton is building a movement to defend the Lone Star State by uniting every Republican across the country to defeat James Talarico, the most radical and well-funded Democrat running in Texas history,” Paxton’s campaign team said in its press release. “But the job is far from finished. We will continue to raise the funds necessary to expose James Talarico’s record, keep Texas strong, protect our elections, defend our freedoms, and keep Texas out of the radical left’s grip.”

Voters and policy makers have raised concerns about Paxton’s history. In addition to being the only attorney general to be impeached, then acquitted, in Texas history, Paxton has been accused of extramarital affairs. And he was indicted in 2015 in his hometown of McKinney of securities fraud. But the felony charges were dismissed in 2024 in a state district court after Paxton, who pleaded not guilty, agreed to pay about $271,000 in restitution and perform community service. In addition, in 2017, a federal judge dismissed federal regulators’ civil lawsuit against Paxton.

The Center Square reached out to the Texas Republican Party as well as Paxton’s and Talarico’s campaigns with requests for interviews, but did not hear back by the time of publication.