Texas Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico has shattered national fundraising records, announcing Thursday that his campaign pulled in $64 million over the last three months. This unprecedented haul marks the largest quarterly fundraising total by any Senate candidate in American history, eclipsing the previous record of $57 million set by Jaime Harrison during his 2020 campaign in South Carolina.
The massive infusion of cash brings Talarico’s total fundraising to $134 million since he launched his bid last year, signaling a significant shift in the financial landscape of Texas politics. While Texas has not elected a Democrat to the U.S. Senate since 1988, the state has recently become a beacon for record-breaking grassroots funding. Talarico’s performance far outpaces the 2018 fundraising mark of $38 million set by Beto O’Rourke during the same period.
Talarico’s Republican opponent, Attorney General Ken Paxton, reported raising $18 million in the third quarter. Despite trailing in fundraising, Paxton has received substantial institutional support, with the Republican party pouring hundreds of millions into the race to bolster his candidacy following his primary victory over incumbent Senator John Cornyn. Paxton, who has historically struggled with independent fundraising, has leaned heavily on high-profile allies, including former President Donald Trump, who has visited the state three times in the last month to campaign on his behalf.
The financial dominance of the Talarico campaign comes as recent polling suggests a tightening race, with Talarico holding a slight lead over the Republican nominee.
Talarico addressed the state of the race during a televised CNN town hall on Wednesday evening. Emphasizing an economic message, he told voters, “We have an affordability crisis because we have a corruption crisis.” During the event, Talarico also took aim at a flurry of online misinformation surrounding his brief absence from the campaign trail earlier this month. The candidate confirmed that he had contracted the flu, rejecting viral conspiracy theories that claimed he had dropped out of the race or suffered a health crisis.
“That decision to stay home for a week sent my opponent and his conspiracy theorists spiraling,” Talarico said. “I opened up social media and learned that I had apparently dropped out of the race, flown to a mental health facility in Ohio, that I had died. This is crazy.”
As the candidates enter the final stretch, the campaign environments remain starkly different. While Talarico utilized the national spotlight of a town hall, Paxton’s campaign announced a two-week bus tour kicking off this weekend near Fort Worth, scheduled to conclude on the eve of Election Day at the Alamo.
With early voting set to begin this Monday, both campaigns are moving into a final, high-intensity phase of mobilization as they look to secure the outcome of what has become one of the most expensive and closely watched contests in the country.
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