With less than two months ahead of Election Day, Republican groups are pouring tens of millions of dollars into Texas to bolster state Attorney General Ken Paxton's U.S. A Republican-aligned group known as Texas PAC, which is affiliated with the Senate Leadership Fund, has purchased more than $51 million in advertising supporting Paxton, according to media-tracking firm AdImpact. The spending surge comes as the Texas Senate race has emerged as one of the nation's most closely watched contests, with Democratic candidate James Talarico polling competitively against Paxton.
Democrats are eyeing a narrow path to reclaiming control of Congress' upper chamber, where Republicans currently hold a 53-47 majority, and are hoping to put the traditionally Republican state in play. To take back the majority, Democrats must defend their current seats—including in two states President Donald Trump won in his 2024 White House bid—and flip four others. Midterm elections are commonly viewed as a test of the political environment facing the party in power, and the president's party historically loses seats.
Newsweek has reached out to Paxton and Talarico for comment via email on Saturday. Texas has backed Republican presidential nominees in every election since 1980, but Democrats hope 2026 will offer one of their best opportunities in years to compete statewide. Trump carried Texas by 13.7 percentage points in 2024, defeating then-Vice President Kamala Harris 56 percent to around 42.5 percent.
Texas has not elected a Democrat to statewide office since 1994, making it one of the nation's longest-running Republican strongholds. Democrats have repeatedly targeted the state as demographic shifts and population growth have reshaped its electorate, but they have fallen short in a series of closely watched campaigns, including Beto O'Rourke's 2018 Senate bid against Ted Cruz. Polls show Paxton, who is endorsed by Trump, and Talarico, who has served as a state representative since 2018, holding narrow leads at different points in the campaign.
The matchup follows Paxton's defeat of longtime Senator John Cornyn in the Republican primary in late May. Republicans descended on Dallas this week for the party’s unprecedented midterm convention. The convention is part of a plan to mobilize the GOP base ahead of November to avert losses in key races, as polls show many Americans have soured on the Trump administration amid growing frustration with inflation, the economy and the Iran war.
The race has become increasingly expensive as national Republicans move to shore up support for Paxton in the campaign's final weeks. Texas PAC has reserved roughly $51.3 million in broadcast television advertising in the Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, San Antonio and Austin media markets, according to the Texas Tribune, citing AdImpact. Other Republican-aligned groups have also entered the race.
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