Democrat Talarico says he raised record $64 million over summer in Texas Senate race

Democratic Texas Senate candidate James Talarico raised $64 million in the third quarter, his campaign announced Thursday, setting what the campaign said is a Senate fundraising record as Republicans pour outside money into the race to bolster GOP nominee Ken Paxton in the 2026 midterm election.

The haul was the largest ever reported by a Senate candidate in the July-through-September quarter, according to the campaign, surpassing the previous record of $57 million set by South Carolina Democrat Jaime Harrison, who unsuccessfully ran against Republican Lindsey Graham in 2020.

Talarico has raised more than $134 million since launching his campaign last year, according to his campaign ahead of the quarterly filing deadline with the Federal Election Commission.

“Grassroots contributors from across Texas are coming together to end billionaire control over our politics and bring down costs for working families,” Talarico said in a statement.

The campaign said more than 1.3 million people have donated and that 97% of contributions were $100 or less. Paxton, by comparison, announced earlier this month that his campaign and two affiliated fundraising committees raised a combined $18 million during the quarter.

The candidates' full financial picture will become clearer after their quarterly reports are filed with the FEC. The filings will show how much each campaign spent and how much cash they had left entering the final stretch.

But the gap in direct fundraising tells only part of the financial story. Republican outside groups have spent more than $175 million since Sept. 1 supporting Paxton or attacking Talarico, according to AdImpact, helping offset Paxton's weaker campaign fundraising. Overall political advertising in the race has surpassed $500 million.

SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk has emerged as a major force in the race, giving $10 million to a pro-Paxton super PAC, according to figures confirmed Monday by a spokesman for Musk's America PAC, while his America PAC has spent about $9.4 million attacking Talarico and another $1.8 million supporting Paxton, according to FEC filings.

The source of that money matters as federal law guarantees candidates lower broadcast rates for television advertising than super PACs, allowing Talarico's campaign dollars to go further in buying TV exposure than outside Republican groups.

No Democrat has won statewide in Texas since 1994, and the party has not won a U.S. Senate race there since 1988. But Talarico leads Paxton 48.5% to 45.2% in FiftyPlusOne's polling average, a 3.3-percentage point advantage, forcing Republicans to devote significant resources to what has traditionally been safe territory.