Republicans fret as Talarico bombards airwaves and Paxton awaits Trump team’s cash

CNN ^ | August 30, 2026 | Manu Raju, Patrick Svitek, David Wright

[MinorityRepublican]

Senate GOP leaders gave President Donald Trump a clear warning before the Texas primary election in May as he weighed endorsing Ken Paxton over longtime incumbent John Cornyn: If the state attorney general won, Trump’s political operation would have to bankroll the expensive general election campaign to help make the controversial Paxton more appealing to voters, according to multiple Republican sources.

But more than three months later, MAGA Inc.’s wallet has so far been closed. And Republicans are growing anxious — as the Democrat, state representative James Talarico, has had the airwaves largely to himself for weeks, spending roughly seven times more than the GOP since June.

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TOPICS: Politics
KEYWORDS: texas; ussenate

[montag813]

He can easily win this. White females are ridiculously gullible, Paxton has some seriously bad dirty laundry and the massive number of Hindus and Muslims in Texas have been hidden from us.

[Rockingham]

I am sure that Team Trump is carefully weighing where and how much to spend their cash. As always, the process is opaque and the calculations ruthless and based on political expediency.

[Eli Kopter]

Who is fretting? I am Republican and I am damn sure not fretting. Thank you CNN for more moronic BS to sell.

[Zathras]

All by himself, Paxton has changed TX politics.
He got zero help from Cruz, the Bush family or Abbot.
The “dirty laundry” all came from the TX GOP-e who saw their power vanishing.

Same thing happened here in AZ when the McCain family lost their power.
They got their power from the Bush family.

Paxton deserves the senate seat for his very hard work fixing TX.
Cruz is the one who needs. to step up his game 1000% or Cornyn is going to take his seat next election.

[BK_in Central Texas]

Talarico in all of his ads and signs never mentions or brings up he is a Democrat. And for all his ads (and they are numerous) the most friendly polls has him up 2-3 points in a year where polls have been off 10-15 points. He will not win in Texas.

[Brian Griffin]

quotes:

Our economy is broken. Our politics are broken. Even our relationships with each other feel broken.

That’s because the most powerful people in the world want it that way.

The biggest divide in this country is not left vs. right. It’s top vs. bottom. Billionaires want us looking left and right at each other instead of looking up at them.

The people at the top work so hard to keep us angry and divided because our unity is a threat to their wealth and power. So their cable news networks and their social media algorithms tear us apart.

They divide us by party, by race, by gender, by religion so we don’t notice they’re defunding our schools, gutting our healthcare, and cutting taxes for themselves and their rich friends. It’s the oldest strategy in the world: divide and conquer.

https://jamestalarico.com/why-im-running/

[ncalburt]

LOL

Trump does not share his pac donations of 1.6 billion and will
take the donations from his visit to Tx just ask OZ or Walker who were broke and Trump took his visits donations.

Paxton better look elsewhere.

[rlmorel]

CNN is aiming to sow doubt in the minds of weak minded people and people who are fearful.

“Never underestimate the draw of a Con Man” is something to keep in mind, but thoughtful people can keep him in perspective. And the American electorate can hardly be trusted these days, as infected as it is with people who hate this country and view it as their “patriotic duty” to do violence and illegality to throw the election their way.

[Liz]

Republicans are growing anxious for Ken Paxton's chances at winning —
Democrat Talarico is spending roughly seven times more than the GOP since June.

[bobbo666]

Paxton was controversial only to RINOs.

[Brian Griffin]

quotes:

When I was 28 years old, I almost died.

I was running in my first race for the Texas House. I decided to walk the entire length of my district — 25 miles in one day — holding town halls along the way. I wasn’t worried about my ability to finish the walk — I hike Big Bend every year!

But about halfway through, I started feeling nauseous and fatigued. I threw up a couple of times on the way, but figured I was just dehydrated. Somehow, I finished.

When I got home, I slept for 36 hours. My family rushed me to the ER, where nurses checked my blood sugar. I was immediately diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. I was in diabetic ketoacidosis, which ends in coma and death without insulin.

When I got out of the ICU, I went to Walgreens to pick up my first 30-day supply of insulin. It cost me $684. I didn’t have that kind of money (most Texans don’t, either) — so I put it on a credit card. I later learned that it costs companies only $10 per vial to produce insulin, but Big Pharma boosts profits by price gouging.

https://jamestalarico.com/issue/health-care/

[FlipWilson]

I don’t think anyone in the GOP is fretting. The money always goes where they think it is needed. I think CNN would love us to “fret” but I am no buying the usual BS that CNN sells EVERY election cycle.

[Round Earther]

This is an easy win for Paxton.

First, the Paxton team, conservative news outlets, and conservative social media must finally introduce Talarico to Texas voters, including his statements and positions on transgenderism and Christianity.

Second, the Paxton team must remind Texas voters of the virtues, integrity, wholesomeness, and traditional values that Senator Ken Paxton will bring to Washington, D.C.

[catnipman]

“Republicans fret as Talarico bombards airwaves and Paxton awaits Trump team’s cash”

Ruh Roh! CNN is “concerned” about the wisdom of Trump’s strategy of waiting to spend money when voters actually start to pay attention ... [BTW, the best strategy for MAGA is to do the opposite of CNN’s suggested election strategy]

[smokingfrog]

Talarico is worse than both Beto and Wendy Davis put together & we know how successful they were in Texas politics.

[qam1]

I’m fretting

We keep hearing that the Dems are broke and the Republicans have so much cash, yet every single race without exception, the Dem candidate is outspending the Republican 10 to 1

The only time the Republicans seem spend lots of money is when they are defending RINOs and AIPAC candidates in Republican primaries.

[FreedomPoster]

Any time a Dem complains about the health care system, the first response needs to be “Oh! So Obamacare didn’t fix that? And you finally admit it?”

[TornadoAlley3]

Paxton is known and defined in TX. He’s saving his $ for turning out voters.

[Brian Griffin]

Santa Claus would have to step up his game to beat Talarico.