Posted on 08/20/2026 6:22:59 PM PDT by MinorityRepublican
With under nine weeks to go until early voting begins in Texas’ U.S. Senate race, both Ken Paxton and James Talarico have been campaigning around the state, meeting voters everywhere from restaurants to music halls as they’ve pitched their political visions.
But on television, Texans have only seen one of them.
Talarico, an Austin state representative, has spent over $25 million on advertising since the general election began in late May, according to ad tracking firm AdImpact — with nearly $10.7 million deployed on broadcast and an additional $8.4 million on streaming devices. (The rest has gone to a combination of cable, digital, radio and satellite.)
Texans turning on their TVs this summer have seen Talarico talk about the importance of loving God and neighbor in a spot featuring his grandfather. They’ve seen the Democrat lamenting high costs in a grocery store and while driving a truck, and heard about his record in a World Cup-themed Spanish language ad.
Over that same time period, the Paxton campaign has spent $119,000 — nearly all of it on digital advertising — meaning that Talarico has essentially had the airwaves to himself. Over that time, he’s built a narrow polling lead, pulling ahead in numerous surveys within the margin of error.
In television interviews, Paxton has noted this disparity and appealed to donors for help. On Fox News recently, the Republican nominee laid out his timeline for campaign spending, saying he expects that litigating Talarico’s record will cement the Democrat’s loss — but that he needs resources to do it.
(Excerpt) Read more at texastribune.org ...
I heard tonight he has already spent $50 million and Paxton has spent $100 thousand. Paxton’s campaign said that was because the coffers were bear after taking down Cornhole.
Trump has a $300 million campaign war chest for the midterms and 2028. Maybe he better start spending some of it on his endorsed candidates.
I think Ted Cruz was treated the same by the GOP...yet every time the Senate goes home, they vote UNAMINOUS to make sure Trump cannot get anything done...meaning that Cruz is right there with the RINOs and Democrats.
Good. Hillary spent over $600 million vs Trump’s $340 million.
By the way, I am so sick of Alfred E. Newman’s commercial. They show it every evening before and during the local news cast. He even gets in a pickup.
Talarico’s ads are good for Paxton.
He looks and talks like an effeminate middle schooler.
He’ll do well with the Wendy Davis and Beato O’Rourke crowd. Not enough to win a statewide election.
Beto spent 180 million of democrats money in his two election attempts
They have to prop up the TalaFREAKO.
Think Thune is not going to hand much if any money over to him
Paxton's not broke, but now is not the time for a spending spree.
Paxton is letting Talarico spend his warchest now. Talarico thinks he's getting his message out, but Texans won't see it the way Talarico thinks they're seeing it. Paxton is letting Talarico show himself.
School just started here - yes, we start before Labor Day - so vacation season is over and the regular routine is starting back up. Congress will return in a few more weeks, so there is still no backdrop of federal political message reinforcement (aka the "echo chamber" to appeal to), so he's waiting.
Also, news is trickling out in Texas that Cornyn and his staff are aligning with Talarico, so this will confirm to Texans that they made the right choice when they ousted Cornyn in the primary. Still, it's too soon to hammer home that message yet. Let more Cornyn-adjacent people join Talarico before Paxton run ads saying "I told you so" to Republicans who supported Cornyn and are now on the fence about Paxton.
I expect Paxton to amp up his ads after Labor Day, and then by the third week of September to start calling for debates with Talarico.
Right now, any Paxton spend is money down the drain.
IMHO.
-PJ
The state attorney general should open an investigation into the Talarico campaign and freeze their accounts for the duration of the investigation.
I hear from friends in Texas that Paxton is barely campaigning and not putting in any effort. They are really concerned.
In the Texas Senate primary, Dem turnout was 2.31 million compared to only 2.16 million for the GOP. We can’t ignore the fact that anti-Trump voters are energized.
TalaFREAKO saying God is not Christian doesn’t sit well, with Texans.
Let them spend $$$$ trying to put lipstick on that pig.
Musk to the rescue, he said he’s spending half a billion on midterms, alot in Texas. Hmmmm, where’s his headquarters?
Mmm. Mmmm. Polls!
Didn’t Bob O’Rourke spend a lot on TV ads too?
Mark Halpren and Eric Erickson are calling Paxson “lazy”. If Ken doesn’t kick it into high gear after Labor Day…. Well, there are gonna be a lot of RINOs to snear “told you so “. Cornyn staff member has joined Talaricos campaign. I wouldn’t be surprised if Cornyn endorsed Talarico as
What happened to all those articles which popped up a couple of weeks ago and implied that Democrats are flat broke and heavily in debt while Republicans are rolling around in piles of cash like some illiterate gangsta rapper?
I’m shocked to discover that those articles were false and/or irrelevant.
Actually, no I’m not.
Because even the most casual glance at any FEC data for ANY hotly contested Senate or House race shows Democrats in no trouble whatsoever. And it always has showed that.
If Republicans (e.g. Ken Paxton, Jon Husted, Dan Sullivan, Mike Collins, Mike Rogers) ARE actually flush with cash, they are doing a generally masterful job of concealing that fact.
But just wait until Labor Day! But just wait until October 1! But just wait until October 15! ...
TalaFREAKO saying God is not Christian doesn’t sit well, with Texans.”
How many Texans will even know he said it? Like Abdul in Mi anything negative gets buried quickly.
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