Texas' Red Wall Faces Its Biggest Test in Decades as Talarico Outraises Paxton Three to One and Republican Outside Groups Spend Over $200 Million
Fox News Digital says Democrat James Talarico's polling leads are wider than Beto O'Rourke's were in 2018. Talarico raised $64 million to Ken Paxton's $18 million last quarter, while Paxton has more than $200 million in outside support.
Republicans are working to hold Texas in a Senate race that Fox News Digital says is closer than any in decades.
The opening. Fox says Democrats see a rare chance with James Talarico, a former teacher and Presbyterian seminarian. It reports his polling leads are wider than those recorded against Sen. Ted Cruz in 2018, when Beto O'Rourke came closer than any Democrat in decades to winning a Texas Senate seat. Fox did not give the poll numbers in the part we read.
The money. Talarico's campaign raised $64 million from July through September, more than three times the $18 million raised by Republican nominee Ken Paxton, the state's attorney general. Talarico has raised more than $146 million since launching. Republican outside groups have put more than $200 million into Texas for Paxton, nearly all of it funded by Elon Musk, Fox says. MAGA Inc., the president's main super PAC, has spent another $33.7 million on ads backing Paxton, according to AdImpact.
The rallies. At a Dallas rally Thursday, Talarico cast the race as David against Goliath, telling the crowd, "Dallas, you are my slingshot." Earlier this week he drew a crowd that his campaign says topped 4,000 sign-ups in Lubbock, a deep-red city, where it moved the event to a bigger venue. Trump held a rally with Paxton about four miles away the same night and shifted its time to overlap. Some Talarico backers told Fox the president's visit showed Republicans were nervous. One Paxton supporter said Paxton would "wipe the floor" with Talarico.
The primary scars. Fox notes the GOP is coming off a costly primary that split Republicans between Paxton and Sen. John Cornyn, who lost the May runoff. Some Talarico voters said Paxton's legal troubles and his impeachment by the Texas House shaped their views.
Note for readers: the quotes are from voters Fox spoke to at rallies and are not a sample of the state. The story's framing favors the challenger's momentum. Our earlier stories on the Texas race, including the Fox News poll showing a tie, are on the site.