News chronological

AMERICANALMANAC (Lynn Jenkins) - Trump’s MAGA Inc. deploys $10 million in Texas Senate fight to boost Paxton against Talarico Sun Sep 6 17:32:16 2026

Donald Trump’s MAGA Inc. super-PAC has pumped $10 million into the Texas Senate race to support Ken Paxton and target Democrat James Talarico, as Republicans face a showdown for a seat they’ve held for decades. The Republican establishment is treating the Texas Senate contest as a must-win, as Federal Election Commission filings published Saturday revealed […] The post Trump’s MAGA Inc. deploys $10 million in Texas Senate fight to boost Paxton against Talarico appeared first on American Almanac .

Donald Trump’s MAGA Inc. super-PAC has pumped $10 million into the Texas Senate race to support Ken Paxton and target Democrat James Talarico, as Republicans face a showdown for a seat they’ve held for decades. The Republican establishment is treating the Texas Senate contest as a must-win, as Federal Election Commission filings published Saturday revealed that MAGA Inc., the super-PAC aligned with President Trump, made a $10 million payment for political ads split evenly between backing Paxton and opposing Talarico. The payment, routed through political ad firm Del Ray Media, marks MAGA Inc.’s first major investment in a 2026 general-election race and comes as polls show Democrat Talarico with a narrow lead over Paxton. Election filings show that $5 million of the MAGA Inc. money was spent to support Paxton, while another $5 million was dedicated to ads attacking Talarico. MAGA Inc. spokesperson Alex Pfeiffer described the strategy in blunt terms, labeling Talarico “High Tax Talarico” and accusing him of pushing policies that “take money out of Texans’ pockets.” Pfeiffer made it plain: “MAGA Inc. is going to ensure Texas knows about Talarico’s radical policies and elects Ken Paxton to the U.S. Senate.” The stakes behind this investment are high. Texas has not sent a Democrat to the Senate in more than thirty years. Yet recent polling from Texas Public Opinion Research found Paxton trailing Talarico by six points in August, and the Cook Political Report shifted the race to a toss-up. The fundraising gap is even starker, with Talarico’s campaign reporting $72 million raised versus Paxton’s $16.8 million, giving Democrats a clear cash advantage that has fueled an aggressive ad campaign statewide. As the Washington Examiner described , MAGA Inc.’s Texas push reflects rising concern on the right about being outspent in a pivotal contest. Republican strategist Karl Rove put it bluntly: “Time is running out. If the president wants to have Paxton win, he needs to be tossing a lot of money Paxton’s way so that ads can be run that depict Talarico as the far-left winger that he is.” That urgency is echoed by Senate Republicans and party officials nationwide, who see Texas as a firewall for the conservative Senate majority. Fox News reported that Senate Majority Leader John Thune warned, “We have to win this race...we're going to need all the hands on deck.” Trump’s money machine sets the tone for 2026 The scale of MAGA Inc.’s spending comes as Trump looks to cement his role as kingmaker in the 2026 midterms and beyond. At a recent event, Trump said MAGA Inc. had $1 billion in available resources, with $400 million to $500 million earmarked for this cycle and the rest saved for 2028. “I’m going to spend whatever amount of money necessary to try and help us,” Trump told Newsmax . The $10 million Texas investment, according to the New York Post , is split between positive ads for Paxton and attack ads against Talarico, aiming to close the fundraising and polling gaps. Trump’s influence is not limited to the checkbook. He is scheduled to headline both nights of the Republican convention in Dallas, where he will share the stage with Texas Republicans including Paxton, Governor Greg Abbott, and Senator Ted Cruz. As Just The News reported, the convention is being used as a platform to showcase the Republican ticket and drive home the campaign message: “This election comes down to one simple choice: lower costs, lower taxes, secure borders, and common sense versus higher taxes, wide open borders, and the radical liberal agenda the Democrat Party has fully embraced,” said RNC Chairman Joe Gruters. The context for this spending spree is a Texas political climate in flux. While Trump carried Texas by about 14 points in the 2024 presidential election, Democrats have made gains in urban areas and suburban districts. Talarico, a Democratic state representative, has positioned himself as a champion for “raising taxes on billionaires” while pledging cuts for working families and small businesses. Paxton, meanwhile, has run on tax breaks and addressing Texas’s affordability crisis. But Talarico’s record has also left openings for attack: he voted against legislation establishing criminal penalties for foreign entities purchasing Texas land, a move Republicans have seized on in this election. Race tightens as Republican control at stake The Texas Senate race could decide the balance of power in Washington. With Paxton trailing in the polls and being vastly outspent, Republicans see MAGA Inc.’s $10 million as a down payment on their hold over a state that has long been a bulwark for the party. The Lone Star Liberty PAC is set to run additional ads against Talarico in September, signaling that outside money will continue to pour in as Election Day approaches. Democrats, for their part, are betting that Talarico’s fundraising and shifting demographics can finally crack the Republican lock on Texas’s Senate seat. But with Trump’s operation now engaged and national Republicans sounding the alarm, this race is turning into the kind of high-stakes battle that tests whether conservative priorities, lower taxes, secure borders, and law and order, still resonate in the heart of Texas. In an era where Democrats routinely outraise and outspend their opponents, it takes real resources and backbone to keep the Senate from slipping away, and this time, Republicans are putting their money where their mouth is. The post Trump’s MAGA Inc. deploys $10 million in Texas Senate fight to boost Paxton against Talarico appeared first on American Almanac .