GOP-aligned organizations have prepared an avalanche of spending as Texas Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton and state representative James Talarico (D-Austin ) square off in a close election for the state’s Senate. The price is likely to be a benefit for Paxton, who has previously been severely overspent on the radio and tied with or nearly tied with Talarico in open polls.
According to Punchbowl News, the Senate Leadership Fund ( SLF), which is closely related to U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD ), has invested more than$ 41 million in ad buys across the Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio media markets. SLF is planning to invest more than$ 50 million to help Paxton.
Thune, who had vehement support for Republican primary opponent John Cornyn (R-TX ) and criticized Paxton as “scandal-plagued,” now sees a change. Thune curtly said,” It’s his choice,” and reiterated his support for the former when President Donald Trump endorsed Paxton in the runoff between him and Cornyn. Cornyn would then lose by a sizable percentage to Paxton in the runoff.
Serious candidates like James Talarico are becoming the norm, according to Thune, who spoke to Fox News.
Republicans are co-opted to keep him out of the U.S. Senate, which is why I’m proud of the work being done by the Senate Leadership Fund to assure Texas stays dark, he said.
In addition, Thune hosted a Paxton gala on September 10 during the Dallas Republican Convention.
Senate Republicans nearer to Thune had earlier resisted giving cash to Paxton. For instance, U.S. Senator John Kennedy (R-LA ) once said,” We in the Senate don’t have the money budgeted for Texas.”
He continued,” We need assistance from the president.”
Thune concurred with Kennedy when he said on Fox News,” Because Texas is such a large state, we’re going to have the leader and his team to get engaged it and putting resources into that race.”
The fact that groups affiliated with Trump have jumped into the culture to help Paxton may be what is to blame for the melt in Senate GOP support for Paxton. Trump’s super PAC MAGA Inc. committed$ 10 million to the competition last year. Paxton even benefits from Elon Musk’s America PAC help. Mussk, a resident of Boca Chica, Texas, and the richest man in the world with a net worth of more than$ 900 billion, has already contributed$ 1.6 million to Paxton’s campaign and is likely to be ready to release much more.
Senate Majority PAC, the super PAC connected to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), has not made any announcements regarding investing in Texas, but it stated in a statement that it is “watching Texas tightly” and that the GOP actions are” a sign of extreme weakness for Paxton, Thune, and Trump.”
Republican-aligned groups have booked more than$ 40 million in advertising spending in support of Paxton, according to Politico, over the course of the past week.
