Texas Senate Race: Talarico’s “Texas Roots” Fueled by Coastal Cash, Not Texans

Talarico’s campaign website emphasizes his long-standing Texas ties, stating his family has lived in the state for eight generations and criticizing the influence of “out-of-state interests” on Texans. The campaign claims Talarico “has led the fight against the billionaire mega-donors that have rigged the system against working Texas families” and argues for more representatives in Washington who will “take power back for working people.” Campaign spokesman JT Ennis stated, “James is proud to be the only candidate in this race not taking a dime of corporate PAC money, shattering grassroots fundraising records with donations from 246 Texas counties and the help of over 540,000 small dollar contributors — unlike John Cornyn and Ken Paxton, who have raked in millions of dollars from special interests and enriched their billionaire donors while working Texans struggle.” Ennis added that the campaign is “bringing Democrats, Republicans and Independents together to fix this broken, corrupt political system and bring down costs for families across our state.”

Campaign finance records also show Talarico received donations from executives at major companies such as Google, Warner Brothers, Apple, Meta, and Victoria’s Secret, as well as lobbyists representing corporations like Google, AirBnB, Boeing, Novo Nordisk, Comcast, CVS, and JP Morgan, between February 12 and March 31. Despite attracting significant out-of-state support, Talarico’s in-state fundraising also surpassed Paxton’s, who raised less than one-fifth of what Talarico secured from Texans. Paxton’s fundraising was complicated by a challenging primary against Senator John Cornyn, which divided the GOP donor base. Furthermore, Talarico has benefited from the Lone Star Rising PAC, a super PAC supporting his campaign. However, only 12% of the millions of dollars raised by Lone Star Rising PAC came from within Texas, according to reports by the Washington Free Beacon, indicating that even this PAC’s funding is largely derived from wealthy out-of-state donors, a fact that contrasts with Talarico’s campaign rhetoric against outside influences.