Paxton Could Be Left in Lurch on Bailout
as Trump Gears to Spend Cash on Himself
Texas General Election Polls
General Election Rankings
Capitol Inside
August 31, 2026
Questions are starting to swirl on whether a massive infusion of cash that Republican Ken Paxton desperately needs for a U.S. Senate race in Texas will materialize in time to put him on a more level playing field with Democrat James Talarico and the record-crushing fundraising machine he's proven to be.
With the GOP's first national midterm convention set to open for a two-day run in Dallas next week, Paxton's camp receiving conflicting messages during the weekend on a boost that he's been expecting from President Donald Trump's super PAC that has close to $900 million socked away in reserves.
A story in the Washington Post on Monday indicated that Trump's team has made some advertisements for the Paxton bid and run them by the president for feedback. The Post piece cited sources who it did not identify because they weren't supposed to be discussing internal strategy. But the report gave the impression that Trump plans to use the lion's share of the war chest at MAGA Inc. to promote himself first and foremost in advertising between now and the general election 64 days from now.
But Paxton's hopes for substantial financial assistance from the president and the Republicans in Washington D.C. appeared to take a hit on Sunday in a Fox News interview with U.S. Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana. Kennedy gave the impression that Paxton could be left in the lurch where he's been throughout the summer because the money that the Texan is counting on could be more wisely spent on other swing races where Senate leaders think Republicans have better shots to win. Kennedy suggested that all of the Republicans in tight Senate contests have been eyeing the huge Trump PAC surplus.
"There's no sense bubble wrapping it," Kennedy told Fox News host Jacqui Heinrich on the show Sunday Briefing.
"Money is an issue," the southern Republican solon warned. "We in the Senate don't have the money budgeted for Texas. We need help from the President. The President says he has $850M in his campaign accounts. That's a lot of jack."
Talarico has been world-class when it comes to raising money from donors for debut as a statewide contender. The Austin state representative reported a $69 million haul in his first 10 months as a Senate candidate. Paxton raised $9 million for his Senate bid in a period of 14 months. The state AG had $3 million in cash on hand on June 30 when Talarico had almost $22 million in the campaign bank. The Democrat sent shock waves through political circles for the GOP when he rounded up $30 million in a three-month span that ended on the last day of June. Talarico appeared to be just be warming up when he headed into July.
Paxton announced during the first week in July that he'd taken in $9 million for his campaign in the second quarter - claiming at the time that the haul demonstrated that the GOP's big donors were rallying behind his campaign after supporting the incumbent John Cornyn in a primary runoff. But Paxton's report that the FEC made public a week later showed that he'd only raised $1.6 million during the period - almost six times less than he'd claimed.
Paxton issued a plea for help in the money department on Fox News midway through the summer. But the Trump largess and the big Cornyn contributor cash that Paxton envisioned hadn't come by the end of August. Paxton has appeared to be treading water at best in the fundraising rink as the candidates head into September for the campaign's final two months.
Aside from the ads that Trump is reportedly prepared to bankroll on Paxton's behalf, the Texas Republican could be left out in the cold when it comes to the amount of campaign cash it would take to be competitive in that aspect of the fight with the juggernaut Talarico effort. That's because Trump apparently plans to spend the bulk of the MAGA Inc balance on advertising for himself. Trump said this month that GOP voters should pretend that he's on the ballot again in 2026 - a sign that he doesn't believe that Republicans are capable of winning on their own merit and effort.
Paxton could have had more bang for the buck if he'd received the support he envisions from Trump at the start of the summer. Talarico has had the luxury of running ads on television across the state while Paxton waits for a bailout from the president that will pit him against other vulnerable Senate contenders for the GOP at a time when Democrats have a chance to seize the Senate majority while they're heavily favored to take back the U.S. House.
But Paxton can expect to receive significant free publicity in Dallas from the accolades he's anticipating from the president when he appears at the rally at the American Airlines Center there on September 9 and 10. Paxton will hope that wrapping himself in Trump won't backfire based on the fact that the president is more unpopular now with Americans than he's ever been.
"I just don't think they know the other side," Paxton said in an interview Sunday with Heinrich on Fox News. "They don't know what James Talarico's all about. He's this sort of an unnamed guy - they have no idea what his views are.
In South Texas, his views on transing kids, on boys and girls sports and voting for a state income tax, and saying that the oil and gas industry should be basically dismantled, and that you can't be a Christian if you support the oil and gas issue," Paxton added. "These are all things in South Texas - when you're claiming that there are six genders and that modern science has - proven it. Those are not gonna go well in South Texas."
But Talarico has been a more frequent visitor to South Texas than Paxton - and the Democrat has enjoyed huge leads over the Republican foe among HIspanic voters in the polling up to now.
Talarico led Paxton by almost 3 points on average in nine polls that were taken on the Texas Senate contest in July and August. The AG was ahead by one point in the other - an Emerson College survey that was conducted on the Texas race during the first half of August. But Talarico was up by 3 points in a University of Texas poll in the opening half of August before a Texas Public Opinion Research survey a week later found the Democrat ahead by 6.
more to come ...
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