Democratic candidate for Texas Senate James Talarico raised a record $64 million in three months — more than any Senate candidate in the third quarter — his campaign announced Thursday.
The campaign says this brings Talarico’s fundraising total to $134 million since he announced his candidacy last year.
His Republican opponent, Attorney General Ken Paxton, said earlier this month that he had raised $18 million during the same period. Talarico broke Jamie Harrison’s record of $57 million, raised in the third quarter during his unsuccessful 2020 Senate campaign in South Carolina.
Although no Democrat has won a Senate election in Texas since 1988, Democrats there have been major fundraisers. In 2018, candidate Beto O’Rourke raised a then-record sum of $38 million during the same three-month period.
Recent polls give Talarico a slight lead over Paxton.
Outgoing Republican Sen. John Cornyn, a prolific fundraiser, lost the primary earlier this year in Paxton, which has long struggled to raise funds. Republicans have poured hundreds of millions of dollars into the race to support Paxton, even as there have been leaked audio clips of Paxton appearing to disparage national involvement in the race.
President Trump, who supported Paxton in the primary against Cornyn and is a longtime ally, traveled to Texas three times in one month to campaign for Paxton.
CNN held a town hall with Talarico on Wednesday evening and said Paxton was invited but declined to respond. Both CNN and CBS are owned by Skydance.
At the town hallTalarico emphasized the economic theme of his campaign, telling voters: “We have an affordability crisis because we have a corruption crisis.” He also addressed issues ranging from abortion to his recent absence from the campaign trail, confirming that he had the flu and blasting online conspiracy theories about it.
“This decision to stay home for a week sent my opponent and his conspiracy theorists into a tailspin. I opened social media and learned that I had apparently dropped out of the race, flown to a mental health facility in Ohio, and died,” Talarico said. “It’s crazy. I mean, these false claims have been seen millions of times online.”
Paxton announced Wednesday that his campaign would launch a two-week bus tour near Fort Worth this weekend that would end the day before Election Day at the Alamo.
Early voting begins Monday in Texas.
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