Texas Dem Senate Candidate Posts Massive Fundraising Numbers
George Caldwell /
Texas Democrat James Talarico has amassed a huge war chest in his bid to flip a Lone Star State Senate seat in November.
Talarico, a member of the state House who beat U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett for his party’s nomination in March, raised $27 million in the first three months of 2026, his campaign announced on Wednesday.
The Democrat’s haul makes him one of the biggest fundraisers in the history of Senate campaigns.
Jaime Harrison, also a Democrat, holds the Senate fundraising record for a quarter, having raised $57 million in one quarter of his unsuccessful 2020 bid to unseat Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.
Harrison’s record beat that of Democrat Beto O’Rourke, who raised $38.1 million in one quarter during his unsuccessful 2018 race against Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas.
Texas Republican primary voters have yet to make a final decision on their candidate to run against Talarico, as incumbent Sen. John Cornyn is advancing to a runoff against his challenger, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.
President Donald Trump has not endorsed in the Republican primary.
“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 500,000 small dollar contributors—unlike John Cornyn and Ken Paxton, who have raked in millions of dollars from special interests and fought to enrich their billionaire donors while working Texans struggle,” JT Ennis, a Talarico spokesman, told The Daily Signal in a statement.
“Our people-powered campaign is going to change this broken political system by defeating corrupt politicians like John Cornyn and Ken Paxton this November,” Ennis added.
Cornyn’s campaign said a statement Wednesday that he raised $9 million in the first quarter of 2026—a number referring to the over $7.2 million given to his authorized fundraising committee and $1.7 million to the campaign itself.
In a statement to The Daily Signal, Cornyn campaign senior adviser Matt Mackowiak argued Talarico’s numbers are inflated by out-of-state money.
“James Talarico is raising massive amounts of money through Act Blue and major donors in New York and California,” said Mackowiak.
Talarico’s campaign said in its announcement that many of the “grassroots fundraising” donations came from “working Texans,” mentioning that “97% of contributions to the campaign were $100 or less.”
Mackowiak also argued Cornyn’s numbers position him well in the Republican primary.
“To date, Senator Cornyn has raised over $20 million for the race, more than four times what Ken Paxton has raised,” said Mackowiak.
“Democrats nominated their strongest candidate for U.S. Senate, and Republicans must nominate John Cornyn, their strongest candidate for U.S. Senate, to ensure Texas stays red and we maximize the chances to win the five new Congressional seats.”
The Paxton campaign’s report, which must be filed Wednesday, has yet to be published. Paxton’s and Talarico’s campaigns did not immediately respond to a request for comment.