Democratic U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico is celebrating yet another massive fundraising haul.
Talarico's campaign announced Thursday, Oct. 15, that it had topped $64 million in donations in the third quarter of 2026, the largest amount ever raised by a candidate for U.S. Senate in that quarter. The boost to Talarico's war chest comes less than three weeks before his showdown with Republican Ken Paxton in the Nov. 3 general election.
Paxton's campaign, by contrast, announced it raised $18 million in second-quarter fundraising cash on Monday, Oct. 5.
“Grassroots contributors from across Texas are coming together to end billionaire control over our politics and bring down costs for working families,” Talarico said in a news release. “Thanks
to the support of everyday Texans, this people-powered movement is going to change this broken, corrupt political system.”
Since its launch in September 2025, Talarico's campaign has raised $134.3 million from more than 3 million donations by over 1.3 million individual donors.
The vast majority of the donations to Talarico's campaign, 97%, were $100 or less and came from a wide swath of Texas industries, including farmers, ranchers, oil workers, nurses and firefighters, with the most common profession represented being teachers.
“Winning Texas will take the support of every Texan who is tired of a politics of hatred, division, and corruption," Talarico for Texas campaign manager Seth Krasne said in the release. "Billionaire-backed dark money groups and super PACs are spending over $200 million to lie about James because we’re on the verge of defeating the most corrupt politician in Texas. We’re going to continue building a movement to take back power for working people — because Big Money is nothing compared to People Power.”
Despite being outpaced in fundraising, Paxton's team was enthusiastic about the latest totals.
“Ken Paxton just doubled his second-quarter fundraising record to $18 million, and he did it with over 160,000 unique donors,” said Nick Maddux, senior advisor to the Paxton campaign, in a news release. “Republicans from all corners of Texas have given to the campaign because they know what’s at stake.
Adam Powell covers government and politics for the El Paso Times and can be reached via email at apowell@elpasotimes.com.
This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Talarico raises record $64M in Texas Senate race against Paxton
