James Talarico, the Democratic candidate for the Texas Senate, achieved a remarkable fundraising total of $64 million in the third quarter, marking the highest amount ever raised by a Senate candidate during this period.
Since the beginning of his campaign in September 2025, Talarico has amassed over $134 million, supported by more than 1.3 million individual donors, as reported by Politico. The Texas Senate race has escalated to become the priciest contest in the 2026 midterm elections, with overall expenditures exceeding $501 million on advertising and other campaign costs.
On the Republican side, PACs have invested over $200 million in favor of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, alongside substantial funding in other Republican-leaning states. This increase in spending coincides with polls indicating that Republicans are having difficulty countering their Democratic challengers.
To put things into perspective, former Democratic Texas Representative Beto O’Rourke held the previous record for third-quarter fundraising with $38.1 million during his 2018 race against Republican Senator Ted Cruz. O’Rourke ultimately lost that election by a narrow margin, with the final tally showing 50.9% to 48.3% in favor of Cruz.
As of Thursday, Talarico was leading his race by an average of 2.6 points, according to data from RealClearPolling.
Interestingly, Paxton’s campaign has yet to respond to requests for comments regarding this race. In a previous discussion, Talarico expressed some bold views, stating his belief that God is “non-binary” and expressing love for transgender children, among other opinions, including a controversial interpretation of biblical scripture relating to abortion.
In other fundraising news, former Democratic Alaska Representative Mary Peltola raised around $17 million in the same quarter, while former North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper brought in $19.5 million. Additionally, Kansas Senate candidate Adam Hamilton raised $10.6 million during that period.
Dems putting up some big Q3 fundraising numbers $64M for Talarico in Q3 per @adamwren $17M for Peltola $10.6M for Hamilton $19.5M for Cooper per @erinpdoherty Candidates get better ad rates, so this helps Dems be competitive against big GOP super PAC spending
— Burgess Everett (@burgessev) October 15, 2026
The Senate Leadership Fund, which serves as the main campaign organization for Senate Republicans, has earmarked $14 million for the Kansas race, where Senator Roger Marshall is currently neck-and-neck with Hamilton in the polls. Interestingly, Kansas has not elected a Democratic senator since November 1932.
The organization has also allocated $5 million for the Senate race in South Carolina.
Meanwhile, Republicans have temporarily halted spending in North Carolina and Georgia as their candidates are trailing in the polls. Conversely, Democratic PACs have reduced their spending in those races since their candidates are leading comfortably.
