DALLAS — Texas Republican Ken Paxton is getting a major infusion of financial help in his Senate battle with Democrat James Talarico.
A new super PAC linked to Senate Republican leadership has purchased at least $32 million in airtime to boost the controversial Republican attorney general, according to the tracking service AdImpact. And President Donald Trump's super PAC threw $10 million into the race last week.
The wave of GOP spending comes as a number of recent polls have shown Paxton slightly trailing Talarico, including a recent AARP poll that Trump pollster Tony Fabrizio's firm helped conduct.
And it arrives after months of pleading from national Republicans for Trump's network to spend big to bolster the scandal-plagued candidate the president helped propel to victory in the primary.
At the Republican National Committee's convention this week in Dallas, Trump said he will continue to visit the state to back Paxton.
"We have to elect Ken Paxton," Trump said during one of his two convention speeches. "We have to. We have to elect him. And if I have to, I'll come back twice or three times. You'll say, 'Get this guy out of here. Get him out.'"
The sudden cash shows that Republicans — who were once hesitant about Paxton's bid and opposed him in the primary — have rallied behind him amidst signs that he could become the first Republican to lose a Senate race in the state in nearly four decades. They plan to do whatever they can to hold onto the Senate majority this fall.
"The Republican Party is united to elect Ken Paxton and keep Texas red in November," Senate Leadership Fund Executive Director Alex Latcham said in a statement. "Senate Leadership Fund's investment through Texas PAC affirms our commitment to maintaining the Republican majority and defeating Far-Left liberals like James Talarico."
In Texas' expansive and hugely expensive media markets, Democrats will need to quickly respond to the torrent of cash being unloaded by the GOP. Talarico has so far outraised Paxton on the candidate side, with $21.5 million to $1.8 million in the bank, according to the latest Federal Election Commission reports. But the GOP has far more super PAC cash given MAGA Inc.'s warchest coupled with Elon Musk's America PAC, which has put $1.6 million behind Paxton so far.
Democrats face a tough decision given their financial disadvantage nationally. Texas is much more expensive than states like Iowa or Alaska, where there are also competitive Senate races in red territory. So far, Democrats' main Senate super PAC has not reserved any time in Texas, according to AdImpact.
Still, Democrats are hoping to seize on Paxton's trail of controversies, including a messy divorce and a slew of ethics complaints — and Trump's own mocking of the Republican nominee.
"He may not dress right. He may not talk exactly perfectly, and he may not be the best looking guy I've ever seen, but you know what he is? He's the greatest attorney general in America, and he deserves to be your next senator," Trump said during his speech Wednesday.
Talarico jumped on those remarks in a recent interview with Jimmy Kimmel, where they showed a compilation of all of Trump's digs: "I'm James Talarico, and I approve that message," he responded.
In a statement, Talarico spokesperson JT Ennis said that "billionaire-backed dark money groups are lying about James because they're scared of the people-powered movement we're building to fix this broken, corrupt political system."