By George Caldwell (The Washington Times)
President Trump’s cash-rich political operation disclosed its first wave of general election spending Saturday with a huge ad buy in Texas’ high-stakes Senate race.
MAGA Inc., a Trump-aligned political action committee, reported $10 million in spending on TV and digital advertising.
Of that sum, half supports the Republican nominee, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, and the other half opposes the Democratic nominee, state Rep. James Talarico.
One of the ads MAGA Inc. is running accuses Mr. Talarico of supporting “a radical healthcare plan” while referring to Mr. Paxton as a “tax cutter” with “a real plan to make life affordable.”
The spending indicates that Mr. Trump’s political operation intends to go deep into its war chest ahead of November and is willing to lead the charge in Texas.
The president said Friday, “I think I have like close to $1 billion in the super PAC, and I’m allocating probably four or $500 million.”
As of the end of July, the group reported having more than $403 million in cash on hand.
MAGA Inc.’s spending in Texas comes shortly after Elon Musk’s political vehicle, America PAC, also directed resources there.
Mr. Musk’s PAC has reported $1.6 million in early expenditures in the Texas Senate race.
Mr. Paxton became the Republican nominee by defeating incumbent Sen. John Cornyn in the primary after the president endorsed the challenger.
Mr. Cornyn argued throughout his primary campaign that having Mr. Paxton as the nominee would risk a Democratic victory and require exorbitant spending from Republicans.
Mr. Cornyn pointed to Mr. Paxton’s past issues, such as his 2023 impeachment by the Texas House on corruption charges, as liabilities.
Sen. John Kennedy, Louisiana Republican, recently suggested the president will have to allocate his own resources to Texas.
“We in the Senate don’t have the money budgeted for Texas. We need help from the president,” Mr. Kennedy told Fox News. “The president says he has $850 million in his campaign accounts. That’s a lot of jack. I’m hoping that the president’s going to spend $100 or $200 million in Texas.”
The National Republican Senatorial Committee, which is the main Senate GOP campaign arm, and the Senate Leadership Fund, a PAC aligned with Senate Majority Leader John Thune, South Dakota Republican, both spent in favor of Mr. Cornyn in the primary.
Since Mr. Paxton’s victory, neither group has spent in the Texas Senate race.
Asked for comment on why the NRSC has let other groups take the lead in Texas, Joanna Rodriguez, a committee spokeswoman, said, “The fall of coordinated spending limits means the NRSC can discuss spending decisions directly with our candidates and their campaigns. The era of raising the curtain on strategy for press and the Democrats we’re looking to defeat is over.”
Meanwhile, Mr. Talarico has proved to be a formidable fundraiser, having raised nearly $70 million as of the end of June.
Texas, with its 20 media markets stretched across 270,000 square miles, has long been an expensive battleground for statewide campaigns.
The Cook Political Report rates the race a toss-up, and Mr. Talarico has led Mr. Paxton in multiple polls.
Texas, however, has not elected a Democratic senator since 1988; the state favored Mr. Trump by almost 14 points in 2024.
Democrats need to net four additional Senate seats to gain control of the chamber.
Mr. Paxton says Mr. Talarico is too left-wing to represent the conservative state in Washington, pointing to his previous statements in favor of reducing meat consumption and referring to God as nonbinary.
Meanwhile, Mr. Talarico has criticized Mr. Paxton’s performance as attorney general, running an ad calling him “the most corrupt politician in Texas.”
This article was made available to WMAL via The Washington Times.
