Democratic state Rep. James Talarico raised $27 million in his bid for a closely watched Texas Senate seat currently held by incumbent Republican Sen. John Cornyn.
In an announcement by the James Talarico campaign, the Texas Democrat’s fundraising total for the first quarter of 2026 reached $27 million. Talarico has taken in more than $40 million since his campaign began in September against redistricted Democrat Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett.
According to reports from Talarico’s team, around 97% of the donations were small-scale donations of $100 or less by individuals. His team further noted that the most common profession among his small-scale donor base has been teachers.
Democrat challenger Talarico will face incumbent Texas Republican John Cornyn or Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton depending on the outcome of the May runoff. The Texas primary has been reported as the most expensive Senate primary in history, drawing controversial attention from President Donald Trump, who in a Truth Social post urged the candidate he would not endorse to step down from the race.
Republicans speculated that Trump’s recommendation for the Texas Senate race was part of a coordinated effort to shift focus and fundraising to beating Talarico in the November midterm election. In a post to Truth Social, the president blasted Talarico as a fraud, saying he believed “any human being running against him, sick, incompetent, close to death, or, even a child, would win.”
Following Talarico’s win in the March primary election, Republicans responded with a dissection of some of Talarico’s most controversial positions. Texas-based podcaster, Allie Beth Stuckey, spoke to Talarico’s pastoral side in a post to X, with a critique of his views on human sexuality and the claim by Talarico that “God is non-binary.”
Dallas area Pastor Josh Howerton also weighed in on the candidate in a clip of his podcast shared to X, where he described Talarico as a “false prophet and a false teacher” showing an image of Talarico’s church where an LGBT flag was draped around a cross. Howerton called the display “visual blasphemy”. He then critiqued Talarico’s statement that the trans community needs abortions too.
Talarico’s controversial viewpoints garnered heavy criticism from many outside of Texas immediately following his March primary win but have slowed in the weeks since then. As the May primary runoff draws near, a renewed attention to the question of whether Texas will go blue is likely to follow. As the saying goes, as goes Texas, so goes the nation.
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