Texas set a new record for the most expensive Senate primary in U.S. history, hitting a whopping total of $110 million in campaign ad spending alone. 

Approximately $88 million has been spent in campaign advertising favoring Republicans competing in the race, compared to just under $22 million for the two Democrats in the race, according to data from AdImpact. 

Sitting Sen. John Cornyn (R) has led the pack in ad spending, with a total of $64 million spent on advertising supporting his re-election campaign. Since Feb. 1, a total of $18.8 million in ads favoring the incumbent candidate have run or been scheduled to air. 

Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton has garnered nearly all of his $3.6 million in ad support since the beginning of this month. Rep. Wesley Hunt (R-Texas) has received a total of $11.4 million in ad support for his Senate bid. 

AdImpact said that the majority of funding for these ads comes from outside groups, including super PACs. 

Despite receiving the highest amount of ad funding in the race, Cornyn is slightly lagging behind Paxton in a recent University of Texas/Texas Politics Project survey. Paxton received 36 percent of support from poll respondents, with the sitting senator getting 34 percent. Hunt ranked third at 26 percent. 

President Trump has yet to endorse a candidate in the race, telling reporters recently that he “like[s] all three” of the top Republican candidates in the race. 

“Those are the toughest races,” he said. “They’ve all supported me. They’re all good. You’re supposed to pick one, so we’ll see what happens. But I support all three.”

The president is expected to visit Corpus Christi, Texas, this Friday ahead of the primary election on March 3.

Early voting in the state primary showcased higher voter turnout than previous years, with data from the Texas secretary of State indicating a particular increase in Democratic voters casting their ballots during this early voting period. 

The Democratic candidates in the race — U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett and state representative James Talarico — have fallen far behind in the primary’s ad spending campaigns. 

Since Feb. 1, Crockett has garnered $3.9 million in ad support in comparison to Talarico’s $14.3 million. However, the University of Texas/Texas Politics Project poll shows the congresswoman continues to best her primary opponent in the polls, leading by 12 percentage points. 

The poll was conducted from Feb. 2-16 among 1,300 self-declared Texas primary voters and had a margin of error of approximately 2.72 percentage points. 

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