Since President Donald Trump announced three weeks ago that he was traveling<\/p>\n
to Texas to help Ken Paxton\u00a0win his Senate race, an avalanche of more than $100 million of mostly negative ads targeting Democrat James\u00a0Talarico has poured in<\/p>\n
from just five GOP-aligned political committees.<\/p>\n
And another $5 million is on its way<\/a> from America PAC, the entity that Texas\u00a0trillionaire Elon Musk used to help Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign.<\/p>\n It’s all in an effort to shift the momentum in a contest that most polls show is dead even or that<\/p>\n slightly favors Talarico\u00a0with just 30 days left until in-person early voting gets underway. Through Aug. 24, Talarico had spent $25 million on TV and digital ads, compared to<\/p>\n less than $1 million\u00a0for Paxton. But after Trump said<\/p>\n he was coming to the rescue, Paxton and his allies completely flipped the script, outspending Talarico and his allies four-to-one.<\/p>\n “They are throwing everything at us,” Talarico said at a campaign rally at Baylor University in Waco<\/p>\n on Wednesday. “These dark money super PACs are flooding the airwaves with lies about me and my record.”<\/p>\n As daunting as that may be for him, Talarico said<\/p>\n it is also<\/p>\n evidence that big donors know he legitimately has a shot to make history in becoming the first Democrat to win a U.S. Senate seat in Texas since Lloyd\u00a0Bentsen in 1988.<\/p>\n “You should believe that we can make history, because they sure do,” the 37-year-old state legislator from Round Rock said.<\/p>\n Paxton acknowledged that the race is “razor thin” during a campaign speech in Longview earlier this week, but said momentum is beginning to swing in their favor.\u00a0<\/p>\n “The energy on our side is getting stronger every day,” Paxton said. “Republicans are getting united, and we’re getting focused.”<\/p>\n He credited Trump and national Republicans for holding a two-day convention in Dallas, which he said showed everyone how important the race in Texas is.<\/p>\n “If we lose Texas, we lose America,” the 63-year-old Texas attorney general said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Subscribe<\/p>\n There’s more to Houston with the Chronicle. Subscribe today for just 25\u00a2.<\/a><\/p>\n