James Talarico touts record fundraising haul in Texas Senate race

Texas Democratic Senate hopeful James Talarico’s campaign says it raised $64 million in the third quarter of 2026, a staggering haul that would set a new record.

Talarico, a state legislator, has posted significant fundraising hauls since he jumped into the race. But $64 million raised from July through September would break the third-quarter record set in 2020 by South Carolina Democrat Jaime Harrison, who raised $57 million in three months during his unsuccessful campaign that year.

Talarico is facing Republican state Attorney General Ken Paxton, who has lagged behind the Democrat in fundraising in Texas.

Paxton announced earlier this month that his campaign and two other affiliated fundraising vehicles raised a combined $18 million in the third quarter.

“Grassroots contributors from across Texas are coming together to end billionaire control over our politics and bring down costs for working families,” Talarico said in a statement. His campaign noted it raised more than $134 million throughout the cycle, almost entirely from contributions totaling $100 or less from more than 1.3 million individuals.

NBC News could not independently confirm the fundraising details outside of the ones shared by the campaigns. Their fundraising reports, which will show the full breadth of how much the campaigns raised and spent — and whether they are also adding totals raised into affiliated committees — are due to the Federal Election Commission Thursday night.

Those details will provide further information about how Talarico is spending those cash reserves, too.

Data from the political ad tracking firm AdImpact shows his campaign spent more than $20 million in the last month alone on ads. And an NBC News analysis shows a steady uptick in the Talarico campaign’s spending on digital fundraising ads in the third quarter.

The fundraising haul illustrates how Talarico has energized Democrats in his state and across the country as the latest figure promising an elusive prize: turning Texas blue.

Recent polling has shown Talarico with a narrow lead, mostly within the margin of error, GOP groups have been spending furiously to help Paxton and to bring Republicans fractured by the contentious primary back into his camp.

Republican outside groups have spent more than $175 million dollars to boost Paxton and attack Talarico since Sept. 1, according to AdImpact, trying to close off one pathway for Democrats as they try to take the GOP’s Senate majority.