The Liberty Daily 
(The Daily Caller)—Democratic Texas Senate nominee James Talarico raised $64 million in the third quarter, the largest third-quarter haul of any Senate candidate in history.
Talarico raised more than $134 million since launching his campaign in September 2025, with over 1.3 million donors contributing, Politico reported. The Texas Senate race is the most expensive Senate contest in the 2026 midterms, with ad spending and total costs surpassing $501 million.
Republican PACs spent over $200 million to support Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and large amounts in other red states. The surge in spending on red states happened while polls found Republicans struggling to fend off their Democratic opponents.
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Former Democratic Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke raised a then-record $38.1 million in the third quarter when he ran against Republican Texas Sen. Ted Cruz in 2018. O’Rourke lost to Cruz by a two-point margin, 50.9% to 48.3%.
Talarico led by an average of 2.6 points as of Thursday, according to RealClearPolling.
Paxton’s campaign did not respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
Talarico said God was “non-binary,” said he loved transgender children when asked what he loved besides his family and claimed that the biblical account of Jesus’ conception justified abortion.
Former Democratic Alaska Rep. Mary Peltola raised around $17 million in the third quarter, while former Democratic North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper raised $19.5 million. Democratic Kansas Senate nominee Adam Hamilton raised $10.6 million in that time frame.
The Senate Leadership Fund, the top campaign arm for Senate Republicans, planned to spend $14 million in Kansas, where Republican Kansas Sen. Roger Marshall was tied with Hamilton in the polls as of Thursday. Voters in the state last elected a Democratic senator in November 1932.
The campaign arm spent $5 million on the South Carolina Senate race as well.
Republicans paused spending in North Carolina and Georgia, as their candidates were trailing in the polls. Democratic PACs pulled spending in those races because their candidates held comfortable leads.
