The Texas Senate race has officially been set, between notoriously scandal-plagued state Attorney General Ken Paxton on the Republican side and Presbyterian minister and state legislator James Talarico on the Democratic side.
But already, Texas Republicans are sounding off a message of fear, NBC News reported, because of the impending money problems the race will cause for them.
"Paxton, with Trump’s endorsement, handily defeated four-term Sen. John Cornyn in the runoff. Democrats largely viewed Paxton as the weaker candidate because of his many controversies. But his fundraising struggles are also raising alarm bells among Republicans," said the report. "'Economically, it’s a disaster. Texas is extremely expensive,' said a GOP consultant working on Senate races, who was granted anonymity to speak candidly about party resources."
Republicans already spent over $100 million in the primary, with much of it going to the unsuccessful attempt to prop up Cornyn — but that's just the beginning, the report said.
"So far, Paxton’s fundraising has paled in comparison with that of the Democratic nominee, state Rep. James Talarico, who has raised more than $40 million — though he spent most of it in a hotly contested primary. But Talarico is expected to raise millions more; he pulled in $600,000 in just two hours following Paxton’s win, according to Talarico’s campaign. The haul was first reported by Politico," said the report. "Paxton has raised $7.6 million, and his campaign had $2.3 million left to spend as of May 6."
A deeply expensive contest in Texas could further strain resources on the National Republican Senatorial Committee and GOP megadonors, who might otherwise put that funding toward more obvious tossup races like Georgia and Maine.
"George Seay, one of Cornyn’s longtime friends and donors, declined to comment when NBC News asked him whether he would also donate to boost Paxton," noted the report. "But he said that Paxton as the nominee meant the state was now 'definitely in play' and a tougher climb for Republicans to win. 'Is Paxton going to raise a lot of money? Probably not,' Seay said, though he said that wasn’t necessarily a death knell."
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