MAGA Inc., President Trump’s super-PAC, has directed $10 million toward Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s Senate campaign ahead of November’s midterm elections.
Federal Election Commission filings published Saturday confirmed the payment went to political media company Del Ray Media to fund advertising in the high-stakes contest.
The spending is split evenly, with $5 million designated for negative ads targeting Democratic opponent James Talarico and $5 million for positive ads supporting Paxton.
MAGA Inc. spokesperson Alex Pfeiffer said the ads focus on how “High Tax Talarico” is planning to “take money out of Texans’ pockets” and pledged to expose his record statewide.
“MAGA Inc. is going to ensure Texas knows about Talarico’s radical policies and elects Ken Paxton to the U.S. Senate,” Pfeiffer said in her Saturday statement.
Talarico’s campaign fired back quickly, framing the outside spending as evidence of Republican anxiety over the tightening race in the historically red state.
“Billionaire-backed dark money groups are lying about James Talarico because they’re scared of the people-powered movement we’re building to fix this broken, corrupt political system,” campaign spokesperson JT Ennis said Saturday.
Saturday’s FEC filing marks MAGA Inc.’s first expenditure of the general election, covering television, streaming, and digital advertising in the Texas market.
The buy signals the Texas Senate race has become a top priority for Trump’s political operation as Republicans defend narrow congressional majorities heading into November.
MAGA Inc.’s investment follows separate spending by Texas-based billionaire Elon Musk, whose America PAC has already spent $1.4 million against Talarico on digital media and printing.
Trump has said MAGA Inc. has $1 billion at its disposal, though June reports estimated its finances at roughly $400 million, with plans to spend between $400 and $500 million on the midterms.
Paxton has trailed Talarico in fundraising for much of the race, and the Republican Party’s campaign committees have shown reluctance to back his candidacy after a bruising primary season.
Paxton defeated incumbent Sen. John Cornyn in a primary runoff earlier this year, buoyed by a Trump endorsement that came just one week before the election.
Talarico had used his fundraising edge to introduce himself to Texas voters through positive ads before going negative against Paxton over corruption allegations in late August.
The Paxton-Talarico contest is widely viewed as one of a handful of Senate races that could determine which party controls the chamber, where Republicans currently hold a 53-47 edge.
Next week, Trump is scheduled to travel to Dallas to headline a Republican midterm convention on Paxton’s home turf as the party works to protect its slim congressional majorities.
