Republican reinforcements are finally arriving for Attorney General Ken Paxton in his U.S. Senate race, months after the party’s biggest Senate-focused outside group backed his primary opponent.
The Senate Leadership Fund, a super PAC aligned with Senate Majority Leader John Thune, has purchased $32 million in television advertisements across Texas and is reportedly preparing to spend more than $50 million to support Paxton against Democrat James Talarico.
The group announced Friday it created a new Texas PAC dedicated to the race, with ads promoting Paxton and contrasting his record with Talarico expected to run continuously through Election Day.
The investment ends months of uncertainty over whether the Senate Leadership Fund would support Paxton after backing Sen. John Cornyn in the Republican primary.
It also comes as other major Republican groups have already begun pouring money into the race.
MAGA Inc., the super PAC aligned with President Donald Trump, recently announced $10 million in advertising supporting Paxton. America PAC, the political group backed by Elon Musk, is also supporting Paxton and has begun door-knocking operations to register and get out the vote.
The news of the Senate Leadership Fund’s support for Paxton follows the party’s two-day Midterm Convention in Dallas, where the race received considerable attention.
Trump spoke on both nights of the convention and used both appearances to emphasize the importance of electing Paxton, whom he called the “greatest attorney general in the history of the country.”
Trump also said he plans to return to Texas to campaign for Paxton at least once (and potentially multiple times) before Election Day.
Asked by Texas Scorecard whether Trump’s presence would help energize voters, Paxton said it would.
“If Republican voters get out and vote, we win. If they don’t, then the Socialist Democrat who will change our country in a very bad way will be elected,” said Paxton.
He also said that the final weeks of the race will feature plenty of advertising and appearances across the state.
“Lots of ads, obviously on both sides. I’ll have money now,” said Paxton.
“It took me a couple months to raise it because I had a runoff,” he added. “We’ll be all over the state talking. We’ll still have to keep raising money, but we will be victorious because our message.”
