James Talarico Shatters Fundraising Record With $27 Million Quarter

Representative James Talarico (D-TX) is making noise in Texas, and his wallet is backing it up.

The Austin state representative and Democratic Senate candidate raised $27 million in the first three months of 2026, his campaign announced, setting a national record for any Senate candidate in the first quarter of an election year.

The haul surpassed other Democrats running in competitive Senate races this cycle, including Georgia's Jon Ossoff, and more than doubled the totals posted by former Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown, former North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper, and former Alaska Representative Mary Peltola.

Reports show Rep. Talarico also left Texas's own Democratic fundraising history in the dust. Colin Allred raised $9.5 million in the first quarter of 2024, and Beto O'Rourke brought in $6.7 million during his 2018 run, both of whom ultimately lost their races.

"Winning in Texas will require unprecedented resources," said campaign manager Seth Krasne. "This grassroots fundraising haul puts our movement in a strong position to spread our message in some of the most expensive media markets in the country."

Campaigning Quarter

Much of the quarter was spent in a competitive primary against U.S. Representative Jasmine Crockett (D-TX), yet Talarico's campaign says he still pulled in more than $10 million after winning the March 3 primary.

Since entering the race last September, he has now raised over $40 million total, drawing contributions from more than 540,000 individual donors across 246 of Texas's 254 counties.

On the Republican side, the contrast is stark.

Talarico tripled the fundraising total of incumbent Senator John Cornyn and outraised Attorney General Ken Paxton, who is locked in a runoff with Cornyn, by twelvefold. Sen. Cornyn raised nearly $9 million and AG Paxton raised $2.2 million in the same period.

Heading into April, Talarico's war chest sat at roughly $9.9 million, edging out Cornyn's $8.2 million and well ahead of Paxton's $2.6 million.

The goal, however, remains steep. No Democrat has won a statewide race in Texas in over 30 years, and flipping a Senate seat in a state with 20 media markets is an enormously expensive undertaking, record fundraising or not.