Spending in the Texas Senate race has passed $560 million, making it the most expensive Senate race in American history, according to reporting by the Texarkana Gazette. Vinny Minchillo, a Plano-based Republican consultant, said this is what a competitive general election looks like.
Elon Musk has given at least $158 million through the Senate Leadership Fund, a super PAC aligned with Senate Majority Leader John Thune, which moved the money to the Musk-backed Texas PAC. Democrat James Talarico's campaign committee reported record fundraising from 1.3 million individual contributors. Republican Ken Paxton is running against Talarico.
The Texas PAC's ads have criticized Talarico's comments on transgender issues and highlighted Paxton's efforts to prosecute child sex traffickers. Talarico's campaign has run ads accusing Paxton of using his office to give a convicted sex offender an "Epstein-style sweetheart deal." AdImpact data cited in the report shows about $135 million spent in the Dallas-Fort Worth market and $115 million in the Houston area. Early voting runs through Friday, and Election Day is Tuesday.