Texas Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico has triggered a massive Republican spending campaign aimed at blocking a potential blue wave, yet people close to his campaign privately acknowledge that the Lone Star State could still remain under GOP control.
Sources familiar with the Democrat’s campaign told the New York Times that internal polling shows Talarico either tied with Republican opponent Ken Paxton, Texas’ attorney general, or within the survey’s margin of error.
“I think James has at most a 50 percent chance of winning,” Luke Warford, chair of the Travis County Democratic Party, told the newspaper. “Which, look, in Texas, that’s phenomenal. If you told me a year ago a Democrat would have a coin-flip chance of winning, I’d be doing backflips.”
Polling conducted several weeks ago gave Talarico a six-point advantage. More recent surveys, however, show the contest tightening—a shift campaign sources attribute to a flood of spending from Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, who lives in Texas and runs Tesla and SpaceX from the state.
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Musk has contributed at least $158 million to groups backing Paxton’s campaign, according to the Times.
That money has helped fund attack advertisements aimed at Talarico. Some people close to his campaign acknowledge that the ads are damaging his standing with Election Day approaching. The contest could become the most expensive nonpresidential race in U.S. history.
Reports show that the two campaigns have already spent more than $400 million on advertising alone.
