GOP Groups Flood Texas With $51M in Ads to Boost Paxton's Campaign

For months, Ken Paxton's Texas attorney general campaign operated in the financial shadow of his Democratic opponent, while national Republican organizations held back their resources. Then, in a late-stage reversal, Senate GOP-aligned groups committed more than $51 million in advertising on his behalf — a sum that erases the disadvantage and signals that party leadership now believes the race is worth contesting. Such moments remind us that in democratic politics, the decision of who is deemed viable often precedes, and shapes, the reality of viability itself.