Talarico Casts Himself as David Against Goliath as GOP and Musk Pour $158M Into Texas Senate Race

Under bright lights at a packed nighttime rally in San Marcos, a small city south of Austin, James Talarico told his supporters that David did not have Goliath's strength, but he had a slingshot. "You are my slingshot," the Democratic Senate candidate said, adding that "we are going up against our own Goliaths." He did not name Elon Musk or mention the spending being aimed at him.

The numbers behind the metaphor were filed with federal regulators the same day. Musk, the world's richest man, who last year headed President Trump's Department of Government Efficiency, gave $158 million to the Senate Leadership Fund, according to the filings. The fund in turn gave $158 million to Texas PAC, the largest contributor to the campaign of Republican nominee Ken Paxton. Musk also put $10 million into Lone Star Liberty PAC, another group backing Paxton. Outside spending against Talarico by Republican leadership and Musk now tops $158 million.

Talarico is a state representative and a seminarian, and he is trying to become the first Democrat to win statewide in Texas in more than 30 years. The framing fits how he has talked about politics for some time: not as left against right, but as the ultrawealthy against everyone else. His own campaign has raised record sums and has outpaced Paxton's in fundraising, in one of the most expensive and competitive Senate races in the country.

The race looked different a few months ago. Talarico was first seen as the latest in a line of Texas Democrats who raised the party's hopes of flipping the state, only for those hopes to fade on Election Day. Now he is regarded as a real contender. Part of that can be credited to voter wariness about Paxton, who has faced corruption questions and was impeached by his own party in the Texas legislature, though he was later acquitted. Trump has made several trips to Texas to rally for Paxton, and Republicans appear well aware both of Talarico's ability to connect with voters and of Paxton's struggle to gain traction in what would normally be an easy Republican race.

The stakes reach beyond Texas. Whoever wins will help determine which party controls the Senate during the last two years of Trump's term, which means either smooth sailing for the president or a bog of investigations and opposition.

Talarico has tried to run as nonpartisan as he can, moving through the big metro areas that already lean Democratic, the border towns that flipped from blue to red last election, and the Republican high plains and desert. He has put distance between himself and the Biden administration and his own party. Sen. Bernie Sanders is coming to Texas this month, but he will not share a stage with Talarico.

His central pitch is affordability, aimed at the costs that have climbed for years. Talarico argued at the rally, which was packed with younger voters, that billionaires and corrupt politicians have rigged the system. It landed with Kaitlyn Johnson, a 29-year-old bartender in the crowd. "They think that they can buy us, and that they can essentially be the kings of the country," she said. She felt he had put words to something she had felt for a while. "I make decent money," she said, "but there's no way in hell that I'm going to be able to buy a house anytime soon."

Thursday's rally came after nine days earlier this month when Talarico was out of public view with the flu. His absence set off online conspiracy theories, including a false claim that he was at a mental health treatment center in Ohio. Conservative social media influencers shared it, and it fell apart under scrutiny.

With the election weeks away, the question is whether record fundraising and an affordability message can offset the weight of outside money in the costliest kind of Senate contest.