Talarico Casts Himself as David Against GOP Money, Including $158M Tied to Musk and Senate Republicans

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

The figure behind the metaphor is large. More than $158 million in outside money is being spent against Talarico by Republican leadership and Musk, the world's richest man. Federal filings released Thursday showed that Musk gave $158 million to the Senate Leadership Fund. That group in turn gave $158 million to Texas PAC, the largest contributor to the campaign of Republican nominee Ken Paxton. Musk also gave $10 million to Lone Star Liberty PAC, another group that supports Paxton. Musk headed President Trump's Department of Government Efficiency last year.

The David framing fits how Talarico has talked about politics all along: less as left against right than as the ultrawealthy against everyone else. He is trying to become the first Democrat in more than 30 years to win statewide in Texas. His own campaign has raised record sums in one of the country's most expensive and competitive Senate races, and it has outraised Paxton's, drawing donors who want Texas to give up its solidly Republican label.

The race looked different a few months ago. Talarico, a state representative and seminarian, was initially seen as the latest in a line of Democrats who raised hopes of flipping Texas, only to see them deflate on Election Day. Now he is considered a real contender. Part of that is voters' wariness of Paxton, who has faced corruption questions, including impeachment by his own party in the Texas legislature. He was later acquitted. Trump has made several trips to Texas to rally for Paxton, a sign that Republicans see a race that should be easy as being harder than it ought to be.

Talarico has walked a deliberately nonpartisan path, from the big metro areas that already lean Democratic, through the border towns that flipped from blue to red in the last election, to the Republican high plains and desert. He has distanced himself from the Biden administration and from his own party. Sen. Bernie Sanders is coming to Texas this month, but he will not share a stage with Talarico.

His message centers on cost of living, which voters say worries them most. At the nighttime rally, packed with younger voters, he argued that prices have climbed for years because billionaires and corrupt politicians rigged the system. Kaitlyn Johnson, a 29-year-old bartender in the crowd, said it matched what she had felt for a while. "They think that they can buy us, and that they can essentially be the kings of the country," she said. She added that she makes decent money, but "there's no way in hell" she will be able to buy a house anytime soon.

The rally followed nine days earlier this month when Talarico was out of public view with the flu. His absence set off online conspiracy theories, including the false claim that he was in a mental health treatment center in Ohio. Conservative social media influencers shared it, and it fell apart on closer inspection.

The stakes reach beyond Texas. Whoever wins will help decide which party controls the Senate during Trump's last two years in office, a difference between smooth sailing for the president and a stretch of investigations and opposition. With the final weeks ahead, the question is whether record small-scale fundraising can hold up against the outside money.