Talarico Casts Texas Senate Race as David vs. Goliath as GOP and Musk Pour in $158M

Under bright lights at a packed rally in San Marcos, a small city south of Austin, James Talarico told his supporters that David had no Goliath's strength but did have 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 any of the money being spent against him.

The money is considerable. Federal campaign filings made public Thursday showed that 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. That group 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 supporting Paxton. Outside spending against Talarico, from Republican leadership and Musk, tops $158 million.

The David framing fits how Talarico has long talked about politics: not as left versus right, but as the ultrawealthy against everyone else. He 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. His own campaign has raised record sums in what is one of the most expensive and competitive Senate races in the country, and it has outraised Paxton's.

The view of his candidacy has shifted over the months. At first he looked like the latest in a series of Democrats who gave the party hope of flipping Texas, only to see it fade on Election Day. Now he is regarded as a real contender. Part of that is voter wariness of 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 to recognize both Talarico's ability to connect with voters and how hard Paxton has found it to gain traction in a race that would normally be comfortable for the party.

Talarico has tried to be as nonpartisan as he can, working a route that runs from big metro areas that already lean Democratic, through border towns that swung from blue to red last election, to the Republican high plains and desert. He has kept distance from former President Joe Biden's administration and from his own party. Sen. Bernie Sanders is due in Texas this month, but will not share a stage with him.

At the rally, which drew many younger voters, Talarico aimed at the cost of living, the issue voters say worries them most. He argued that costs have climbed for years because billionaires and corrupt politicians have rigged the system. Kaitlyn Johnson, a 29-year-old bartender in the crowd, said it matched her own feelings. "They think that they can buy us, and that they can essentially be the kings of the country," she said. Though she called her pay decent, she said there is no way she will be able to buy a house anytime soon.

The San Marcos event came after nine days earlier this month when Talarico was out of public view with the flu. His absence set off online speculation, including a false claim, shared by conservative social media influencers, that he was in a mental health treatment center in Ohio. The claim fell apart under scrutiny.

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