Talarico Casts Texas Senate Race as David vs. Goliath as GOP Pours $158M Against Him

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

That money is substantial. Outside spending by Republican leadership and the world's richest man, Musk, tops $158 million. Federal campaign filings made public Thursday showed Musk, who last year headed President Trump's Department of Government Efficiency, gave $158 million to the Senate Leadership Fund. The fund in turn gave $158 million to a Texas PAC, the largest contributor to the campaign of Republican Ken Paxton. Musk also put $10 million into Lone Star Liberty PAC, another group backing Paxton.

The Goliath framing fits Talarico's established pitch. He tends to describe politics less as left versus right than as the ultrawealthy versus everyone else. He is trying to become the first Democrat to win statewide in Texas in more than 30 years, and his own campaign has raised record sums in one of the country's most expensive and competitive Senate races. It has also outraised Paxton's, drawing donors eager to see Texas lose its reputation as solidly Republican.

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 watch them 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 in the past and was impeached by his own party in the Texas legislature before being acquitted.

The stakes reach well beyond Texas. Whoever wins will help decide which party controls the Senate during Trump's final two years in office, whether that means smooth sailing for the president or a bog of investigations and opposition. 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 a relatively easy race for a Republican.

Talarico has tried to stay as nonpartisan as he can, traveling from the major metros that already lean Democratic, through the border towns that flipped from blue to red last election, to the Republican high plains and desert. He has distanced himself from former President Joe Biden's administration and from his own party. Sen. Bernie Sanders is coming to Texas this month, but will not share a stage with him.

His message centers on what voters say worries them most: costs that have risen for years. At the rally, which drew many younger voters, Talarico argued that billionaires and corrupt politicians have rigged the system. Kaitlyn Johnson, a 29-year-old bartender in attendance, said it resonated. "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 long felt. "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 followed 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, spread by conservative social media influencers, that he was in a mental health treatment center in Ohio. The claim fell apart under closer inspection. With the final weeks of the campaign underway, the race now turns on whether his message on costs can outlast the advertising wave behind Paxton.