Another Windfall for the Bottomless ‘Blue Texas’ Money Pit

By Noah Rothman

Monday, April 06, 2026

 

According to the New York Times, Texas Democratic Senate nominee James Talarico is a powerhouse fundraiser.

 

“In the first two months of the quarter alone, Talarico’s campaign had already raised more money online — $14.3 million, according to filings from the Democratic payment processor ActBlue — than any Senate candidate in the country raised in an entire quarter in 2025,” the Times dispatch read. At his current pace, Talarico is set “to lap the rest of the field” of Democratic candidates nationwide, raising as much as $20 million  or even $30 million. And the candidate is not husbanding his resources. One data tracker indicated that “Talarico spent nearly $250,000 on ads in just the final two days of the quarter.”

 

What is it about Texas that convinces Democratic donors to shovel vast sums into its statewide races, depriving more capable candidates in more winnable statewide races elsewhere of cash that might help yield more measurable returns? Theories abound. But what is beyond dispute is that Talarico is only the latest candidate to benefit from this bizarre Democratic tradition.

 

Former Representative Colin Allred, for example, raised about $30 million in 2024, well outpacing the fundraising totals generated by his opponent, Senator Ted Cruz. In the end, Cruz defeated Allred handily with 53 percent of the statewide vote.

 

In 2022, former Representative Beto O’Rourke “raised a staggering $27.6 million” in the first five months of the year alone. “O’Rourke’s $27.6 million is the most a candidate for state office in Texas has ever raised in a reporting period,” the Texas Tribune marveled. It was the most impressive fundraising performance from a Democratic candidate since O’Rourke challenged Cruz in the 2018 race for Senate, in which the former congressman raised (and spent) more than $80 million.

 

O’Rourke lost the 2018 race, but only by a little more than two points. Despite the financial debacle’s smaller scale, O’Rourke’s eleven-point loss in the 2022 race against incumbent Governor Greg Abbott was surely a bigger embarrassment.

 

And then there was Wendy Davis. The pro-abortion state-level lawmaker became a national Democratic celebrity for wearing running shoes onto the Texas House floor to (unsuccessfully) filibuster a 20-week abortion ban bill, translating her fame into a gubernatorial campaign. She lost that one, too, and by 21 points, no less. Davis also spent $36 million for the privilege, and Democrats were compelled to find consolation in the notion that her fundraising apparatus was a victory in and of itself. But not everyone on the left bought that spin.

 

“The idea was that an Obama-style organizing operation could make a real impact in down-ballot races, which are traditionally less sophisticated,” Mother Jones correspondent Tim Murphy wrote. “It didn’t.”

 

No lessons were learned, though. It seems the Democratic donor class will continue to funnel cash into Texas Democrats’ coffers while expecting different results. Today, though, the situation really could be different, particularly if Republicans nominate the state’s scandal-plagued attorney general to the Senate over the four-term incumbent. If, however, the historical pattern repeats, Democrats will kick themselves in November over their poor resource allocation strategy, and they’ll resolve to never do that again. And this time, they’ll really mean it.