Texas Republicans are entering the final weekend before Tuesday's election worried about a result that once seemed out of reach for Democrats: losing a statewide race, and with it possibly control of the U.S. Senate, the Texas Tribune reported Saturday.
James Talarico, a 37-year-old Democrat from Austin with a record in the Texas Legislature, has held a small but steady lead in polling averages over Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton, according to the Tribune. No Democrat has won a statewide office in Texas in more than 30 years.
Money and messages
Advertising in the race has reached about $408 million since the primaries, and national Republican groups funded mostly by Elon Musk have spent more than $272 million, the Tribune reported. The contest became the costliest Senate race in U.S. history on Oct. 23. Vice President JD Vance and President Donald Trump have appeared at six events in Texas since Labor Day.
Republican-aligned ads have focused on Talarico's past comments on theology, transgender rights and abortion, some of which he has since called "cringey," and on a legislative vote Republicans describe as support for a state income tax.
Talarico's ads have highlighted Paxton's 2023 impeachment by the Texas House, on which the Senate acquitted him, his rising net worth and a securities fraud case that prosecutors dropped after he entered a pretrial diversion agreement, with no admission of guilt.
Paxton has not accepted any of at least four debate invitations from TV stations, the first Texas Senate race since 2000 without a debate, according to the Tribune.
Both sides at the finish
"Texas is excruciatingly close," U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz said on his podcast Friday. Comptroller Don Huffines, who is also on the ballot, told a Weatherford rally Thursday that the early vote "is not in our favor."
