Talarico Shatters Fundraising Marks
in First 3 Weeks as Senate Contender
Capitol Inside
October 1, 2025
Democratic State Rep. James Talarico raised a record-crushing $6.2 million in his first three weeks as a candidate for the U.S. Senate - the most that a candidate for the federal post has rounded up in a campaign's first quarter in the history of the Lone Star State.
The state lawmaker from Austin plans to report a haul that's 51 percent more than the amount that Democratic primary rival Colin Allred rounded up in a span of almost three months since a reboot of a campaign that fell short last year in a bid to oust U.S. Senator Ted Cruz. Allred's campaign announced that he'd raised $4.1 million for a fight that he entered in July in a quest for the seat that Republican U.S. Senator John Cornyn is attempting to defend at the polls next year.
Cornyn faces primary opposition from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in a contest that's shaping up to be the hottest first-round fight at the top of the GOP ticket here in years. Neither Cornyn or Paxton has revealed their fundraising take for the third quarter up to now.
But the eventual Democratic primary in the Senate race has the potential to be the most expensive round one battle for a federal position on either side of the aisle in Texas history as a product of the clash between Allred and Talarico for a shot at the incumbent or Paxton as the only major Republican challenger for the GOP.
Talarico's early success in a campaign dollar derby with contribution limits is staggering for a U.S. Senate contender who's never run for a statewide position, the state Senate or the U.S. House. But Talarcio left a slew of records broken in the wake of his debut in the fundraising arena for the upper house of Congress.
Talarico received support from more than 125,000 individual donors. According to the Talarico campaign, contributions of $100 or less accounted for 98 percent of the total fundraising take. Talarico raised money for the Senate race from donors in 232 Texas counties in a state with a total of 254. Talarico didn't take a dime from corporate political committees - and he raised more from teachers than any other profession.
Allred was no slouch in the campaign cash chase himself in his resurfacing as a U.S. Senate contestant just months after the loss to Cruz last fall. Allred - a former U.S. House member who played in the National Football League - set an all-time mark for a Senate candidate with contributions topping $86 million compared to $69 million for Cruz.
But Cruz raised almost $106 million overall for the re-election race in 2024 over the course of a six-year term as the incumbent, according to bipartisan site Open Secrets. Allred generated nearly $93 million when all funding sources were taken into account.
Democrat Beto O'Rourke set the new standard in 2018 when he raised more than $80 million from contributors in less than two years in a losing race against Cruz. But Cruz defeated O'Rourke by less than 3 percentage points that year - and the Democratic challenger had coattails despite the defeat at the top of the ticket.
Allred and Talarico won their first races for the U.S. House and Texas House respectively in 2018 when Democrats picked up 12 seats in the lower chamber in Austin, two in the state Senate and two in Congress.
But while Allred has had the Democratic establishment in Washington D.C. in his corner for back-to-back U.S. Senate races, Talarico is a TikTok sensation whose campaign is looking more like a movement based on the early fundraising stats. The state legislator appears to be the early favorite as a result.
Talarico raised almost $241,000 during the second half of 2024 when he was unopposed in the general election in House District 50. Talarico's fundraising statement for the first of two special summer sessions covered 7,882 pages with five individual donations per page in a report with the lion's share of contributions in the vicinity of $50 or less.
Talarico would be on track to raise close to $120 million before the 2026 general election if he won the nomination and continued at the current pace.
more to come ...
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