Republicans Have a Texas-Sized Senate Problem on Their Hands. What’s It Going To Cost Them?

Trumpland admin September 1, 2026 0 Comments

Republicans Have a Texas-Sized Senate Problem on Their Hands. What’s It Going To Cost Them?

This column is being republished with permission from its original home on Substack. For more from Chris Cillizza, subscribe here.

As November’s midterm elections loom ominously on the GOP’s horizon, Texas Republican Sen. John Cornyn has unloaded on the man who beat him in a runoff to become the Republican nominee in the state’s Senate race over the summer: Ken Paxton.

“Paxton’s a poor campaigner,” Cornyn told the Texas Tribune. “He’s lazy and doesn’t raise money. And he basically is not offering a very compelling case for his election. He’s making this harder than it needs to be. But so be it — we are where we are.”

You might be tempted to dismiss Cornyn’s comments as simply sour grapes — after all, Paxton ended the incumbent’s Senate career over the summer by a whopping 28 points.

And I am sure Cornyn is bitter. But he’s also right!

Here’s the fundraising numbers (as of June 30) for Paxton and Democratic nominee James Talarico:

Paxton: $9.2 million raised, $7.5 million spent, $1.75 million on hand

Talarico: $68 million raised, $47 million spent, $21.5 million on hand

Talarico has raised seven times more than Paxton—and has 12 times as much money left to spend.

And it’s not just Cornyn making that point.

Louisiana GOP Sen. John Kennedy, in an appearance on Fox News on Sunday, bluntly admitted that “money is a problem” in the Texas race, adding: “We in the Senate don’t have the money budgeted for Texas. We need help from the president.”

Texas is going to be—at minimum—a $100 million investment for the GOP. Paxton has never been a good fundraiser. He isn’t going to turn into one all of a sudden.

Senate Republicans don’t want to be on the hook, because they were very clear that Cornyn rather than Paxton was the better general election nominee. Trump endorsed Paxton anyway.

Under that line of thinking, Trump—and the $400 million that MAGA Inc., his allied super PAC, has sitting in the bank—should be the one to try to bail Paxton out of political disaster. Except that Trump isn’t super keen on that.

While a Paxton super PAC is reportedly going on air to the tune of $15 million this week, the larger question remains: Who is going to cut the check—and it’s a very big check—that it is going to take to (potentially) drag Paxton to victory?

It’s a question on which the Senate majority might tilt.

Want more ball and strike calling—no matter what uniform the batter at the plate is wearing? Check out Chris Cillizza’s Substack and YouTube channel.

Read it at Substack