Trailing in Cash, Paxton Leans on Trump for Texas Senate Bid

Texas Republican Senate nominee Ken Paxton is turning to President Donald Trump to rescue a lagging fundraising operation, with the president set to headline an August 27 fundraiser for Paxton in Houston, a source confirmed to ABC News. The event could generate millions of dollars for a campaign that has trailed its Democratic opponent for months.

With less than three months until the general election, Paxton is trailing where Republican Sen. John Cornyn's fundraising totals stood at an equivalent point in his 2020 campaign by more than $13 million, according to an ABC News analysis of Federal Election Commission reports. Paxton defeated Cornyn in Texas' May runoff.

Paxton also trails Democratic state Rep. James Talarico by more than $59 million, the latest FEC filings show. At the end of June, Talarico had raised around $68.6 million, compared with $9.2 million for Paxton, allowing the Democrat to run attack ads Paxton could struggle to answer.

Paxton had fewer than 4,200 unique individual donors from January through June, compared with more than 6,200 for Cornyn over the same period in 2020. Multiple Cornyn donors told ABC News they were put off by Paxton's history of controversies, including a 2015 securities fraud charge resolved in 2024 through a pre-trial agreement requiring $300,000 in restitution, and a 2023 impeachment by the Texas House on which he was later acquitted by the state Senate.

An August Texas Pulse poll found Paxton underwater among likely voters, with 40% favorable and 52% unfavorable, and 55% calling him corrupt. The same poll showed Talarico leading Paxton 47% to 43%, within the margin of error.

Paxton's campaign has sent fundraising emails with subject lines like "This is bad. Very bad!" A campaign spokesperson, Madison Cercy, said reports of donor disengagement are false and that most of the campaign's fundraising came in the month after the runoff win. At least 20 Senate Republicans co-hosted a Washington fundraiser for Paxton in late July.

Democrats have not won a statewide race in Texas since 1994, but higher Democratic turnout in the March primary has led operatives in both parties to say the race could be competitive this fall.