Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) is launching a new political action committee aimed at helping Democratic Senate nominee James Talarico in his bid to flip the reliably Republican Texas Senate seat in November.
The PAC, called Texas Forever, is affiliated with Schumer’s Senate Majority PAC, the main super PAC aligned with Senate Democrats.
Talarico is facing Republican nominee Ken Paxton, the state’s attorney general, in a race that Democrats hope could break a decadeslong Republican hold on Texas. Lloyd Bentsen was the last Democrat elected to the U.S. Senate from Texas, winning reelection in 1988.
Talarico has also notched above Paxton across multiple polls in recent weeks. One analysis showed that Talarico posted larger leads in recent polls than Beto O’Rourke ever held over Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) during his 2018 bid, when O’Rourke came within roughly 2 percentage points of defeating Cruz, according to a Texas Tribune analysis.
Talarico has also built a significant financial advantage over Paxton. His campaign raised $31.6 million during the second quarter and raised $72 million since the beginning of 2025, compared with $16.8 million for Paxton.
The Democratic nominee has sought to distinguish himself from the national Democratic Party on both style and policy, including taking a harder line on immigration than former President Joe Biden and saying he would work with President Donald Trump on the issue.
Talarico has also told voters he is “indebted to the oil and gas industry,” a key part of the Texas economy.
Paxton, meanwhile, is attempting to close the gap with the help of national Republicans and Trump-aligned groups.
MAGA Inc., the political group aligned with Trump, announced a $10 million television, streaming, and digital advertising buy for Paxton in September, which marked its first major expenditure of the general election.
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Since then, Republican outside spending in the race has grown dramatically. The Senate Leadership Fund, the main outside group aligned with Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD), increased its planned advertising investment in Texas to $100 million. Republican groups had spent roughly $103 million on advertising in Texas during September as of Sept. 22, compared with about $22 million by Talarico.
Paxton’s campaign has also faced scrutiny over his political record and past controversies, including his 2023 impeachment trial in the Texas House, which ended with his acquittal by the state Senate. His fundraising has also lagged significantly behind Talarico’s, although national Republican groups have stepped in to help close the financial gap.