Overview
- MAGA Inc. disclosed a $10 million television and digital ad buy in an FEC filing that was reported over the weekend of Sept. 5, splitting roughly $5 million to promote Republican Ken Paxton and $5 million to attack Democrat James Talarico.
- The initial ads, placed on connected-TV and digital platforms, focus on tax policy by touting Paxton’s tax proposals and accusing Talarico of supporting tax increases.
- Elon Musk’s America PAC has also made independent expenditures for Paxton, with reports identifying several hundred thousand dollars to more than $1 million in early spending for the race.
- Talarico has a clear fundraising and ad-spend advantage after outraising Paxton through the summer, and polls and trackers show the contest as a toss-up despite Paxton’s boost from Trump and outside groups.
- The buy marks MAGA Inc.’s first major general-election outlay this cycle from a group with roughly $400 million on hand and follows public pleas from Senate Republicans for Trump to commit resources, meaning more national spending could shape the closing weeks and voter exposure in Texas’s costly media market.