Democrats spent months telling Texans that Ken Paxton was finished.
Now Trump's billion-dollar war chest just showed up – and the only question is how much more is coming.
Donald Trump’s PAC just committed $10 million to the Texas Senate race – and suddenly "High Tax Talarico" has a very big problem.
The Man Who Wants to Tax Everything You Own
James Talarico has been running across Texas pretending he cares about affordability.
His record tells a different story – and MAGA Inc. just paid $10 million to make sure every Texan hears it.
Talarico voted against banning a state income tax in 2019.
He voted against permanently banning death taxes on farms and family businesses in 2025 – a measure 72 percent of Texas voters then approved at the ballot box.
Now he's running for the U.S. Senate on a platform that includes hiking payroll taxes, raising the capital gains rate, and lifting the payroll tax cap in a way that would impose a combined federal rate of 53.2 percent on certain earners.
https://twitter.com/TRUMPGIRL_STL/status/2096755715998110196?s=20
Americans for Tax Reform found that the people who would get crushed first are small business owners, independent contractors, and the self-employed – the exact voters Talarico claims to be fighting for.
He has not tried to hide any of this.
"I've told every wealthy person I've come across in this race," Talarico said recently, "if you are okay with getting taxed more… you are welcome to join this movement that we are building."
That is the Democrat running for Senate in a state with no income tax – and he wants to change both of those things.
Why Trump Moved Now – and What the $10 Million Actually Signals
The $5 million supporting Paxton and $5 million attacking Talarico mark MAGA Inc.'s first serious midterm investment of the 2026 cycle.
Before this week, the group had spent roughly $18,000 on midterm contests this year – barely enough to run a county commissioner's race.
The jump from $18,000 to $10 million overnight is not a campaign ad buy.
It is a statement.
MAGA Inc. holds more than $400 million in cash on hand, and Trump said Friday the group could deploy between $400 million and $500 million before November.
https://twitter.com/Newsforce/status/2096997280683323874?s=20
Texas just got the first check.
Republicans hold a 53-47 Senate majority, and Texas is the race that could either cement that advantage or blow it open for Democrats.
Talarico knocked off Jasmine Crockett in the March primary and has had the airwaves largely to himself since summer – running up a fundraising advantage that had Republicans nervous.
That is over now.
Trump did not just send money to Texas – he sent a signal to every Senate race on the board that the war chest is open and the cavalry is coming.
Trump Is Spending Early and That Is the Part Democrats Should Fear Most
In 2022, MAGA Inc. spent $19 million across the midterms – spread thin across five Senate states, arriving late, moving races but not enough to flip the chamber.
Trump just changed the playbook.
He is putting $10 million into Texas in September – eight weeks before Election Day – while Talarico still has time to be defined rather than defended.
That is the strategic shift nobody is talking about.
Early money shapes how voters see a candidate before they have made up their minds.
Late money tries to change minds that are already set.
https://twitter.com/ytorbitwyn/status/2097206544186454136?s=20
Trump is not trying to save Texas in October.
He is burying "High Tax Talarico" in September, when the definition still sticks.
Democrats can raise all the money they want in response.
They cannot un-ring the bell on a voting record that says no to income tax bans, no to death tax bans, and yes to a 53 percent federal rate – in Texas, of all places.
Trump just gave every Texan with a paycheck and a family farm $10 million worth of reasons to remember that in November.
Sources:
- Alex Pfeiffer, MAGA Inc., quoted in "Trump's First Major Midterm Money Move," Breitbart, September 5, 2026.
- "List of Talarico Tax Hikes," Americans for Tax Reform, August 2026.
- "Talarico's Dangerous Record on Taxes," Texans for Fiscal Responsibility, March 17, 2026.
- "Texas Democrat James Talarico Campaigns on Raising Taxes," Breitbart, August 31, 2026.
- "Trump's PAC Wades Into Midterms With $10 Million Ad Buy to Boost Ken Paxton," Breitbart, September 5, 2026.