Ken Paxton, the Republican Texas Senate nominee, announced a new $20 million ad buy in the state ahead of November’s crucial election.
The ad — which will begin running Friday in Houston, Dallas, Austin and San Antonio before expanding statewide — is one of the largest-ever single media investments in a Texas Senate race.
“This major media buy is about one thing: making sure every Texan in every corner of this state knows exactly what’s at stake in this race,” said Nick Maddux, senior strategist for the Paxton campaign, in a statement. “We built this campaign to go up early, stay up, and never go dark, and that’s exactly what we’re doing.”
The Senate race between Paxton, Texas’ attorney general, and Democratic state Rep. James Talarico is quickly becoming one of the most expensive races in the history of the Lone Star state. Earlier this month, AdImpact found collective spending on advertising by the two campaigns and supporting groups totaled more than $153 million.
The Senate Leadership Fund, a top GOP super PAC closely aligned with Senate Majority Leader John Thune, has committed millions to Paxton. Meanwhile, Senate Majority PAC, aligned with Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, announced only Tuesday it would begin running ads hitting Paxton, though the PAC did not provide a figure for the campaign.
Still, Talarico has garnered support through other means. He raised a record-breaking $30 million from April to June.
The race remains tight. Recent polls show Talarico up by anywhere from 1 to 6 percentage points over Paxton.
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