Trump delivers $10 million to Ken Paxton in first major contribution of midterms

President Trump has delivered his first major campaign contribution of the midterms to Texas Senate candidate Ken Paxton. The president is donating $10 million from his MAGA Inc. super PAC to help Paxton, the current Texas attorney general, who is locked in a surprisingly tight race with Democrat James Talarico.

The donation includes $5 million to run negative ads against Talarico and $5 million to run positive ads for Paxton, according to a Federal Election Commission filing on Saturday. Both donations are to Del Ray Media Inc., a political media operation, for both television and digital advertising.

Mr. Trump’s MAGA Inc. committee holds $400 million but had yet to offer a single major donation this midterm cycle.

Securing American Greatness, a nonprofit with ties to Mr. Trump’s super PAC, MAGA Inc., unveiled its first ad to air nationwide. But the ad is focused on the president instead of local congressional candidates, causing some consternation among candidates that the focus of the spending would be on promoting Mr. Trump, even though he’s not actually on the ballot.

“I’ve raised a lot, and nobody knows what it is, but I will tell you it’s about $850 million,” Mr. Trump said before boarding Air Force One to fly to South Carolina on Aug. 21. “I’ll be spending a lot of that money for — and my own money — but I’ll be spending a lot of that money for candidates that I think are good, Republican candidates.”

The only prior donation came in South Carolina. MAGA Inc. donated $827,000 to Sen. Darline Graham’s campaign. Until Graham’s Senate bid, MAGA Inc. had spent only about $18,000 in 2026 on a midterm race. The super PAC spent about $1.7 million last year, and by the end of the second quarter, it had raised $401 million.

Graham is fighting to be reelected for a full term after taking the Senate seat held by her brother, Lindsey Graham, after his death in July.

“Pretend, please, that I’m on the ballot,” the president said Aug. 21 at a rally for Graham in South Carolina. “Come and vote. It’s so important.” 

Paxton has faced regular criticism during his years in office, though he’s still popular among Republicans. He was polling at a 61% approval rate among Republicans in August, according to polling by The Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas at Austin.

Paxton survived an impeachment trial in 2023 over allegations of bribery, dereliction of duty and disregard of official duties. However, during the trial it emerged that Paxton was having an affair, and his wife, a state senator, later filed for divorce.

Talarico is running neck-and-neck with Paxton in most polling even though Texas hasn’t had a Democratic senator in 33 years. He’s endured growing criticism from Mr. Trump in recent weeks. Earlier this week, the president came up with a new nickname for the Senate candidate.

“The name happens to be Tala-freako because he is one of the worst candidates I have ever seen,” Mr. Trump said.

Talarico responded by selling T-shirts with the nickname emblazoned on them.

In: