Trump’s PAC wades into midterms with $10 million ad buy to boost Ken Paxton

Brandon Bell/Getty Images/File

President Donald Trump’s super PAC has started spending its massive war chest on the midterm elections, disclosing ad buys totaling $10 million in support of Texas Senate candidate Ken Paxton.

Republicans had long awaited action from MAGA Inc., growing anxious over being outspent in tough races that could determine which party controls Congress. Paxton is in a tight contest against Democrat James Talarico, who had the airwaves largely to himself for weeks this summer.

MAGA Inc. had more than $400 million in cash on hand at the end of July. On Friday, Trump vowed to spend as much as $500 million in outside money that he oversees.

“We’re going to spend a lot of money because we don’t want to lose our country,” he told reporters in the Oval Office.

One of the first pro-Paxton ads from MAGA Inc. casts the Republican as confronting the rising costs Texans face with proposals to reduce their tax bills.

“High Tax Talarico wants to take money out of Texans’ pockets,” MAGA, Inc. spokesman Alex Pfeiffer said in a statement on Saturday. “MAGA Inc. is going to ensure Texas knows about Talarico’s radical policies and elects Ken Paxton to the U.S. Senate.”

Together with new spending from a super PAC aligned with billionaire Elon Musk, a wave of Republican cash to aid Paxton could change the contours of a race critical to the GOP’s hopes of retaining control of the chamber after November’s midterm elections. Democrats need to net just four seats to win the Senate majority.

The influx of money from MAGA Inc. to help Paxton comes just days before Republicans are scheduled to convene in Texas for a one-of-a-kind midterm convention aimed at engaging GOP voters.

Trump’s decision earlier this year to back Paxton over incumbent Sen. John Cornyn in the primary election had raised concerns about the high price of making the controversial Paxton more appealing to voters in the general election.

Paxton, who currently serves as Texas’ attorney general, has faced a long list of scandals over the years, including a 2023 impeachment vote by the state House of Representatives over allegations of bribery and corruption. The state Senate later acquitted him of all the charges. Late last month, Talarico, a Texas state representative, unveiled his first negative ad about Paxton, attacking him over the allegations of corruption.

CNN previously reported that the National Republican Senatorial Committee and the Senate Leadership Fund, both of which strongly backed Cornyn in the primary, had looked to MAGA Inc. to take the lead in backing Paxton in the general election.

Brandon Bell/Getty Images/文件

唐纳德·特朗普总统的超级政治行动委员会已开始将其庞大的竞选资金用于中期选举，并披露了总计 1000 万美元的广告购买，以支持德克萨斯州参议员候选人肯·帕克斯顿。

共和党人一直期待着“让美国再次伟大”（MAGA）组织采取行动，他们越来越担心在可能决定国会控制权的激烈选战中，共和党的竞选经费会落后于对手。帕克斯顿正与民主党候选人詹姆斯·塔拉里科展开激烈角逐，塔拉里科在今年夏天曾连续数周几乎独占媒体宣传资源。

截至7月底，MAGA公司拥有超过4亿美元的现金储备。周五，特朗普誓言要动用他掌控的高达5亿美元的外部资金。

“我们将投入大量资金，因为我们不想失去我们的国家，”他在椭圆形办公室告诉记者。

MAGA Inc. 发布的首批支持帕克斯顿的广告之一，将这位共和党人描绘成正在应对德克萨斯州不断上涨的生活成本，并提出减少税收的方案。

“高税收的塔拉里科想从德州人的口袋里掏钱，”MAGA公司发言人亚历克斯·普费弗周六在一份声明中说。“MAGA公司将确保德州人民了解塔拉里科的激进政策，并选举肯·帕克斯顿进入美国参议院。”

加上与亿万富翁埃隆·马斯克结盟的超级政治行动委员会的新支出，共和党向帕克斯顿投入的大量资金可能会改变这场对共和党能否在11月中期选举后保住参议院控制权至关重要的竞选格局。民主党只需净增四个席位即可赢得参议院多数席位。

MAGA Inc. 向帕克斯顿提供的资金涌入，正值共和党人计划在德克萨斯州召开一次史无前例的中期选举大会之际，此次大会旨在争取共和党选民的支持。

今年早些时候，特朗普决定在初选中支持帕克斯顿而不是现任参议员约翰·科宁，这引发了人们的担忧，即为了让有争议的帕克斯顿在普选中更受选民欢迎，代价可能非常高昂。

现任德克萨斯州总检察长的帕克斯顿多年来丑闻缠身，其中包括2023年州众议院因涉嫌受贿和腐败而发起的弹劾投票。州参议院后来宣布他所有指控均不成立。上月底，德克萨斯州众议员塔拉里科发布了他针对帕克斯顿的第一则负面竞选广告，抨击他涉嫌腐败。

CNN 此前报道称，在初选中大力支持科宁的全国共和党参议员委员会和参议院领导基金，都希望 MAGA 公司能在普选中带头支持帕克斯顿。