James Talarico says he’s raised $27 million in first three months of 2026, part of Democratic fundraising surge | CNN Politics

Texas Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico announced a first-quarter fundraising haul of more than $27 million on Wednesday, among the largest totals reported by a US Senate candidate. Talarico, a state representative and Presbyterian seminarian, won the Democratic nomination in March over US Rep. Jasmine Crockett. His campaign said he has raised $10 million since the March 3 primary. Democrats are hoping Talarico will be able to put reliably red Texas in play at the statewide level as they face a tough national map for Senate control that would require them to net four seats. The Democratic state representative will face the winner of a May 26 runoff in the Republican primary between incumbent Sen. John Cornyn and state Attorney General Ken Paxton. Talarico’s campaign has drawn comparisons to former Rep. Beto O’Rourke’s 2018 bid against Republican Sen. Ted Cruz, in which O’Rourke raised then record-sums and galvanized state Democrats, ultimately losing to Cruz by less than three points. In the first quarter of that election year, O’Rourke had raised $6.8 million, and he went on to raise a total of $80 million for the race. No Democrat has won statewide in Texas in