Both Republican candidates lagged far behind Democratic candidate James Talarico.
Sen. John Cornyn outraised Attorney General Ken Paxton by fourfold in the first quarter of 2026, a key period that encompassed the Senate Republican primary and the beginning of the runoff between them.
As in past quarters, Cornyn’s fundraising apparatus — which includes his campaign committee and two joint fundraising committees with entities like the National Republican Senatorial Committee — outpaced Paxton’s.
Cornyn raised about $9 million and had nearly $8.2 million in cash on hand across the accounts under his control, according to his first quarter campaign finance reports. The Cornyn campaign said that $3.4 million of that haul was raised in the weeks after the March 3 primary.
“The Cornyn campaign continues performing at a high level, building off the overperformance in the March 3rd primary to announcing a massive fundraising haul in the first quarter of 2026,” Cornyn campaign manager Andy Hemming said in a statement.
The senior senator collected checks from a number of notable Texas politicos and business figures, including former President George W. Bush, operative Karl Rove and former Texas House Speaker Joe Straus.
The Cornyn campaign spent over $17 million across its committees in the first quarter.
Paxton raised about $2.2 million across his campaign committee and a new joint fundraising committee, according to campaign finance filings. He has over $2.6 million in cash on hand across the two accounts.
“The people of Texas are ready for change, and the strength of our movement is a testament to that,” Paxton said in a statement. “My campaign will be entering the May runoff in an even stronger financial position than we did in March, and we will continue to highlight John Cornyn’s record of failing Texans.
But Paxton, whose fundraising efforts had decreased each quarter since his launch last April, brought in his biggest haul since spring 2025, when he entered the race.
Across his campaign committee and joint fundraising committee, Paxton spent about $3.2 million in the first quarter.
After the March 3 primary, a neck-and-neck contest in which Cornyn received 42% to Paxton’s 41%, Paxton built out a more robust fundraising operation, including a joint committee with Lone Star Liberty PAC, the main super PAC supporting him, and a leadership PAC.
Both Cornyn and Paxton’s fundraising efforts paled in comparison to the Democratic nominee, State Rep. James Talarico. Talarico raised $27 million in the first quarter, triple what Cornyn raised. And while the two Republicans will need to continue spending the money they’ve raised to beat one another, Talarico — having won his primary — can focus on fundraising and building up his war chest for the general.
In the battle of allied super PACs, the biggest pro-Cornyn spender, Texans for a Conservative Majority, bested Lone Star Liberty PAC, the main organization supporting Paxton.
The pro-Cornyn PAC raised about $9.5 million in the first quarter, while the pro-Paxton PAC took in about $2.1 million.
Several prolific donors to the pro-Cornyn super PAC gave more money after the primary, including Houston businessman John Nau. Nau gave another $1 million to the PAC, bringing his total for the cycle to $3.9 million.
Texans for a Conservative Majority also went into the final two months of the runoff with more than double the war chest of its pro-Paxton counterpart, with nearly $2.9 million in cash on hand to Lone Star Liberty PAC’s about $1 million.
Conservative Texans PAC, a group that spent in the run-up to the primary against dark horse candidate Wesley Hunt and has since been spending in support of Cornyn, raised over $5 million in the first quarter and has about $1.95 million in cash on hand.
All of the group’s funding comes from an organization called Conservative Americans PAC, which itself receives all of its funding from a nonprofit that does not need to disclose its donors.
Spending is expected to ramp up in the final six weeks of the runoff, as Cornyn and Paxton finally have the head-to-head contest they’ve been building towards for over a year. In the primary, Cornyn used his financial advantage — and well-heeled allies — to overcome an early polling deficit.
Airing mostly positive ads beginning last summer, Texans saw over $70 million in pro-Cornyn spending throughout the primary, compared to just $4.4 million for Paxton. PACs in both the Cornyn and Paxton camps spent late against Hunt to drive down his vote share.
But with Hunt out of the way, the runoff spending thus far has been largely negative attack ads against Paxton from the pro-Cornyn PAC.
Source: Gabby Birenbaum,
Photo Credit: From left: U.S. Sen. John Cornyn and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton will face off in a runoff. The Texas Tribune
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