Crockett raised about $2 million between her Dec. 8 campaign launch and year’s end, about one-third of Talarico’s haul over the first three weeks of his Senate bid.
State Rep. James Talarico began 2026 armed with about $1.5 million more than U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett as the two compete to be the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in the March 3 primary.
Talarico, who announced his Senate bid on Sept. 9, entered the year with over $7.1 million in cash on hand, according to campaign finance disclosures filed Saturday. Crockett, D-Dallas, had $5.6 million at year’s end, after launching her campaign Dec. 8.
Talarico, D-Austin, narrowly outraised Crockett, bringing in nearly $6.9 million to Crockett’s $6.5 million over the last three months of the year, the period covered by the reports. But Talarico’s advantage of being a declared candidate for the entire quarter and Crockett’s ability to transfer funds from her House campaign account makes a direct comparison difficult.
Saturday’s deadline marked the first time Crockett is disclosing her fundraising and spending activity since she jumped into the race on the last day for candidates to file for Texas’ 2026 primaries.
She was a prolific fundraiser as a member of the U.S. House before she launched her Senate bid, raising $6.5 million from January through September of last year and funneling tens of thousands of dollars to fellow Democratic candidates and groups.
Crockett transferred about $4.5 million from her House account to her Senate campaign. She otherwise raised just over $2 million in new donations to her Senate account in the three weeks between her launch and the end of the fourth quarter. Additionally, she took in more than $1.3 million to her House campaign, most of which came from donations before her Senate launch.
Talarico raised a massive $6.2 million in September during the first three weeks of his campaign, roughly triple Crockett’s haul over about the same span in December. He previously announced his additional nearly $7 million haul from the last three months of 2025, noting that almost all his donations — 98% — were for $100 or less.
In the roughly three weeks after Crockett’s campaign launch and before the end of the quarter, Talarico saw a surge in fundraising and ultimately outraised her by $1 million during that period, he announced in a Sunday press release.
“We are running a people-powered campaign, not one funded by corporate PACs,” Talarico, who has sworn off corporate PAC donations, said in a statement. “I am proud to have received small dollar contributions from working people in nearly every county in this state because big money is powerful, but it’s nothing compared to people power.”
Though he is not accepting corporate PAC donations and is running against the influence of billionaire donors in politics, Talarico has come under fire for previously taking donations from GOP megadonor Miriam Adelson. The Las Vegas Sands mogul gave to numerous lawmakers in the state Legislature in her bid to legalize casinos in Texas, and Talarico has said he accepted the cash because he supports the cause for its tax revenue.
Crockett transferred at least $30,500 in contributions from corporate PACs — including groups affiliated with Cardinal Health, Southwest Airlines and CVS Health — from her House account to her Senate fund.
The new fundraising numbers suggest that both Democrats are poised for multimillion-dollar spending blitzes in the final weeks of the primary, which the latest public poll showed was a dead heat. Early voting begins Feb. 17.
Crockett, who has yet to make any meaningful TV ad buys, spent around $911,000 over the first three weeks of her Senate campaign, while Talarico burned through about $4.7 million over the entire fourth quarter.
Since then, Talarico has embarked on a TV ad buying spree as he looks to narrow Crockett’s advantage in name recognition. The Austin Democrat, who began the race as an unknown to most primary voters, has spent $6.6 million on advertising across broadcast, cable, digital and streaming platforms, including to reserve future airtime, according to AdImpact, a media tracking firm.
That total does not appear to capture the bulk of the nearly $850,000 that Lone Star Rising, a super PAC that backs Talarico, reported spending on pro-Talarico media buys in campaign filings this week with the Federal Election Commission. The group is backed by large donations from Austin philanthropist Simone Coxe, Houston billionaire Susan Sarofim, IntraFi CEO Mark Jacobsen, Houston restaurateur Pete McCarthy and musician Don Henley. On Saturday, the PAC reported spending another $84,000 on direct mail for Talarico, bringing their total outlay to nearly $930,000.
Crockett, meanwhile, has not yet spent on broadcast or cable TV, focusing her advertising so far on digital platforms and streaming services, where she has dropped about $481,000 promoting her campaign, according to AdImpact.
Talarico’s campaign has devoted the majority of its ad spending — nearly $3.5 million — to broadcast TV, airing spots that tout his support for public education and efforts to cap out-of-pocket insulin costs in the Legislature.
Both Crockett and Talarico significantly outraised their Republican counterparts — at least in a direct comparison of campaign accounts. Sen. John Cornyn, Attorney General Ken Paxton and U.S. Rep. Wesley Hunt each raised between $1 million and $1.2 million. But Cornyn, who has the backing of Senate Republican leadership, does the bulk of his fundraising through joint committees with PACs and groups like the National Republican Senatorial Committee, which can operate similarly to Cornyn’s campaign committee by booking advertising at the discounted rate offered to candidates.
Between his campaign and two joint committees, Cornyn raised over $7 million, slightly edging the Democratic candidates.
Disclosure: Las Vegas Sands Corporation has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune’s journalism. Find a complete list of them here.
Source: Kayla Guo and ,
Photo Credit: State Rep. James Talarico, left, and U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett, Democratic primary candidates for U.S. Senate, participate in a debate at the Texas AFL-CIO COPE Convention in Georgetown on Jan. 24, 2026. Bob Daemmrich for The Texas Tribune via POOL
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