
James Talarico
October 10, 2026 · Newsletter
Your donation is worth at least 3x more than billionaires’ dark money.
$200,000,000. Take a moment and try to conceptualize just how much money that is.
Now understand that Republican super PACs and dark money groups just crossed that spending threshold in Texas’ U.S. Senate race.
And that doesn’t factor in Ken Paxton’s own spending.
It’s staggering to see just how badly billionaires and corporate mega-donors want to defeat our movement. This U.S. Senate seat is worth that much to them for two big reasons.
For one, they know that the Senate majority could come down to Texas. Second, and perhaps most important, they know that our movement flipping this seat would fundamentally change our politics by putting power back in the hands of the people.
I know it feels like it must be impossible for a campaign funded largely by $10 and $25 donations to compete with $200 million. And truthfully, it is not easy.
But we do have an advantage in our corner that helps level the playing field — something that means your donation can have at least 3x the impact.
No, it’s not a match — I swore off the fake triple matches you see from other campaigns.
Here’s how: When political candidates place television ads, we get something called the “Lowest Unit Rate.” That means we pay the lowest rate possible for the ad.
Super PACs...they don’t get that rate. That means one 30-second ad could cost three, four, five, six times as much (or more) as one ad placed by our campaign. For a spot during a recent football game, Paxton’s super PACs paid nine times more than we did.
So yes, $200 million is a ton. They are undoubtedly breaking records on what’ll be spent on a Senate race.
But we don’t have to match them dollar for dollar to get similar reach. And in fact, the more ads we place, the more expensive the super PACs’ rates get.
So every donation you make to us is a double-whammy for Paxton’s super PACs. It puts us one step closer to victory and makes their ads more expensive.
We will be outspent. Even with our advantage, they probably will run more ads than we can. But every dollar that helps close the gap has an outsized impact.