Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's attempt to unseat Republican Sen. John Cornyn is sputtering financially, with major donors who previously bankrolled his campaigns now sitting on the sidelines — a striking display of the deep fracture within the Republican Party between its business-oriented establishment and its hard-right MAGA base, writes the New York Times' Lauren McGaughy.
According to her analysis, Paxton has fallen dramatically short of his fundraising goals. He claimed last year he would need about $20 million to mount a credible challenge to Cornyn, but he's raising far less than anticipated as he "struggles" to rake in donations.
Many of the wealthy donors who built Paxton's political career in Texas have decided to watch from the sidelines. Several businessmen who spent millions supporting his state attorney general campaigns have not contributed to either his Senate campaign or the political action committee backing his run.
Most strikingly, the Times is reporting, the billionaire West Texas oilmen and far-right kingmakers who have long backed Paxton have spent little on his Senate run. Over the last five years, Tim Dunn and brothers Farris and Dan Wilks gave Paxton more than $1 million directly or through their political action committees. But only Dan Wilks has contributed to the Senate campaign, throwing the candidate just $7,000. Dunn has spent millions in other federal races instead.
One prominent Texas donor, Alex Fairly, explained the calculus bluntly to McGaughy, stating, "It's more a matter of saving my bullets for the general," the Amarillo businessman said. "Winning in November is more important."
Fairly gave only $7,000 to Paxton's Senate campaign — far less than the $300,000 he has contributed to Paxton's state campaigns since 2021.
The fundraising disparity is stark as Cornyn has significantly outspent Paxton and still had $11 million in his campaign and committee accounts as of the latest filing — three times as much as Paxton had on hand. In total, Paxton has raised only around $13.5 million between his campaign and supporting committee.
The money gap reflects a fundamental split in the Republican Party. Business-oriented conservatives prefer the establishment-aligned Cornyn, while Paxton represents the pugnacious politics of the MAGA movement — a divide that's playing out in real time through donor behavior.
