Dark Money Floods Texas U.S. Senate Primary Races as Donors Remain Anonymous

Feb 20, 2026

Anonymous "dark money" is flooding the Texas U.S. Senate primaries, with campaign finance reports revealing millions from undisclosed donors funding super PACs. Groups are supporting and opposing candidates like Democrats James Talarico and Jasmine Crockett, and Republicans Wesley Hunt and Ken Paxton. The anonymous funding has led to accusations of hypocrisy, particularly against Democrats who publicly oppose such spending.

Texas Senate primary dark money

▪Campaign finance reports show that big-money interests are heavily invested in the Texas primaries but are unwilling to reveal their identities.
▪The Texas U.S. Senate primary races are being heavily funded by "dark money" from political nonprofits not legally required to disclose their donors.

Super PAC donor anonymity

▪A super PAC supporting Democrat James Talarico, Lone Star Rising PAC, reported $6.1 million in contributions between Jan. 1 and Feb. 11, 2026.
▪A super PAC supporting Jasmine Crockett, Texas Forward, began spending too late to be required to disclose its donors before the March 3 primary.
▪Over half of Lone Star Rising PAC's funding ($3.75 million) came from Government That Works PAC, which was funded by the dark-money hub Sixteen Thirty Fund.
▪A group supporting Republican Wesley Hunt, Fighting For Texas, raised $690,000 entirely from Standing for Texas, a nonprofit that does not disclose donors.

Democratic campaign finance hypocrisy

▪The use of anonymous funding is politically sensitive for Democratic candidates like James Talarico, who campaign on platforms to remove big money from politics.
▪James Talarico has criticized dark money but said he would not "universally disarm" in response to questions about super PACs supporting his campaign.
▪After a pro-Talarico group ran negative ads, Rep. Jasmine Crockett's campaign released a statement suggesting he was a hypocrite.

Republican donor transparency

▪The second-largest donor to the pro-Paxton super PAC was Preserve Texas Inc., a dark-money group.
▪A pro-Ken Paxton super PAC's top individual donor was Midland oilman Douglas Scharbauer, who gave $250,000.
▪A super PAC supporting Sen. John Cornyn received $2.9 million from Houston businessman John Nau.

Federal coordination rules

▪A Talarico campaign spokesman stated the campaign had "no involvement" with advertising from a supporting super PAC.
▪Talarico's spokesman, JT Ennis, said that if elected, James Talarico would fight to ban super PACs.
▪Federal law prohibits campaigns and super PACs from coordinating their activities.