Sen. John Cornyn has nearly double the war chest of Attorney General Ken Paxton in Texas’ Senate GOP primary after the third fundraising quarter of the year — though in the latest flare-up between the two, neither can agree on which funds count.
Cornyn’s campaign reported a $3.36 million haul from July through September between his official campaign account and his two joint fundraising committees, vehicles that allow candidates to raise money alongside other candidates or organizations and split the profits. Through these committees, Cornyn’s official campaign account raises money alongside supportive PACs and groups like the National Republican Senatorial Committee.
About one-quarter of Cornyn’s fundraising — $910,000 — went directly to his campaign account, with the remaining $2.45 million going to his joint fundraising committees. A portion of that money is ineligible to be transferred to the senior senator’s campaign account because it came from donors who had already given the maximum amount to Cornyn’s campaign allowed by federal contribution limits.
Still, the excess funds could be used to benefit Cornyn’s campaign under a recent strategy — pioneered by Senate GOP leadership’s campaign arm — of using joint fundraising committees to buy television ads at discounted rates typically reserved for individual candidates. The loophole allows committees to run campaign ads on behalf of allied candidates as long as the ads are presented as fundraising pleas, effectively allowing Cornyn’s joint committees to pay for TV ads promoting his candidacy, using money ineligible to be transferred to his campaign account.
Paxton, meanwhile, raised $1.3 million during the third quarter, outpacing Cornyn’s direct six-figure haul. The attorney general accused Cornyn of lying about his fundraising by counting the entire joint fundraising total toward his overall amount.
“Cornyn’s campaign continues to either be really bad at math or really obsessed with trying to deceive Texans,” Paxton said in a statement.
Still, Cornyn had a decisive advantage in the size of his official campaign war chest, reporting about $6 million on hand to Paxton’s $3.2 million. He also outspent Paxton during the third quarter, even without factoring in the more than $660,000 spent by his joint fundraising committees.
“Senator Cornyn is soaring in all available public polling after Ken Paxton’s summer from Hell,” Andy Hemming, Cornyn’s campaign manager, said in a statement. “We are grateful for the generous support of so many patriotic Texans and Americans who strongly believe President Trump needs John Cornyn fighting for their agenda in the U.S. Senate.”
Paxton said his campaign “continues to be powered by grassroots supporters and a growing movement across the state ready for change,” pointing to the more than 13,600 people who donated last quarter.
"I'm continuing to raise historic sums for a primary challenge to a sitting Senator because John Cornyn is a historically bad incumbent, plain and simple,” Paxton said in a statement. “No matter how many tens of millions he spends to deceive voters, Texans won't forget his failed record, his efforts to stop President Trump's border wall, and his betrayal of our 2nd Amendment rights.”
Rep. Wesley Hunt, a Houston Republican who launched his Senate bid last week, raised about $366,000 during the latest quarter, all of which came before he entered the primary fray. He spent some $1.87 million during the three-month period, leaving him with just over $1.5 million in his campaign account.
Hunt’s joint fundraising committee raised an additional $377,000.
Both Cornyn and Paxton’s fundraising totals fell behind what they raised in the second quarter — which began close to their respective launch dates. The Cornyn campaign raised $3.9 million in the second quarter, though only $2.7 million went directly to his campaign between hard dollars and transfers. Paxton raised $2.9 million in the second quarter.
Before his launch, Paxton told Punchbowl News he would need to raise $20 million — between his campaign account and supportive PACs — to defeat Cornyn. Thus far, his campaign has raised $4.2 million, while Lone Star Liberty PAC, a super PAC supporting him, had raised about $1.9 million through the end of June. Fundraising typically picks up as the election date approaches, giving Paxton more time, though he would need to raise larger sums of money in the next two quarters to meet his stated goal.
Cornyn, Hunt and Paxton are competing in a contentious Republican primary, with a Dec. 8 filing deadline rapidly approaching and the March 3 primary less than five months out. Cornyn and Hunt allies have been flooding the airwaves with positive messages about their preferred candidates and — in the case of pro-Cornyn groups — attacks on Paxton. But the Paxton campaign has yet to make any significant ad buys.
The two Democrats competing in the Senate primary far outpaced their Republican counterparts. State Rep. James Talarico raised $6.2 million in the first three weeks of his campaign, with his launch coming at the tailend of the quarter, while former U.S. Rep. Colin Allred brought in $4.1 million over the full three months.
Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Dallas, who has not announced a bid but whose name has been floated for Senate, outraised both Paxton and Hunt as well, with a $2.7 million haul this quarter.
This article first appeared on The Texas Tribune.
