WASHINGTON — MAGA Inc., the super PAC aligned with President Trump, disclosed a $10 million ad buy in the Texas Senate race Saturday, its first major expenditure of the 2026 midterms and the opening act of a general-election push Trump has said could reach $400 million to $500 million.

The filing with the Federal Election Commission splits the money evenly, $5 million for ads attacking Democratic state Rep. James Talarico and $5 million for ads promoting Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. The buy lands after weeks of pressure from Senate Republicans on Trump's political operation to engage in a race the party cannot afford to lose, and three days after the president pledged to campaign in 35 races before November.

The money gap

Talarico has raised $72 million since his campaign began, mostly from small donors, compared with $16.8 million by Paxton, according to the Texas Tribune. Advertising in Texas costs about $8 million a week, Senate Majority Leader John Thune said last week on Fox News' "The Story," meaning Saturday's buy covers roughly nine days of statewide airtime. Both halves will run through Del Ray Media Inc., a political media firm handling television and digital placements, according to the FEC filing.

"Their resources need to be brought to bear on Texas because it's not one that we can lose if we're going to hang on to a Republican majority," Thune said.

Paxton's baggage

Paxton beat Sen. John Cornyn in a late-May primary runoff after Trump endorsed the attorney general in the campaign's final days. Some Cornyn allies have since argued Paxton will struggle in a general election. Paxton was impeached by the Republican-led Texas House in 2023 on charges of bribery, dereliction of duty and disregard of official duties; the state Senate acquitted him after a trial that surfaced an extramarital affair. Last year his wife, state Sen. Angela Paxton, filed for divorce "on biblical grounds ... in light of recent discoveries." Paxton nonetheless polled at 61 percent approval among Texas Republicans in August, according to the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas at Austin.

What the ads say

The two anti-Talarico spots hit his positions on taxes and rural hospitals; the pro-Paxton ads tout his support for doubling the child tax credit, tax breaks for medical expenses and a $50,000 first-time-homebuyer deduction. MAGA Inc. spokesman Alex Pfeiffer said in a statement, "High Tax Talarico wants to take money out of Texans' pockets. MAGA Inc. is going to ensure Texas knows about Talarico's radical policies and elects Ken Paxton to the U.S. Senate."

Talarico's answer

The Talarico campaign framed the buy as an admission of weakness. "Billionaire-backed dark money groups are lying about James Talarico because they're scared of the people-powered movement we're building to fix this broken, corrupt political system," it told Fox News Digital. Talarico is running neck and neck with Paxton in most polling despite Texas having gone 33 years without electing a Democratic senator, and his cash edge and small-donor base mean he can answer on air without waiting for a super PAC. Trump has taken to calling the Democrat "Tala-freako"; the Talarico campaign responded by selling T-shirts printed with the nickname.

The Republican midterm convention opens in Dallas on Wednesday. MAGA Inc., which spent about $1.7 million last year, held roughly $400 million in reserve as of its July 31 fundraising report.