Texas Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico (D) is spending more in his campaign to defeat Republican Ken Paxton than any other contender for a seat in the upper chamber of Congress, while Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-La.) has raised more contributions than any other candidate for the lower chamber, according to USAFacts.

With a week and a day left before voters go to the polls in all 50 states November 3, the 37-year-old member of the Texas House of Representatives “has raised and spent the most money of all candidates so far. As of recent [Federal Election Commission] FEC filings, Talarico has raised $128.8 million and spent around 89% of it: $114.2 million,” USAFacts reports.

Paxton, who is serving his third term as the Lone Star State’s attorney general, has only spent $14.6 million, but Republican and Trump-aligned political action committees are expected to pour up to $300 million into the race to keep Texas in the red column, according to Black Mesa Research Labs (BMRL). Talarico is expected to benefit from an estimated $80 million in spending on his behalf by outside groups.

The most recent survey of Likely Texas voters was conducted between October 21-23 by Rasmussen Reports, which showed the race in a dead heat. Both major party candidates held steady at 45%, and 5% were undecided. A possible spoiler for Paxton’s hopes may be the 5% of respondents who told Rasmussen they plan to vote for Libertarian Party candidate Ted Brown.

When Paxton defeated his GOP primary opponent, incumbent Senator John Cornyn, it marked the end of the latter’s 24-year career in the Senate, the second longest tenure of any Texas senator ever. Cornyn was previously Texas attorney general before his first Senate victory in 2002.

Not since 1988, when Ronald Reagan was in the White House, has a Democrat been elected to the Senate from Texas. Senator Lloyd Bentsen was elected to his fourth term that year and would resign in 1993 to become Secretary of Treasury under newly-elected President Bill Clinton.

Talarico’s totals far outpace the second-most expensive Senate race, which is in Georgia, where incumbent Jon Ossoff appears to be having an easy time of it against Rep. Mike Collins, with Ossoff spending $33.1 million versus only $2.8 million for Collins, Axios reported, based on FEC data.

“FEC filings also show that the campaign of the late Senator Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) is the highest-spending Republican campaign for the 2025?"2026 election cycle, at nearly $22.2 million. This data covers all candidates, including those who have lost primaries or caucuses, withdrawn their candidacies, or, in Senator Graham's case, passed away during the campaign. Incumbent Senator Susan Collins (R-Maine) is the second-highest spending Republican candidate, at nearly $18.6 million,” USAFacts said.

Looking at campaign advertising spending alone, it appears the total expenditure by all federal and nonfederal candidates will exceed $11.6 billion, making it at least 30% higher than the previous midterm contests in 2022. That compares to the $8.9 billion in campaign advertising bought in 2022 and just under $4 billion in 2018. Not included in those spending totals are candidate committee expenditures for staffing, travel, polling, fundraising, and field operations.

In House races, USAFacts points to Maryland’s 6th Congressional District as the race with the highest total, thanks to a heated and costly Democratic primary in which the incumbent, Rep. April McClain Delaney, defeated perennial Democratic congressional seeker David Trone. Trone won the same seat in 2018 and served three full terms in the House, but opted not to seek a fourth term.

“House candidates have spent a combined total of $1.83 billion. Maryland’s 6th District is where the most money is flowing. Candidates there have spent a combined $38.7 million. Most of that spending was by Democratic challenger David Trone ($25 million) and Democratic incumbent April McClain Delaney ($12.4 million),” USAFacts observed.

The intense Michigan Senate contest pitts Democratic nominee Abdul El-Sayed, who is backed by members of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), against former Rep. Mike Rogers, who served seven terms from the state’s 8th congressional district before losing the 2024 Senate contest to Elisa Slotkin, who has also served in the House.

In the 2026 race, which has received media coverage comparable to that of the Texas contest, Rogers and El-Sayed have together spent more than $215 million, with nearly $145 million of that going for the GOPer and more than $75 million for El-Sayed.

The most recent Insider Advantage poll, conducted October 21-22 among 1,200 Likely Voters, showed the race in a dead heat, with El-Sayed at 47% and Rogers at 46%. The survey has a 2.83% margin of error.