Reported by Al Jazeera
Over half a billion dollars have been spent on the Talarico-Paxton race for US Senate, which has been dominated by voter affordability concerns.
Houston, Texas, the US – Texas voters have begun casting ballots in a consequential US Senate race that has already become the most expensive in United States history.
All told, at least $573.2m had been poured into support for both Republican candidate Ken Paxton and Democratic candidate James Talarico ahead of the Tuesday, November 3 vote.
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The figure has included at least $212m to support Paxton from billionaire Elon Musk, whose SpaceX company is based in southern Texas .
The sum made voters of varying political persuasions queasy as they cast their ballots in a race that has been defined by affordability issues.
“That kind of money is being spent on the wrong stuff,” said Rico Sanchez, a 40-year-old union sheet metal worker who voted for Democrats based on the sky-high cost of living.
Kasey Blanco, a 21-year-old who split his ballot, voting for Republican Governor Greg Abbott and Democratic US Senate candidate Talarico, echoed the sentiment.
“It’s kind of scary,” he said. “You see the extent that a lot of these politicians are trying to get into the game and distort the view.”
Political power “should be from the people, by the people”, Blanco said.
The record spending has included both funds raised by the campaigns, as well as outside spending.
Talarico has outpaced Paxton in campaign funding, raising $155m to Paxton’s $40m. Federal law limits fundraising from individual donors, who must identify themselves.
Separately, a huge amount of money has poured in via political action committees called super PACs, which can spend an unlimited amount in support of a candidate but cannot directly coordinate with campaigns.
Paxton has been the largest beneficiary of such spending, including $168m from Musk to the Senate Leadership Fund, which has gone almost completely to supporting the Republican candidate, according to a New York Times analysis.
The newspaper estimated that Musk, who briefly and controversially led US President Donald Trump’s federal cost-cutting panel, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), had…