GOP Sen. Ted Cruz said on Monday that the race for Texas’ other Senate seat will be a “$200 million” fight, outlining the road ahead for Republicans as state Attorney General Ken Paxton faces off against state Rep. James Talarico in the closely watched contest.
“I think we’re going to win this race, but it is a real fight,” Cruz said on “CBS Mornings.”
Paxton and Talarico have been facing off since the GOP primary runoff in late May, where the right-wing Texas attorney general defeated the incumbent, Sen. John Cornyn, a prolific fundraiser who has represented Texas in the Senate since 2002. With Paxton’s primary victory over the more moderate Cornyn, many Republicans have conceded that the race would become more expensive, despite their confidence that the GOP will hold onto the seat.
Asked by CBS News’ Major Garrett whether it would be a $100 million fight in Texas, Cruz said “$200 million.”
“It’s going to be expensive,” Cruz added.
The Texas Republican said he’ll be campaigning with Paxton, along with boosting the GOP candidate with funding from his super PAC, after an ugly intraparty fight in the Republican primary, which became the most expensive primary in history and put Senate GOP leaders at odds with President Trump, who delivered a last-minute endorsement of Paxton.
“Ken Paxton just came out of a rough primary,” Cruz said. “When you face that many attack ads, you’re a little bit bruised. I mean, that’s just the nature of politics.”
Talarico had also faced a primary challenger, Rep. Jasmine Crockett, but the race did not go to a runoff.
The general election is expected to be among the most expensive Senate races in the country, and could be key to determining control of the Senate. Republicans currently control 53 seats in the upper chamber, meaning Democrats would need to flip four seats, while defending a handful of others, to secure the majority.
Although Texas hasn’t elected a Democrat to the Senate since 1988, Democrats are hoping they have a winning candidate in Talarico, a Presbyterian seminarian who calls himself a progressive Christian. Meanwhile, Republicans have railed against the Democrat for previous comments he’s made on issues like veganism and gender, and Cruz said earlier this year that the Democrat is “absolutely extreme.” But the nonpartisan Cook Political Report shifted its rating of the race from likely Republican to leaning Republican after Paxton’s victory, and then last week, from leaning Republican to a toss-up.
On Monday, Cruz claimed of Talarico that “very few voters actually know his record,” saying it’s “really extreme” and arguing that “when the voters hear what this guy is for, they don’t support him.”
“He would be a great candidate in California,” Cruz said. “He’s not a great candidate in Texas.”
