The downside of getting hundreds of millions from Elon Musk is that it comes from Elon Musk -- part 2

Even the NYT noticed.

Following up from Friday.

NEW AD: Have you seen these anti-Talarico attack ads? Elon Musk paid for nearly all of them. The world's first trillionaire knows if he drags the most corrupt politician in Texas across the finish line, Ken Paxton will owe him everything. Elon Musk: Texas is not for sale.

[image or embed]— Team Talarico (@teamtalaricohq.bsky.social) October 22, 2026 at 11:44 AM

[You should definitely watch the ad.]

Bayliss Wagner writing for the New York Times.

On the campaign trail in Texas, James Talarico, the Democratic nominee for Senate, is increasingly criticizing Elon Musk over his role in the race. Mr. Musk made a huge contribution this fall to a group aligned with Ken Paxton, Mr. Talarico’s Republican opponent, recent campaign finance disclosures showed.The race in Texas, a pivotal contest that could determine control of the Senate, is now in part a test of whether Democrats can turn Mr. Musk into a political boogeyman and whether his infusion of cash can lift a Republican candidate who has lagged behind his opponent in fund-raising.“Elon Musk wants our land. He wants our water. He wants our tax dollars,” Mr. Talarico said at a rally in San Antonio on Saturday, as the crowd booed in disapproval of Mr. Musk. “He wants his very own personal United States senator.”Representatives for Mr. Musk and Mr. Paxton did not respond to requests for comment.Mr. Talarico has stepped up his attacks on Mr. Musk after campaign finance filings revealed earlier this month that Mr. Musk, a Texas resident who has major business interests in the state, donated $158 million to a Republican super PAC that then flipped the same amount to a group allied with Mr. Paxton.At the University of Texas on Friday, Mr. Talarico said Mr. Musk was trying to “stop the movement that we are building in our state.” The day before that, Mr. Talarico’s campaign released a digital advertisement accusing Mr. Paxton of being beholden to Mr. Musk. “Let’s remind Elon: Texas is not for sale,” says the narrator of the ad....In polls and focus groups in Texas, voters have voiced concerns about corruption and the influence of the wealthy and powerful in politics, said Matt Angle, a Democratic strategist in the state. He argued that Mr. Musk “has made himself the face of” what some voters perceive as the Republican Party’s fealty to megadonors.At Mr. Talarico’s rally on Saturday, the crowd roared when he brought up Mr. Musk and cheered loudly when he said his own campaign is “funded by 1.3 million individuals who have donated their hard-earned money.”Mr. Musk has not campaigned with Mr. Paxton. But he has publicly endorsed him and has used his platform on X, the social media company he owns, to attack Mr. Talarico with growing frequency. Mr. Musk posted on X about Mr. Talarico 18 times last week, claiming Mr. Talarico “hates Texas” and disparaging him in other ways.JT Ennis, a spokesman for Mr. Talarico, said Mr. Musk’s immense spending in the race “isn’t working, so he’s throwing a tantrum.”For his part, Mr. Paxton speaks about Mr. Musk rarely, if ever, on the trail. But in a recent fund-raising email to supporters, Mr. Paxton praised him.“Democrats are trying to buy President Trump’s Senate Majority,” Paxton says in the Thursday email, adding, “But Elon Musk REFUSES to let them get away with it.” Mr. Paxton wrote that he was “proud to have Elon’s support at this do-or-die moment in the election.”