OPINION:
Texas Democrat Senate candidate James Talarico said in his recent El Paso campaign rally that “Elon Musk is trying to buy this Senate seat” by funneling millions of dollars to the Republican pick, Ken Paxton, and that “this election is about whether or not you want a senator who serves you or who serves his billionaire mega donors.”
He said that as a way of jabbing Paxton as beholden to Big Money interests. He said that as a way of showing himself to be down with the little guy; a man of the people; a politician who scorns the billionaire class.
He said that while hoping voters forget he’s taken millions of dollars from a political action committee, Lone Star Rising, that’s been fed money by billionaire venture capitalist and LinkedIn cofounder Reid Hoffman; by billionaire Hyatt hotel empire family man Adam Pritzker; by billionaire so-called philanthropist George Soros — through the Government That Works PAC via the Sixteen Thirty Fund. And more.
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Just because it’s harder to track the billionaires’ club money that’s flowed to Talarico’s campaign doesn’t mean it’s nonexistent.
Actually, it means it’s less transparent — and in that respect, it gives Talarico the cover he needs to claim his campaign is all about the people and that Paxton’s is all about the corporate interests, the big business interests, the big tech interests. Of late, Talarico has been making a case that Elon Musk’s near-$190 million donation to the Paxton campaign is something voters should reject.
“Elon wants to buy up our land, he wants to buy up our water, and now, he wants to buy his own personal U.S. senator,” a recent Talarico campaign ad accuses.
“Texas is not for sale,” the ad continues.
At one recent rally, Talarico said, “Elon Musk is trying to buy the Senate seat. We just found out that the richest man in the world is almost single-handedly bankrolling this effort to install Ken Paxton in the U.S. Senate and stop the movement that we are building in our state.”
But at least Musk’s millions to Paxton are easily tracked and just as easily reported.
At least Musk is a Texas resident and because he’s moved the headquarters of his SpaceX and Tesla and X businesses to the state, at least he has a direct interest in state affairs.
Reid Hoffman reportedly lives in Palo Alto, California. Not Texas.
Adam Pritzker reportedly lives in Beverly Hills, California. Not Texas.
George Soros reportedly lives in Westchester County, New York. Not Texas.
In August, Politico reported this: “James Talarico is headed to Los Angeles to raise money in his blockbuster Texas Senate race. ‘Lost’ co-creator Damon Lindelof and his wife, Heidi, will host a fundraiser for Talarico … in Brentwood. … Earlier this summer, the Lindelofs attended a star-studded fundraiser for Talarico … hosted by media executive Peter Chernin and his wife, Megan.”
Lindelof, according to Celebrity Net Worth, has a net worth of $45 million. He and his wife reportedly live in Los Angeles — in the cushy Brentwood neighborhood — and have a second home in Laguna Beach, California. Not Texas. Peter Chernin, a producer and businessman and founder and CEO of the Chernin Group, made a 2022 ranking of “The 25 Richest Film and TV Producers in the World,” with a reported net worth of $400 million. He and his wife reportedly live in Santa Monica, California. And in New York. Not Texas.
“Talarico raised a staggering $64 million this summer — the largest third-quarter haul of any Senate candidate in history. … About 97 percent of those donations were of $100 or less,” Politico reported earlier this month.
And it’s that little-guy message that Talarico underscores.
“Grassroots contributors from across Texas are coming together to end billionaire control over our politics,” he said, on the heels of his campaign’s third-quarter reporting.
Well. That’s partly true. That’s also partly spin; partly convenient omission of inconvenient campaign fundraising truths.
That’s partly hypocrisy.
Let’s not forget the millionaires and billionaires from California and New York who’ve quietly, behind tough-to-track PAC scenes, who’ve sent in their big bucks to Team Talarico, too.
• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com or on Twitter, @ckchumley. Listen to her podcast “Bold and Blunt” by clicking HERE. And never miss her column; subscribe to her newsletter and podcast by clicking HERE. Her latest book, “God-Given Or Bust: Defeating Marxism and Saving America With Biblical Truths,” is available by clicking HERE.
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