Politics
‘JB wants to fight’: Illinois governor embraces role as one of Trump’s fiercest foes
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — JB Pritzker is at a political crossroads.
The popular, two-term Illinois governor would be a prohibitive favorite if he runs again in 2026.
But the fiery progressive Democrat is also increasingly burnishing his national political credentials, making high profile appearances across the country, using his vast personal wealth to bankroll Democratic causes and pillorying the divisive policies of President Donald Trump.
Pritzker has strong views about what Democrats need to do to claw their way back from the wilderness after the drubbing they took in November.
“Democrats shouldn’t fall into the trap that they fell into in 2024 of responding to everything that the Republicans say, given the way they twist things,” Pritzker said in a wide-ranging interview in his Capitol office where he signs bills. “Republicans keep asking the question, ‘Have you stopped beating your wife?’ There is no good answer to that.”
But at the same time, Pritzker stresses, Democrats need to vigorously defend core principles, saying it was a “mistake” that Kamala Harris’ campaign never came up with an effective answer to Trump’s attacks for her support of transgender rights.
Asked how he would have responded, Pritzker said: “First of all, stop picking on the smallest minority of people whose civil rights are just as important as yours. … Trans children are most likely of any group to commit suicide. Why do Republicans have no sympathy for that at all?”
Pritzker is looking to execute a political balancing act when it comes to bolstering his political prospects both in Illinois and nationwide. That means speaking out forcefully on the most hot-button issues – immigration, tariffs, DOGE – while also taking steps to boost home-state constituencies like Illinois farmers and veterans.
His full-throated attacks on Trump are drawing attention from prominent national Democrats. It’s a tactic that more party leaders should emulate, says David Hogg, a vice chair of the Democratic National Committee who ignited a firestorm in the party in recent days with his pledge to fund primary challenges against some “asleep-at-the-wheel” Democrats in safe-blue seats.
“We’re in a moment … where some people are saying, ‘We need to roll over and die’ and other people want to fight,” Hogg said about Democratic messaging. “JB wants to fight.”
Outspoken on immigration
The governor and his staff spent months preparing for a November loss, even though they were hopeful that Harris would triumph, said Anne Caprara, who ran Pritzker’s 2018 gubernatorial campaign and is now his chief of staff.
“JB is just a person who hopes for the best and prepares for the worst,” Caprara said.
Pritzker’s immediate post-election message was a warning to Trump and an assurance to the state’s Democratic voters that he would stand up for abortion rights, immigration and LGBTQ+ protections if they came under attack.
“You come for my people, you come through me,” he said just two days after the election.
On immigration, in particular, Pritzker has been among the loudest voices attacking the Trump administration’s policies. It’s a contrast from many other ambitious Democrats who have looked for ways to show voters that they support tougher enforcement efforts targeting undocumented immigrants in the wake of the election drubbing.
“Why is Donald Trump kicking out law-abiding, tax-paying people who have been here 10 and 20 years and raised a family here?” Pritzker asked. “Why are they picking on those people and kicking them out? If you had proper immigration laws, you would want them to come to this country. We need them to fill jobs.”
Though Pritzker also has repeatedly said he supports kicking out criminals, his views on immigration have put him in the sights of Republican Rep. James Comer’s Oversight Committee, which has called him to testify next month on Illinois’ sanctuary status rules that forbid local authorities from helping with federal immigration enforcement efforts.
“Sanctuary jurisdictions and their obstructionist policies hinder the ability of federal law enforcement officers to effectuate safe arrests and remove dangerous criminals from American communities,” Comer, of Kentucky, said in a statement announcing the hearing.
The Illinois governor has yet to say whether he will agree to testify before the committee. His team has called it a “partisan dog and pony show.”
As Pritzker ticked off his concerns about Trump’s policies, he sat in the shadow of a wall-size portrait of one of the storied debates between Republican Abraham Lincoln and Democrat Stephen Douglas.
His attacks on Trump have seldom risen to those rhetorical heights. The Illinois governor has described the president as “a narcissist,” “rich in stupidity” and someone who “behaves like a fifth-grader.” He’s even invoked Hitler in describing the Trump administration’s actions.
How he talks to the public, Caprara said, has been shaped in large part by what he learned during the pandemic, when he gave at least 85 televised press conferences on the spread of the disease and how to stay safe.
“What we learned was that in times of really great uncertainty people value clear communication from their leaders,” said Caprara. “And they value communication that is not mealy mouthed or wishy-washy or obfuscating what actually is happening in the world. And so that is the world in which we’ve operated since November.”
Pritzker is now taking that message across the country.
Since March, he has headlined the Jim Owles Winter Pride Gala in New York City and the Human Rights Campaign’s annual dinner in Los Angeles. Pritzker has also taken center stage at Democratic Party events in Florida and Texas.
Next week, he’s the featured speaker at New Hampshire Democrats’ iconic McIntyre-Shaheen 100 Club dinner, a major fundraiser known for drawing big names ahead of presidential elections. And in June, Pritzker headlines the Michigan Democratic Party Legacy Dinner.
In addition, Pritzker’s Think Big America has pumped in money to support progressive legislation and candidates across the country, including in red states. The nonprofit has so far put money into supporting abortion rights initiatives in nine states and saw seven of them pass in the past two cycles, including in Ohio and Montana.
“Abortion rights are broadly popular, and there are plenty of Republicans and independents who came out to vote for that issue and came to our side,” said Mike Ollen, who heads the organization and is in Pritzker’s inner circle, having served as campaign manager for his 2022 gubernatorial run.
Pritzker, whose family built the Hyatt Hotel empire, has also donated millions of dollars to races across the country, including $1.5 million to the winning Democrat-aligned candidate in last month’s high-profile Wisconsin Supreme Court race.
The governor’s rising national profile has hit a nerve with Illinois Republicans who see it as political “grandstanding” and “a distraction” from “the mess” in Illinois, according to state party Chair Kathy Salvi, referring to the state’s projected $3 billion-plus budget deficit. She uses Pritzker’s speaking engagements as a foil to rally members in her weekly email.
Pritzker’s “largesse at the taxpayer’s trough drives the good people, families and business out of our beloved Illinois,” Salvi added in a statement to Blue Light News. “He is crushing us. Save America from JB Pritzker.”
Pritzker says his speaking engagements shouldn’t be read as a lead-up to a presidential campaign. All those national TV hits attacking Trump, he insists, are really an effort to bring attention to his state, highlighting the negative impact of Trump’s tariffs and federal government cuts on his constituents.
“The more that I can help stoke that, the better it is for farmers here in Illinois,” he said.
Touting Illinois accomplishments
Pritzker and his team like to remind critics of the economic chaos they inherited when he took office. A nearly two-year budget standoff between his predecessor and the Legislature sent bond ratings careening toward junk level.
Pritzker ran on an ambitious agenda and accomplished much of what he wanted in his first term, including raising the minimum wage, further protecting reproductive rights, legalizing cannabis — and getting the state’s finances back in order.
In his office across from the Lincoln portrait is a sign that Pritzker likes to highlight to visitors. It’s a headline: “Illinois credit rating upgraded: Moody’s upgrade is state’s first in two decades.”
But he seldom speaks in public without criticizing the White House. In Springfield last week, Pritzker poked at the Trump administration on economic issues even while speaking to a few hundred high school members of the Future Farmers of America.
“The harsh cuts to USDA programs proposed by DOGE and the tariffs that the president put in place are already taking their toll on our rural communities,” Pritzker said.
He went on to take questions from the statehouse press corps and then joined some Republican state lawmakers to reveal the winner of the “Coolest Thing Made in Illinois.” It was the Aerial Firefighting Helicopter Refill Pump that was actually used to help fight the recent Los Angeles wildfires. In the evening, Pritzker hosted state lawmakers and rabbis for a Passover Seder.
The Pritzker-Trump tension goes back to the 1990s, when the Pritzker family battled Trump in court over New York hotel properties. It festered through the 2016 election when Trump defeated Hillary Clinton and then metastasized during Covid.
Illinois hospitals were full and people were dying, so the Democratic governor swallowed his pride and got on the line with Trump — billionaire to billionaire — to ask for help in securing N95 masks and ventilators, he tells audiences, most recently on “The View.”
Trump agreed, but only if Pritzker would go on the national Sunday talk shows and praise him. It was a vain request, but Pritzker, who purses his lips when he retells the story, acquiesced, saying he was “desperate.” When only loose-fitting masks and broken BiPAP breathing machines arrived, Pritzker fumed about being short-changed.
“He never delivered for us, Pritzker said. “He never delivered for the American people.”
MO’ MONEY: Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Blakeman has received dozens of contributions surpassing the legal limit in recent months.
Blakeman has yet to refund roughly $360,000 to donors who have given to him above the cap, as POLITICO first reported on Monday. Gubernatorial candidates are allowed to raise $9,000 from individuals for each election — so $18,000 if they have both a primary and a general. Blakeman dodged a June election, so he’s required to give back any money he’s raised above $9,000.
Many of the excess contributions came early in the election cycle. Knicks owner James Dolan, for example, gave $18,000 on Jan. 20, before it was known whether there would be a primary.
But there have been at least 40 donations above the $9,000 limit that have come in since the Board of Elections certified the primary ballot on May 13, according to Blakeman’s disclosure reports.
Many of those came well past the primary. An Eric Sternberg who used a Nassau County PO Box, for example, gave Blakeman $15,000 in the spring. A donor with the same name who used a nearby home address gave $18,000 on Aug. 19; three more $5,000 checks from those Eric Sternbergs were reported on Sept. 10.
In addition to those 40 donations, there are several individuals who have gone over the limit by making multiple contributions. Former Republican Rep. Nan Hayworth, for example, gave $5,205.08 on May 22, then the same amount on July 31, bringing her total to $10,410.16 for the election cycle.
The unusual figure appears to arise from another way the Blakeman campaign is going past the $9,000 cap. His donation page asks people to make a supplemental contribution to cover processing fees — so somebody giving $5,000 gets a request to give an additional $205.08.
Attempting to donate $9,000 brings forth a suggested donation of $9,369.14. That exact amount has been given 22 times, including by Nassau resident — and one-time Trump administration official — Anthony Scaramucci.
“Anyone who looks at campaign finance filings will see every campaign eating the cost for processing fees,” Democratic campaign finance lawyer Ben Kallos said. “I admire the creativity of trying to have donors eat those costs, but you can’t go over the limit.”
Blue Light News asked the Blakeman campaign about the refunds it owes on Monday. It replied on Tuesday without addressing the issue.
“So many New Yorkers opened their wallets to support Bruce Blakeman that the state’s antiquated campaign finance system couldn’t keep up,” spokesperson Madison Spanodemos said. “The Board of Elections required the campaign to split its most recent finance report into multiple files since it included so much data, causing some contributions to appear multiple times.”
The Public Campaign Finance Board said it’s not to blame.
“Mr. Blakeman’s campaign is the only filer that experienced this issue,” Democratic co-director Brian Keegan said. “This is a user error, not a system error.”
Spanodemos did not respond to questions about the large donations or what the committee’s actual war chest is. If every potential duplicate is removed from Blakeman’s filing, his contribution total would fall by $292,000. That would lower his balance to a $114,000 deficit, even before accounting for the $360,000 in refunds he owes.
A shift like that wouldn’t be unprecedented. Blakeman’s previous report, submitted on July 15, showed he had $4.7 million in the bank. An amended version submitted on July 22 changed his balance to $6.1 million. Yet another amendment on Aug. 13 said that his war chest in mid-July had actually been $4.3 million.
Gov. Kathy Hochul has recently received a handful of contributions over the limit as well. But as has been the norm for gubernatorial candidates, her committee has returned surpluses: The New York State Council of Machinists, for example, gave $10,000 on Sept. 15 and got $1,000 back on Sept. 28.
Hochul’s campaign has started to make Blakeman’s campaign finance foibles an issue in recent weeks.
“It’s against the law,” state Democratic Committee Chair Jay Jacobs said of the Republican’s large contributions. “He’s desperate for money, and desperate people do desperate things. And I think to him, it’s more important he try to get elected than comply with the law.” — Bill Mahoney
ONE WEEK AWAY: Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s administration is pursuing a bold agenda to tame the city’s affordability crisis — making New York City a testing ground for progressives across the country. Join Blue Light News’s New York Outlook: Affordability, Industry & The Economy in NYC on Oct. 14 for live conversations about the business and policy decisions being made today that will shape the city’s economic future. The lineup includes NYC Comptroller Mark Levine, New York City Economic Development Corp. CEO Anthony Shorris, New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin, Partnership for NYC CEO Steven Fulop, Citizens Budget Commission President Andrew Rein, Charles H. Revson Foundation President Maria Torres-Springer, and more. Register now to attend in person or watch the livestream.
FROM CITY HALL
MAMDANI’S OCT. 7 MESSAGE: Mamdani marked the third anniversary of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack by condemning the “horrific war crimes” that took place in Israel that day — and then proceeded to blast the American ally for the military campaign it launched in response.
“On that day, Hamas killed more than 1,100 Israelis and abducted 251 others. We grieve alongside our many friends and neighbors who still carry that unthinkable loss,” he said in a written statement this morning.
He then pivoted: “The suffering did not begin nor end that day. It instead continued through the Israeli government’s devastating, ongoing genocide in Gaza, in which it has killed more than 74,000 Palestinians — including more than 21,000 children … Many New Yorkers are reckoning with this unbearable grief, and we mourn alongside them — all while knowing that our tax dollars fund these war crimes.”
Mamdani’s missive — which he also posted on X, where it had garnered nearly 11 million views as of early this afternoon — was consistent with how he has for years messaged regarding the events on and after Oct. 7. What’s remarkable is that he did it as mayor on a somber day — the kind of occasion for which elected officials typically deploy restraint. Today marked his first time commemorating the anniversary as mayor of New York City, home to the largest Jewish community outside Israel, swaths of which believe Mamdani has fomented antisemitism by accusing the country of commiting a genocide in Gaza, a charge Israeli leaders vehemently deny.
Backlash to the mayor’s statement was swift.
“It is like turning September 11 into a day of mourning for al-Qaeda terrorists,” Danny Danon, Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, wrote on X in response to Mamdani’s comments. “We will not let this happen. We will remember those who were murdered, and we will never forget who was behind this massacre.”
Rep. Dan Goldman, a fellow Democrat, called it a “reprehensible statement.”
“In the guise of ‘grieving’ with those mourning that day, Mayor Mamdani asserts as fact hotly disputed allegations that he knows full well will offend and further upset those same people he pretends to grieve with,” Goldman wrote on X. “On this day of all days, the Mayor of the city with the largest Jewish population outside of Israel embraces extreme activism instead of balanced leadership.”
A spokesperson for Mamdani declined to respond to such criticisms. The mayor is scheduled to attend an Oct. 7 remembrance vigil this evening.
Hochul commemorated the anniversary by ordering the Israeli flag be hoisted on top of the Capitol in Albany. She also ordered that flags be flown at half mast at all state government buildings across New York.
“It’s hard to fathom that it has been three years since the October 7 Hamas massacre. Three years since the deadliest day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust,” the governor said in a statement. “The pain of that dark day has not faded. But neither has the strength, resilience and enduring hope of the Jewish people.” — Chris Sommerfeldt
From the Capitol
FEDERAL TAX CREDIT UNDER FIRE: New York’s legislative leaders are urging Hochul to reject a GOP-backed federal tax credit scholarship program, setting up a potential clash over the hot-button issue.
The Treasury Department released a pair of rules for the initiative — which was included in President Trump’s sweeping 2025 tax-and-spending package — last week. The program would give donors to nonprofits that support educational expenses a dollar-for-dollar tax credit of up to $1,700 annually. Married taxpayers filing jointly could receive a credit of up to $3,400.
In a statement Wednesday, state Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins said the regulations would undercut the state’s ability to establish “meaningful guardrails,” leaving New York with little control over which schools and expenses qualify or how the funding is used. She also said it would allow the money to potentially flow to schools outside the state.
“I am apprehensive about this federal proposal and have serious reservations about the potential impact it could have on public schools across New York State,” Stewart-Cousins said. “New York should not opt in to this program.”
Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie also said Tuesday that his chamber will prioritize ensuring public schools are fully funded.
“Public dollars should support public schools that serve all children and are accountable to the taxpayers who fund them,” Heastie said in a statement. “New York should opt out of the federal voucher program and continue investing in the public schools that educate the overwhelming majority of our children.”
The city’s and state’s teachers unions, with which the Legislature is closely aligned, have also urged Hochul to reject the program.
Spokespeople for the governor did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the opposition of legislative leaders.
But Hochul has signaled support for the scholarship program.
Ahead of the release of the regulations, her office said the credits could expand educational opportunities for public and private school students statewide “without diverting resources from public schools or state and local budgets.” The governor’s team also said public schools could benefit from the program. — Madina Touré
FROM THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL
TAKING THE STAGE: A debate is on the books in the battleground race between Democratic Rep. Tom Suozzi and his Republican challenger, former Assemblymember Mike LiPetri.
The debate, hosted by News 12, will air on Oct. 20. The station said that’s the only Long Island congressional debate it’s hosting after Democratic Rep. Laura Gillen and Chris Gallant, Republican Rep. Nick LaLota’s Democratic challenger, declined News 12’s invite for their respective races. Republican Rep. Andrew Garbarino’s campaign did not respond to its invite, the station said.
Suozzi defeated LiPetri by 4 points in 2024. National Republicans are pouring millions into the seat in the final stretch of the race with the hope of flipping it this year. — Madison Fernandez
POLL POSITION: Hochul leads Republican foe Bruce Blakeman by 11 points in a Marist University survey released this morning.
Hochul, seeking a second full term, draws 53% in the poll; Blakeman stands at 42%. Voters by a 55% to 42% margin plan to support the Democratic congressional candidate, the survey found.
The poll of 1,361 likely voters was conducted from Oct. 1 to Oct. 4. It has a 3.6 percentage point margin of error. — Nick Reisman
IN OTHER NEWS
— GROCERY BRANDING: Branding for Mamdani’s signature city-run grocery stores will be handled by the same Brooklyn design firm behind trendy products like Graza olive oil and Yellowbird hot sauce. (New York Magazine)
— GENDER-AFFIRMING CARE: New York City plans to spend nearly $9 million on local organizations providing gender-affirming care to minors, after two major hospital systems in the city struck deals with the Trump administration to stop providing such care. (Gothamist)
— MAKE POLITICS SEXY AGAIN: Long Island Democratic congressional candidate Chris Gallant is leaning into sexiness, after the New York Post revealed last month he had appeared in bondage photos more than a decade ago. (The New York Times)
Missed this morning’s New York Playbook? We forgive you. Read it here.
Michigan Republican Senate nominee Mike Rogers called for an end to the “tariff war” with Canada in a new campaign advertisement released on Wednesday, another break from the Trump administration weeks before the midterm elections.
Rogers’ ad comes as Republican campaign groups across the country have entered triage mode in an effort to salvage GOP control in an unfavorable political environment.
“Here in Michigan, we know that Canada is not our enemy. We need to end this tariff war now,” Rogers said in the advertisement, which is part of a coordinated spend between his campaign at the National Republican Senatorial Committee.
He added, “as Michigan’s senator, I’ll bring both parties together to lower your prices.”
Each year, Michigan does roughly $80 billion in trade with Canada, according to the Michigan Chamber of Commerce.
The new video comes weeks after he put out another advertisement breaking with President Donald Trump, publicly calling for the war with Iran to end “quickly.”
In both commercials, Rogers said that prices are too high and neither mentioned the president by name.
The latest ad is a shift from his previous positioning on trade with Canada.
Last month, Rogers said that some of the tariffs imposed on Canadian goods are needed, as the state’s manufacturing sector has been gutted by cheap foreign imports in the past.
“President Trump is right to put America first — and tariffs are necessary, but are not a one-size-fits-all solution,” Rogers previously said in a press release.
But, he also said he has the pull to end the trade war threatening Michigan.
The White House, along with Rogers’ and Democratic nominee Abdul El-Sayed’s campaigns, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
National Republicans have spent months trying to rescue Ken Paxton. He’s complicating that effort.
Tensions are brewing with some Republicans after Blue Light News published Paxton’s closed-door comments that “D.C.” Republicans were largely controlling his race.
“He is welcome to raise his own money and say whatever he wants,” said one Republican involved in the Paxton rescue effort, who like others in this article was granted anonymity to speak candidly. “In fact, if he did that, he’d probably be winning right now and we wouldn’t need to spend all this money.”
Senate Republicans and top operatives didn’t want to be in this position in the first place. Many had warned that the Trump effort to unseat Sen. John Cornyn and back Paxton in the primary would cost Republicans hundreds of millions to drag Paxton across the finish line in the general election. Cornyn and Senate GOP groups spent millions of dollars on ads during the primary attacking Paxton over his series of scandals and warning he was a flawed candidate.
Since then, the usual crowd of never-Paxton types has expanded into a wider circle of frustrated Republicans who are irked by the effort it’s taking to boost the scandal-plagued Senate candidate. And Paxton saying he doesn’t control his campaign messaging — alongside his remarks that President Donald Trump’s midterm convention hurt him politically — isn’t helping.
Paxton also complained about the drag of the Iran war and high prices on his campaign in another closed-door recording that Axios published Wednesday.
“Beggars can’t be choosers. He can try to raise federal money at a level that is necessary to save his candidacy at this point but his arms don’t reach that high,” said a Texas-based GOP consultant who’s closely monitoring multiple races. “As usual, he communicates something that is unhelpful, that is undisciplined, that is politically self-harmful and like most things, lacks any gratitude whatsoever.”
The top Senate GOP super PAC, Trump’s aligned MAGA Inc. operation and other Republicans are pumping more than $200 million into the race to salvage Paxton’s campaign against Democrat James Talarico. Trump allies say they have worked hard to shore up Paxton, suggesting they’ve pushed donations toward the campaign and the larger GOP Super PAC effort to avoid disaster in the Lone Star state. Trump plans to travel to Texas for the second time Wednesday to boost Paxton.
Paxton allies have brushed off his latest closed-door comments, saying he was referring to GOP super PACs he’s not allowed to coordinate with as a candidate.
The Paxton campaign did not respond to a request for comment, though campaign adviser Nick Maddux said in response to POLITICO’s initial report of the audio that “AG Paxton is thankful for the support and knows how important Texas is to keeping the majority which is why he’s on the ground every day.”
But another Republican, a Trump ally working on the fundraising effort, said the national intervention isn’t overstepping. That person said the messaging guidance from the national GOP is standard for major Senate races and that Paxton “needs the help.”
One national GOP operative involved in the Texas Senate race noted that the attorney general’s lackluster fundraising early on left him vulnerable to Talarico’s attacks throughout the summer — especially over Paxton’s series of “self-inflicted” scandals, which have made him “toxic” with key voting blocs in the deep red state.
“We warned them about this,” the GOP operative said.
The Texas Senate race has sucked up oxygen, despite Trump winning the state in 2024 by double digits. And, the Senate map has kept expanding as Democrats have made gains in other typically red states, forcing Republicans to make critical decisions about where to allocate resources.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune and Republicans have said there are dedicated donors who are backing their effort to help Paxton, as they also try to shore up red seats across the map.
Paxton, in the September meeting with donors, acknowledged Washington’s influence.
“I’ve never been in a race where I felt less control over the campaign … it’s all coming — you know — from D.C.,” Paxton told donors during a small fundraising event last month, according to the audio.
Top GOP officials have tried to downplay Paxton’s comments. The White House referred Blue Light News to the RNC when asked for comment. The RNC argued Paxton, in the audio, was referring to the super PACs he can’t coordinate with as a candidate.
“This is fake news nonsense mixed with lazy reporting demonstrating a clear ignorance about how super PACs work. President Trump has called Ken Paxton the single greatest attorney general in history and has been clear he will do whatever it takes to make him the next senator from Texas,” RNC spokesperson Zach Kraft said in a statement.
Trump, when speaking to reporters at the White House on Tuesday, said he hadn’t seen Paxton’s latest comments. He added that his midterm travel blitz has helped Paxton and other Republican candidates.
“Ken’s doing much better now that I — everybody is — since starting three, four days ago, since starting the rallies. It’s brought a whole new awareness to how great the Republicans are doing, how great the economy is doing,” Trump said, touting investments and manufacturing.
The president last week traveled to Texas and told the crowd that Paxton is a “pain in the ass sometimes” and later acknowledged he’s “a little controversial.” But, he also warned the Texas crowd that Talarico would be “such a horror to your state,” adding, “we need the votes and I’m here for that, and I think we’re going to win.”
Vance also traveled to Texas, where he called Paxton “amazing attorney general and your next senator.”
Still, other Republicans have simply grown resigned to the state of the race, with Paxton needing all the aid he can get.
“There is only so much we can do,” one senior Senate GOP aide said. “And I feel like we’re doing a lot.”
The Paxton campaign told POLITICO it raised $18 million in the third quarter across the campaign and his joint fundraising committees. That’s roughly double his second-quarter total, though the campaign did not provide its cash-on-hand numbers, and Talarico has yet to release his fundraising haul.
Paxton also announced a $20 million ad buy last week — a significant single media investment in the race. But he’s had to rely heavily on Trump, MAGA Inc. and the top Senate GOP super PAC to bail him out.
Republicans have largely leaned on the Senate Leadership Fund, rather than the Trump-aligned MAGA Inc. super PAC, to keep Paxton afloat. SLF is spending a Texas record-breaking $131 million sum through Oct. 12 and has pledged to continue to spend more through the final weeks of the election.
MAGA Inc. is increasing some spending for Paxton and is expected to hit near $45 million by Oct. 12.
If Paxton were to lose, Trump’s reaction and whether he chooses to distance himself from the rescue effort will be driven by media coverage, said a former Trump fundraiser.
“If the media coverage related to election night and the autopsy a couple days afterwards is brutal towards Trump, like, horrible economy, inflation’s not that much better than the last year of Joe Biden’s … he will lash out,” the person said. “But if the narrative is, it’s a midterm presidential, this is what normally happens … he’ll move on as fast as he can and never talk about Ken Paxton again. It just depends what the coverage looks like post the November election.”
- Trump approved Ohio disaster aid ahead of rally
- Clean energy group sets its sights on a new GOP target: Lauren Boebert
- Blakeman’s campaign finance mess
- HASC Dems weigh reviving Pentagon oversight subcommittee
- Trahan unveils AI liability discussion draft
- Vance to sit for CBS town hall in Michigan ahead of midterms
- Michigan’s Mike Rogers says trade war with Canada needs to end
- ‘He is welcome to raise his own money’: GOP confronts its Paxton woes
- The top House sleeper races to watch, according to the pros
- Top Commerce Committee Democrat releases AI framework
-
Politics2 years agoFormer ‘Squad’ members launching ‘Bowman and Bush’ YouTube show
-
Uncategorized2 years ago
Bob Good to step down as Freedom Caucus chair this week
-
The Josh Fourrier Show2 years agoDOOMSDAY: Trump won, now what?
-
The Dictatorship2 years agoPete Hegseth’s tenure at the Pentagon goes from bad to worse
-
Politics2 years agoFormer Kentucky AG Daniel Cameron launches Senate bid
-
The Dictatorship2 years agoLuigi Mangione acknowledges public support in first official statement since arrest
-
Politics2 years agoBlue Light News’s Editorial Director Ryan Hutchins speaks at Blue Light News’s 2025 Governors Summit
-
The Dictatorship1 year agoMike Johnson sums up the GOP’s arrogant position on military occupation with two words