Republicans Pouring Unprecedented Amounts Of Money Into Midterms To Save GOP Candidates In Red States

Republican super political action committees (PACs) have been forced to spend staggering amounts of money to rescue candidates in traditionally safe constituencies.

The GOP was spending record-breaking sums of money in red states and districts that President Donald Trump won by double digits in the 2024 presidential election. The party has grown increasingly worried that historically safe Republican states such as Texas, Ohio, Iowa and Alaska have turned into must-defend races in the midterms, which in turn led the party to spend less time and resources in other tossup races.

Three Trump-aligned groups, MAGA Inc., the No Going Back PAC and the Safety and Affordability PAC spent more than $163 million on advertising and air time since Sept. 1, according to KARK, an NBC News affiliate. The PACs spent nearly 40% of that money in states and districts where Trump won by at least ten percentage points in the 2024 presidential election, amounting to $63 million.

In Texas, Republicans expected to spend between $150 million and $200 million to save Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton from losing to Democratic Texas Senate nominee James Talarico, according to Punchbowl News. Texas PAC, the Senate Leadership Fund’s super PAC in Texas, will spend over $100 million in television advertisements to support Paxton after adding over $35 million to its $65 million in TV reservations.

The Texas Senate race was considered a “toss up” as of Aug. 20, according to the Cook Political Report. Talarico came under fire for identifying his favorite drag queen, claiming God was “non-binary” and that trans-identifying children were “God’s children” and “loved beyond measure.”

Paxton was embroiled in a long list of ethical and personal controversies, which included a proposed plea deal that would have allowed a man who admitted to sexually abusing a young boy to serve only one day in jail. His ex-wife, Republican Texas state Sen. Angela Paxton, filed for divorce in July 2025 over an extramarital affair.

No Going Back PAC Inc. announced it would spend $49 million on ads for seven races, including $15 million in Michigan, $11 million in Ohio, $10 million in New Hampshire and $4 million in Maine.

Ohio was the most expensive Senate race thus far, drawing more than $307 million on ads from both parties combined.

Republicans spent over $152 million to defend Republican Ohio Sen. Jon Husted against former Democratic Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown, who was running to flip Husted’s seat. Fairshake, a crypto super PAC, spent $30 million to oppose Brown, who has been a longtime crypto critic.