Texans vote in the most expensive Senate race in US history, with spending above $573 million

Voters in the US state of Texas have begun casting ballots in a Senate race that has already become the most expensive in United States history. All told, at least $573.2 million had been poured into support for both the Republican candidate, Ken Paxton, and the Democratic candidate, James Talarico, ahead of the Tuesday, November 3 vote.

That figure includes at least $212 million in support of Paxton from billionaire Elon Musk, whose company SpaceX is based in southern Texas. According to a New York Times analysis, Musk gave $168 million to the Senate Leadership Fund, which has gone almost completely to supporting Paxton. The newspaper estimated that Musk's total spending was likely an undercount because of so-called 'dark money' spending. Trump's MAGA Inc PAC has also spent at least $10 million to support Paxton.

In campaign fundraising, however, Talarico has outpaced Paxton, raising $155 million to Paxton's $40 million. Federal law limits fundraising from individual donors, who must identify themselves.

Separately, a huge amount of money has poured in via political action committees called super PACs, which can spend an unlimited amount in support of a candidate but cannot directly coordinate with campaigns. Paxton has been the largest beneficiary of such spending. The Lone Star Rising PAC, meanwhile, has spent at least $21 million on Talarico.

The race has been defined by affordability concerns, and the record spending has made voters of varying political persuasions queasy. Rico Sanchez, a 40-year-old union sheet metal worker who voted for Democrats based on the sky-high cost of living, said: 'That kind of money is being spent on the wrong stuff.'

Kasey Blanco, a 21-year-old, split his ballot, voting for Republican Governor Greg Abbott and Democratic Senate candidate Talarico. 'It's kind of scary,' he said. 'You see the extent that a lot of these politicians are trying to get into the game and distort the view.' Political power, he said, 'should be from the people, by the people'.

Monique Orellana, a 46-year-old voter who cast her ballot on Tuesday, said she was uncomfortable with Musk's spending. She said she wanted elected officials to do their job and represent the people, and criticised Trump: 'Trump said he wasn't going to start a war, and he did anyway. And he said he was going to fix the price of groceries on day one. They went up anyway.'

Luis Plazas, 58, said he was not as concerned about the election spending, but wanted to see the economy improve and a pivot on Trump's mass deportation campaign. He voted Republican down the ballot, a decision he said was motivated by his religious beliefs: 'I'm a Christian, so I believe in family values, and it seems like Republicans are more inclined to that.'

With national eyes on Texas, both Senate candidates gave their closing pitches late on Monday. Talarico seized on Paxton's past corruption allegations as Texas attorney general, drawing attention to Musk's spending spree as evidence of prioritising big money interests over everyday voters. His campaign has regularly referenced the 'Friday Night Lights' television show, the story of an underdog American football team.

A Talarico victory would represent the first time a Democrat has won statewide office in Texas since 1994, with the party long hoping to 'turn Texas blue'. 'We're going to do something extraordinary,' Talarico said from San Antonio. 'We're going to do something historic. We're going to shock the billionaires, shock the world, when we take back Texas.'

Paxton has portrayed Talarico as antithetical to the ideals of Texas, which has been dominated by Republicans for three decades. The state's low-tax, low-regulation model, mixed with conservative social policies, has long given it special significance in Republican thinking, and Paxton's campaign has repeatedly referenced the 1836 Texas Revolution, an uprising against then-Mexican control.

'We've never been this close to losing everything that we hold dear – our jobs, our livelihoods, our way of life in Texas,' Paxton said at an event in Collin County. 'If Texas falls, we don't have another Texas to move to.'