Texas Democrat who rails against billionaire cash takes $59K from Trump-backing megadonor
Texas Democrat James Talarico has campaigned on getting megadonor cash out of elections, but records show he has been cashing checks from an unlikely source: a Republican, Trump-backing billionaire.
Talarico’s single largest donation last year came from a PAC backed by casino mogul Miriam Adelson, the widow of longtime Republican megadonor Sheldon Adelson. Records show Talarico received $59,000 from Adelson’s Texas Sands PAC in 2024, making the group his largest donor for that year.
A representative for Talarico’s office defended his accepting the funds, telling Politico that while he opposes big-donor cash influencing elections, “he will not unilaterally disarm and let Texas Republicans play by different rules.
“Rep. Talarico believes our campaign finance system is deeply broken,” spokesman Antonio Esparza told the outlet. “That’s why he filed legislation to cap campaign contribution limits in the state of Texas.”
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Talarico proposed legislation last year that would have capped donations to state-level lawmakers at $10,000. There is no cap on such donations under current law.
Reports on the donations come after Talarico appeared on the “Joe Rogan Experience” podcast in July, during which he blasted Republicans for accepting billionaire dollars.
“Basically every single Republican state senator in Texas has taken their money. Every single one. A majority of the Republicans in the State House have taken their money,” he told Rogan, referring to oil-based billionaires in the state. “They increasingly run this whole government here in Texas.”
Meanwhile, Adelson’s PAC has routinely supported both Democrats and Republicans on the state level in Texas, pushing for the state to legalize casino gambling. In 2023, Talarico voted in favor of a measure that would have given voters the chance to approve casino legalization through a constitutional amendment.
Talarico was among the roughly 50 Texas Democrats who fled the state earlier this month in an attempt to block Republicans from adopting a new congressional map.
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Talarico and his fellow Democrats returned to Austin this week, saying they achieved their goal of galvanizing Democrat opposition across the country. Several Democratic states are now threatening to carry out their own redistricting plans, as parties battle for control over the House of Representatives past the 2026 midterm elections.
