U.S. Sen. John Cornyn has maintained a fundraising edge over challenger Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in the first three months of their matchup for Cornyn’s seat in the U.S. Senate, according to federal finance reports.
The two candidates raked in around $3 million in the time span, with Cornyn raising an additional $1 million more through his campaign and joint fundraising committee. The sitting senator also has a deeper war chest than Paxton, reporting $8.5 million to the attorney general’s $2.5 million.
Jasper Scherer, politics editor at the Texas Tribune, says it’s an advantage Cornyn will need to hold onto after starting the race behind Paxton in the polls.
“He still has a pretty big financial advantage and he’s absolutely going to have to maintain that going forward just to have any shot of making up that deficit,” Scherer said.
Hear more stories from the week in Texas politics in the audio player above.
