A super PAC (super PAC, political fundraising group) supporting U.S. President Donald Trump has poured more than 10 billion won into the Texas state Senate race, which has recently emerged as a battleground in the midterms.
On the 5th (local time), according to U.S. political outlet Politico and others, Trump's personal super PAC, "MAGA Inc.," disclosed an expenditure of $10 million (about 13.5 billion won) that day to support Republican Texas state Senate candidate Ken Paxton.
This is the first time this year that the MAGA super PAC has put a large sum into a general election race in the midterms. The day before, President Trump said the MAGA super PAC had raised about $1 billion and would pour $400 million to $500 million into this midterm election.
Texas, where the MAGA super PAC invested 13.5 billion won, is a traditional Republican stronghold, but it is emerging as a battleground as 37-year-old Democratic state Senate candidate James Talarico rapidly broadens support.
Within the Republican Party, controversy arose as Ken Paxton, backed by President Trump, was nominated as the candidate after defeating four-term incumbent Senator John Cornyn, who had strong support within the party during the primary process.
Since then, some traditional Republican donors have turned their backs on Paxton. Even as Paxton struggled with a shortage of campaign funds, the party leadership-aligned super PAC, the Senate Leadership Fund, did not step in with funding. With the MAGA super PAC launching full-fledged support two months before the election, attention is on whether the Republican base will coalesce.
Alex Pfeiffer of the MAGA super PAC said, "High-Tax Talarico is trying to take money out of Texans' pockets," and added, "MAGA will inform Texas voters of Talarico's radical policies and elect Paxton to the Senate."