Election season is approaching as 11 states have yet to hold their Senate primaries. In total, 33 Senate seats are up for election in November, including 20 currently held by Republicans and 13 held by Democrats (https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2026-primary-elections/national#stateListResults). However, public attention varies widely across these races depending on how fiercely contested the open seat is. One way to measure that level of interest is through examining campaign contributions, as seen in the graph above.
The priciest Senate race is in Texas, with total fundraising reaching $166 million across all current and former candidates. Incumbent Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) was defeated by Trump-backed conservative, Ken Paxton, the state's third-term attorney general, in the May 26 Republican primary runoff. Paxton will face Democrat James Talarico, a former public-school teacher who has served as a state representative since 2018. Although the Senate seat has historically leaned Republican, Talarico's campaign is "raising more at this stage of the race than any Texas general-election candidate in the past decade," according to The Texas Tribune (https://www.texastribune.org/2026/05/26/texas-john-cornyn-ken-paxton-us-senate-republican-primary-runoff/). As of July 28, Talarico had raised $73.2 million, while Paxton had raised $29.6 million, according to Legis1 data. With roughly four months remaining until the election, polling suggests the Senate Texas race will be highly competitive.
The Texas race is followed by the Georgia race between Incumbent Democrat Jon Ossoff and Republican Mike Collins with $123 million in spending, and the Illinois race between Republican Don Tracy and Democrat Juliana Stratton with $73 million, respectively.
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