Money has always been in politics. But this is egregious.
And now a dark money network was uncovered in huge scandal for this Democrat.
Texas Democrats have found their new favorite talking point heading into the 2026 Senate race, and it’s a real doozy of hypocrisy. Democratic candidate James Talarico has been loudly attacking his Republican opponent Ken Paxton over campaign contributions from the data center industry — all while quietly banking millions of dollars from the very same crowd of Silicon Valley donors.
Talarico let loose during an August 13 interview with MS NOW, declaring that Paxton “has taken nearly half a million dollars from data center companies and then he turns around and protects those companies at our expense.” It’s a punchy soundbite tailor-made for a campaign ad. There’s just one small problem: it applies far more to Talarico himself.
According to a NOTUS report citing Federal Election Commission filings, Paxton has indeed received roughly $400,000 from donors connected to the data center industry. But Talarico, a sitting Texas state senator, has raked in more than $11 million from donors tied to that same industry. That’s not a typo — eleven million dollars, more than twenty-five times what he’s accusing Paxton of taking.
Talarico wasn’t shy about doubling down on social media either. “We can start by cracking down on these data centers across the state, that are jacking up our utility bills, and using up all our water,” he posted, before pivoting straight back to attacking Paxton for the comparatively modest sum he’s received from the sector.
So who exactly is bankrolling Talarico’s campaign? His single largest individual donor is Reid Hoffman, the LinkedIn co-founder who has funneled a staggering $10 million into the Lone Star Rising super PAC supporting Talarico’s Senate bid, according to FEC filings and reporting from the Texas Tribune. Hoffman just so happens to be a major Microsoft shareholder with billions of dollars riding on the tech giant’s fortunes — and Microsoft announced an eye-popping $80 billion investment in AI data centers last July, including four projects in San Antonio alone.
Hoffman hasn’t been shy about his enthusiasm for expanding America’s data-center footprint and energy infrastructure either, publicly advocating for exactly the kind of buildout Talarico now claims to be running against. Funny how that works.
The Silicon Valley money trail doesn’t stop there. Stephen Mandel, the founder of Lone Pine Capital, has poured roughly $500,000 into Talarico-affiliated groups including the Lone Star Rising PAC. Mandel’s investment portfolio is stuffed with companies riding the data-center gravy train, including Talen Energy, which powers data centers directly, and Teradyne, a robotics manufacturer serving Big Tech’s biggest players.
Then there’s Tench Coxe, a director at Nvidia who sits on several of the chipmaker’s committees. Nvidia has been aggressively promoting AI data-center expansion nationwide, with major projects already underway in West Texas and Fort Worth. Coxe’s wife, Simone, personally donated $500,000 to Talarico’s super PAC across two separate installments, FEC records show. The Coxes, incidentally, are also part-owners of Austin FC, Major League Soccer’s Texas franchise.
Add it all up and you get a picture that Talarico’s campaign clearly doesn’t want Texas voters to see: a candidate who postures as a populist crusader against corporate special interests while his campaign coffers are stuffed with cash from the very billionaires and Big Tech insiders profiting off the data-center boom he claims to oppose.
This is the same tired routine Democrats have run for years — talk like a firebrand, govern like a lobbyist. Talarico wants rural and suburban Texans worried about their rising utility bills and strained water supplies to believe he’s on their side against corporate greed, all while his largest backers are the exact corporate interests driving that growth.
The Daily Caller reached out to Talarico’s campaign for comment on the glaring discrepancy between his rhetoric and his donor rolls. No response was given before publication, which tells you everything you need to know.
Texans deserve a candidate who’s straight with them about where his loyalties actually lie. Ken Paxton’s donor list is public record and open to scrutiny like anyone else’s. But Talarico is the one manufacturing outrage over a issue where his own hands are far dirtier, banking on voters not doing the math on who’s really bought and paid for in this race.
Data centers have become a genuine kitchen-table issue in Texas, driving up electricity costs and straining water resources in communities already stretched thin. That’s a legitimate concern deserving serious debate. What Texans don’t need is a candidate exploiting that anxiety for campaign points while cashing checks from the exact billionaire class fueling the problem.
As the 2026 Senate race heats up, voters would be wise to follow the money rather than the talking points. Talarico can tweet all he wants about corporate special interests corrupting Texas politics. His own campaign finance disclosures tell the real story, and it’s not the one he’s selling on cable news.
