James Talarico keeps raising too much money.
The Texas Democrat has already raised more than $70 million in his bid to defeat state Attorney General Ken Paxton for U.S. Senate — more than any other non-incumbent candidate has raised this cycle nationwide and millions more than his Republican rival has amassed.
But scores of Talarico donors are exceeding federal donation limits, with regulators at the Federal Election Commission identifying 143 such donors who exceeded the legal limit, according to a 24-page letter they sent to the Talarico campaign this month.
It’s not the first time Talarico, who is attempting to become the first Texas Democrat elected to statewide office since 1994, has received such a missive: Every quarter since its inception, Talarico for Texas has received warnings about accepting donations beyond the legal limit.
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The campaign, in turn, has to date reported 534 refunds totaling $844,347. Another quarter-million dollars or so worth of refunds or reattributions are expected after the FEC’s latest letter.
Among the flagged Talarico donors is Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, who made two donations in March for $2,000 and $2,500 designated for the general election — $1,000 over the legal limit. (Polis’ office did not respond to a request for comment.)
One of the largest reported contributions came from Robert E. Price, the son of Sol Price, who founded the companies that would become Costco. He donated a lump sum of $14,000 to Talarico’s campaign, well above the federal limit.
Unlike Price, many of the donors who exceeded the FEC limit on contributions didn’t make a single large contribution. Rather, their small-dollar donations added up to more than the $3,500 individuals are allowed to give per election.
Sharon Freeto, a retiree from San Antonio, had 20 of her Talarico campaign contributions flagged this month by the FEC for giving over the contribution limit — 10 of which were made on April 24, according to federal records.
“I have no memory of how that happened. That’s a lot of money,” Freeto said of the April transactions. She added that she agreed to make monthly donations to the campaign.
Freeto said she had already received a refund for some of her contributions.
“I got a check for the $1,000 refunded with a suggestion to sign it over to, I think it was the national Democratic Party,” she told NOTUS. (The Democratic National Committee began the summer in debt, while the Republican National Committee boasted about $125 million in reserve.)
Even as it came as a surprise, Freeto said she wasn’t too concerned about the transactions.
“I would have missed that if I hadn’t done it,” she said, laughing, adding that this is the first time she had “given so much” to a candidate.
“Two things came together at the same time,” Freeto said. “One is that I really believe in this candidate — I really believe in James Talarico — and the other thing is that for the first time in my life, I have spare money.” She said she supports Talarico because he is the “ideal candidate” for people like her, a self-proclaimed liberal Democrat.
In an emailed statement to NOTUS, the Talarico campaign said its web address used to send financial contributions is automatically set to “donate once to avoid donors automatically being signed up to make monthly donations if they’re unaware of it.”
A second donor flagged by the FEC for contributing $10,000 to the campaign told NOTUS that he contributed the maximum amount of $3,500 to the campaign, with the rest of the lump sum going to a different entity.
“I was told $3,500 was the max I could contribute to the campaign and that the excess would be reallocated to what I thought to some entity associated with the Democratic Party in Texas,” he said when asked for more details about his contribution. He declined to answer more questions over the phone.
The Talarico campaign explained that a donor who makes an excess contribution “will receive a check in the mail with the difference in their donation that has exceeded the donation limit to Talarico for Texas, as well as a letter explaining we are returning their money and sharing ideas as to where they can donate to if they wish to donate it to a similar cause.”
Issue One, a “crosspartisan” nonprofit organization that seeks to reduce the influence of money in politics, said in a statement to NOTUS that the Talarico campaign is both “following the law and trying to do what is right by proactively communicating with donors about excess campaign contributions.”
“Congress needs to create a campaign finance system that is more transparent, accountable, and understandable to the American public,” said Alix Fraser, vice president of advocacy for Issue One. “Issues like excess contributions plague Democrats and Republicans alike and show why our country needs sweeping anti-corruption legislation.”
It’s not uncommon for big-dollar Senate or presidential candidates to allow some excessive donations to slip through. Regulators said 17 donors recently made excessive contributions to Ken Paxton for Senate.
“Federal regulations allow 60 days to resolve an excess contribution,” Madison Cercy, the Paxton campaign’s deputy director of communications, told NOTUS in a statement. “The Candidate Committee, and all associated Joint Fundraising Committee’s strive to maintain compliance with the 60-day rule and have done so.”
But Talarico’s campaign is notable for how much money it’s had to give back amid its endless quest for election-season cash.
Both campaigns send a torrent of near-daily fundraising emails. It’s gotten to the point that Talarico’s subject lines make light of the fire hose of solicitations: “I apologize for invading your inbox,” “Sorry to ask” and just simply “Sorry.”
The Paxton campaign, fresh from a bruising and expensive primary election in which Paxton defeated Sen. John Cornyn, has taken every opportunity to highlight his own fundraising struggles in emails to potential donors with subject lines that underscore the severity of his shortfall:
“Outraised by over 300%.”
“We just saw Talarico’s May numbers. This is bad.”
“I won’t lie to you… This is bad.”
“This is bad. Very bad!”
In his own fundraising pitches, Talarico largely overlooks Paxton’s dismal numbers — the Republican has fewer than $2 million on hand in his campaign account — instead focusing on the hundreds of millions of dollars amassed by Paxton-aligned super PACs Senate Leadership Fund and MAGA Inc. The latter is reportedly preparing to spend significant money to aid Paxton.
“Our state is being taken over by a new kind of tyrant: billionaire mega-donors,” Talarico wrote in a recent fundraising pitch. “Grassroots donations are our best chance to level the playing field.”
“We cannot let the tyrants win.”
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