Dark money in Texas Senate race spurs Talarico complaint to FEC against Paxton

Earlier this year, a super PAC supporting Texas Republican Senate nominee Ken Paxton received four checks totaling over $1 million from an organization called Preserve Texas, Inc. 

Preserve Texas is not registered as a political committee and has not filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission that could reveal where the money came from. Instead, it is a Virginia-based nonprofit, incorporated by John Plishka, the treasurer for Paxton's Senate campaign, according to corporate documents filed in Virginia.

The arrangement, part of the dramatic uptick in American politics of anonymous, big-dollar giving, has now drawn a complaint from the campaign of Paxton's Democratic opponent, James Talarico, which accused Paxton and his treasurer of violating federal campaign finance rules. 

The Republicans are "illegally spending dark money outside of the federal contribution limits to promote" Paxton's candidacy, argued Seth Krasne, Talarico's campaign manager, in a complaint submitted to the Federal Election Commission on Wednesday and reviewed by CBS News.

The complaint states, "It appears that Mr. Paxton — via his agent Mr. Plishka — established and controls Preserve Texas Inc., a dark money entity that has spent substantial sums to influence Mr. Paxton's election while shielding their donors from public scrutiny."

In the complaint, Krasne asked the FEC for an investigation, citing a provision of the 2002 Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act intended to keep candidates from using outside groups to collect money they could not lawfully accept themselves. 

Money raised under those rules is capped: Senate campaigns can accept $3,500 each from individuals for the primary and general elections, but every donor above $200 must be named in public filings, and campaigns cannot accept money from corporations or unions. Nonprofits do not face the same constraints.

"Because the corporation appears to have been established and controlled by Mr. Paxton's agent, it may not receive or spend any funds in connection with Mr. Paxton's election that are not subject to the act's source restrictions, contribution limits, and reporting requirements," the complaint read, citing the money Preserve Texas sent to the pro-Paxton super PAC — Lone Star Liberty — from February to May. 

Greg Keller, a spokesperson for Lone Star Liberty, said in a statement shared with CBS News that the PAC "fully follows all regulations and laws." The statement accused Talarico of "claiming to oppose money in politics" while embracing what a recent report in the news outlet NOTUS called a "loophole" to provide super PACs with campaign materials. More than a dozen Democratic candidates have embraced this loophole, called "redboxing," the report said. 

Either way, the FEC is unlikely to act on the Talarico campaign's complaint against Paxton before Election Day, since the independent body lacks enough commissioners to vote on opening investigations after a series of departures, including President Trump's firing of a Democratic commissioner. Still, the lines of attack from both sides illustrate how tensions have risen in American politics over the hundreds of millions in anonymous donations flowing into the 2026 midterm elections to decide control of the House and Senate.

Spending in the Texas Senate race has ballooned, thanks to eight-figure advertising buys and cash infusions from super PACs that may raise and spend unlimited sums. The race is widely viewed as a toss-up.

"Ken Paxton's campaign treasurer is the same person running one of his dark money groups," said J.T. Ennis, a spokesman for the Talarico campaign. "That is plainly illegal. Paxton's donors should know that he is wrapping them up in his own criminality — and Texans should know who is behind the dark money spreading Paxton's lies."

This week, the Paxton-aligned Lone Star Liberty PAC launched a $15 million ad campaign that will air across 18 markets in Texas over the next two weeks, Politico first reported. To date, the largest individual donation that the group received came from Preserve Texas, according to campaign finance records.

The Virginia-based Preserve Texas is listed in campaign finance records as having made donations to no other groups except Lone Star Liberty. 

Richard Hasen, a law professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, specializing in campaign finance regulation, said the validity of the Talarico campaign's complaint would depend on whether Preserve Texas was "established, financed, maintained or controlled" by Plishka, and whether Plishka was acting as Paxton's "agent" when he formed it. Federal rules define an agent as a person with "actual authority, either express or implied," to spend or direct funds in connection with any election for a candidate.

"These allegations raise a plausible claim that Paxton's treasurer violated Federal Election Commission rules," Hasen said. "That does not necessarily mean that Paxton did — the raising and spending of unregulated money would have to be at Paxton's direction, or at least with his knowledge."

Preya Samsundar, a spokeswoman for Preserve Texas, said in a statement shared with CBS News that the group "is an independent social welfare organization operating fully within its primary purpose under section 501(c)(4), which is civic engagement and issue advocacy on matters affecting Texas communities."

She said Preserve Texas "has made all filings required of it with the IRS and other relevant authorities and is in full compliance with applicable law." 

"Preserve Texas is not established, financed, maintained, or controlled by any federal candidate or agent of a candidate, and it makes its own decisions independently," Samsundar said. "Services provided by John Plishka are purely administrative in nature, limited to recordkeeping, filings, and back-office support, and involve no strategic role."

Questions about groups embracing hard-to-trace fundraising methods have intensified as the November elections draw closer. A New York Times analysis of advertising data, campaign filings, and tax returns in late August slotted the amount of anonymous political money in 2026 at roughly $1 billion.

The Texas Senate race, alone, is responsible for a huge chunk of that spending. Earlier this year, software company AdImpact projected a record-breaking $446 million in total ad spending in Texas. One of the largest beneficiaries of dark money in 2026 was Sen. John Cornyn, the incumbent Republican who lost in a primary runoff to Paxton. CBS News previously reported on tens of millions in pro-Cornyn PAC dollars that came from a group called Ohio Works that does not disclose its donors and listed its address as a Parcel Plus shipping and mailing store in Alexandria, Virginia.

Saurav Ghosh, the director of federal campaign finance reform for Campaign Legal Center, a nonprofit that researches money in politics, said that transparency, ultimately, is the overarching concern amid the spending uptick. (The Paxton campaign did not respond to requests for comment). 

"Funding campaigns with dark money — including funds from undisclosed donors used to finance super PAC contributions — harms voters and can foster corruption," Ghosh said.