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

September 2, 2026 / 5:23 PM EDT / CBS News

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…

Original source: https://www.cbsnews.com/healthwatch/