Trump Unloads Campaign War Chest For The First Time Of 2026 — In A GOP Primary

President Donald Trump has unleashed his massive $400 million war chest for the first time this year in a hotly contested GOP primary as party officials worry the president has yet to focus on key battleground races.

On Monday, Trump Super PAC MAGA, Inc. made its first significant spending since November 2025, pouring $827,711 into GOTV calls and text messages for Darline Graham in Tuesday’s South Carolina Senate GOP runoff. The group last reported more than $403 million cash on hand.

The South Carolina race appears personal to the president, who hand-picked Darline Graham to fill the shoes of her late brother, Sen. Lindsey Graham, telling a tele-rally audience that he “got her into this whole thing” and “has to make sure she gets in.”

The last-minute push for Graham marks the first time Trump has tapped into his hundreds of millions since coming to the rescue of Rep. Matt Van Epps in Tennessee’s closer-than-expected 7th Congressional District special election.

The money dump in South Carolina highlights Trump’s increasing involvement in divisive and hotly contested GOP primaries as he continues to withhold money from key battleground states and races with just 70 days to go until Election Day. 

“Well, I’ve raised a lot, and nobody knows what it is, but I will tell you it’s about $850 million,” Trump said, teasing his financial involvement in the midterms. “I’ll be spending a lot of that money, and my own money, for candidates that I think are good — Republican candidates that I think are good.”

MAGA, Inc. may be calculating that voter engagement will intensify closer to Election Day, making a larger spending push in late September and October more effective.

“When you add the $850 million to all of the other money that we’ve raised, we’re in very good shape,” Trump added in an August 21 gaggle with reporters.

Perhaps no candidate is more eager for Trump’s financial firepower than Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who is locked in a tight Senate race with Democrat James Talarico.

Over the weekend, Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott downplayed fears that Democrats could flip the Lone Star State blue this year and seize control of the U.S. Senate. “Well, let’s put it in context where Ken Paxton is in his campaign, and that is he was in a three-month-long runoff that demanded capital, it demanded campaigning, demanded his attention, and so he’s just now catching up in the campaign process with Talarico,” Abbott told ABC News.

“Talarico got away with something, and that is with Ken Paxton campaigning against John Cornyn as opposed to Talarico,” he added.

The Senate GOP’s fundraising arms have continued to withhold money from Paxton’s campaign after Trump led the effort to oust incumbent Republican Sen. John Cornyn, The Daily Wire reported. Since then, Talarico has dominated the airwaves while Paxton has struggled to raise money in one of the nation’s largest and most expensive states for statewide campaigns. The RealClearPolitics polling average gives Talarico a nearly two-point advantage.

With control of both the House and Senate up for grabs, Republicans face significant headwinds heading into Election Day, including elevated gas prices, the lingering war with Iran, and President Trump’s low approval ratings. The latest RealClearPolitics polling average gives Democrats a roughly 6.4-percentage-point lead on the generic congressional ballot.