Scoop: Cruz-linked super PAC jumps into Texas Senate race

Scoop: Cruz-linked super PAC jumps into Texas Senate race. Add Axios as your preferred source to.

Key points

• GOP authorities expect Paxton to secure a boost from the hundreds of millions of dollars in the Republican National Committee and President Trump's super PAC, MAGA Inc.
• The Talarico campaign has almost $22 million in cash on hand, compared to Paxton's almost $2 million, according to FEC filings.
• The ad focuses on Chinese purchases of Texas farmland, attacking Talarico for opposing legislation to ban the practice.
• The major picture: Multiple polls this month have shown Talarico with a narrow lead over Paxton.
• John Cornyn (R-Texas), who lost to Paxton, during the primary.

Driving the news: Cruz's (R-Texas) Truth and Courage PAC will spend more than $1.7 million on broadcast TV and Fox News in Houston as well as on college football in Dallas and Houston, according to intends first provided to Axios.

Meanwhile, the ad focuses on Chinese purchases of Texas farmland, attacking Talarico for opposing legislation to ban the practice. "Communist China is buying up Texas, " the narrator notes.

Notably, the major picture: Multiple polls this month have shown Talarico with a narrow lead over Paxton. Cook Political Report on Thursday moved the race from "lean Republican" to "toss-up." Talarico has been out-fundraising Paxton roughly 7-1.

Meanwhile, the Talarico campaign has almost $22 million in cash on hand, compared to Paxton's almost $2 million, according to FEC filings.

What to watch: Neither the National Republican Senatorial Committee nor the top Senate leadership super PAC, Senate Leadership Fund, have created any ad reservations in Texas since the May primary.

Both groups backed Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), who lost to Paxton, during the primary.

How much of that funds they will spend – and when – is still unclear.

For now, scoop: Cruz-linked super PAC jumps into Texas Senate race remains the part of the story worth watching, and further updates are likely as more details are confirmed.