Few outside Texas had heard of middle-school teacher turned state lawmaker and seminarian James Talarico before he kicked off a run of high-profile podcast and television appearances last year.
On his media tour, the eighth generation Texan made his stance on money in politics clear. He told Joe Rogan that “it doesn’t matter who the elected officials are if these billionaires buy whoever’s elected.”
But the U.S. Senate candidate’s attacks on billionaires—which he has called “the only minority destroying America”—have not deterred at least seven billionaires from lending the Texan their financial support. Talarico’s campaign and super PACs supporting his candidacy have received at least $2.5 million in total from billionaire households, according to a Forbes analysis. Talarico’s billionaire backers amassed their wealth mainly in tech or finance. Many have a track record of supporting Democrats in nationwide races, though a couple are power brokers in Texas politics who have given money to candidates from both parties.
“If any billionaire wants to tax themselves more and limit their political influence, they’re welcome to help defeat politicians like Ken Paxton,” Talarico campaign spokesperson JT Ennis tells Forbes. The campaign adds that 97% of Talarico’s donations in the first quarter of 2026 were $100 or less. Paxton, the Republican attorney general of Texas since 2015, attracted several billionaire supporters of his own in his successful primary challenge to incumbent U.S. Sen. John Cornyn but not as many as Talarico.
Talarico won his primary on March 3; the latest federal campaign filings only cover activity through the end of March, which means more billionaires may have already thrown their support behind him. Despite his anti-billionaire rhetoric, he attended several Bay Area fundraisers with prominent Democratic Party donors this week, reported Politico. With mountains of cash expected to flow into this race before the November general election as Democrats seek to flip a Senate seat, even more members of the three-comma club might be cutting the anti-billionaire candidate a check soon.
For now, here are the seven billionaires already in Talarico’s corner.
Reid Hoffman
Donations to Talarico Groups: $1.5 million
Net Worth: $2.7 billion
Source of Wealth: LinkedIn
Hoffman, who made his fortune in Silicon Valley as an early PayPal executive and cofounder of LinkedIn, described himself last year as “more of a centrist than anything else” who dislikes “the extremes on both sides”. Still he’s best known as a consistent backer of the Democratic Party and has already given over $2.2 million to groups aligned with the party in 2026, including $1.5 million to Lone Star Rising, a super PAC supporting Talarico. More recently, Hoffman has tussled with Trump, whose administration is investigating Hoffman and his nonprofit for donations to E. Jean Carroll, the former magazine columnist who accused President Trump of sexual assault.
Stephen Mandel Jr.
Donations to Talarico Groups: $500,000
Net Worth: $5 billion
Source of Wealth: Hedge funds
The billionaire founder of Lone Pine Capital has a long history of giving to the Democratic Party, dating back at least as far as 1992, when he donated $1,000 to Bill Clinton’s campaign. Mandel and his wife contributed $6.9 million to Kamala Harris’ 2024 presidential bid, and donated half a million to the Lone Star Rising super PAC. Mandel is also a large donor to the charter school movement and sits on the board of Teach for America.
Tench and Simone Coxe
Donations to Talarico Groups: About $500,000
Net Worth: $8.6 billion
Source of Wealth: Venture capital
The third largest individual shareholder in Nvidia, venture capitalist Coxe and his wife Simone, a former public relations executive, collectively contributed $2 million to support Texas Democrat Beto O’Rourke’s gubernatorial challenge to Greg Abbott in 2022. This time around, Simone gave $500,000 to a pro-Talarico super PAC, and Tench — who has a bipartisan giving history, including supporting Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign in 2012 — and Simone each donated thousands to Talarico’s official fundraising committee.
John and Laura Arnold
Donations to Talarico Groups: $7,000
Net Worth: $2.8 billion
Source of Wealth: Hedge funds
A highly successful energy trader at Enron, he and his wife Laura have spent the past 14 years giving away much of their fortune—more than $2 billion so far, to everything from criminal justice reform to community college. A lifelong Texas resident, Arnold has supported both Democratic and Republican candidates in his home state and has given $100,000 to a Texas-based pro-charter school PAC. He and Laura each contributed $3,500 to Talarico’s campaign committee. The Arnolds also hedged their bets, contributing to incumbent Sen. John Cornyn, who lost the Republican nomination to Ken Paxton.
Henry and Marsha Laufer
Donations to Talarico Groups: $7,000
Net Worth: $3.2 billion
Source of Wealth: Hedge funds
Laufer left his post as Stony Brook University mathematics professor in 1992 to join Jim Simons’ powerhouse quantitative hedge fund Renaissance Technologies. A reliable Democratic donor, Laufer was one of the top givers to Harris-aligned groups in 2024. Laufer and his wife, Marsha, have each donated $3,500 to the Talarico campaign.
Dirk and Natasha Ziff
Donations to Talarico Groups: $7,000
Net Worth: $7.2 billion
Source of Wealth: Investments
Ziff, who inherited his grandfather’s publishing fortune along with his two brothers, has supported Democratic candidates nationwide. The Ziff Capital Partners founder has given over $1.5 million to left wing groups since 2020. He and his wife, Natasha, a former Forbes reporter, each donated $3,500 to the Talarico campaign.
Laurie Tisch
Donations to Talarico Groups: $5,000
Net Worth: $2.2 billion
Source of Wealth: Loews, New York Giants
An heir to the fortune by the Loews Corp. conglomerate, Tisch has donated almost $200,000 to Democratic congressional candidates in races nationwide in 2026, including $5,000 to Talarico’s campaign committee. The New York-based Tisch also gave $150,000 to an Andrew Cuomo-aligned super PAC in 2025, in an attempt to thwart the election of Zohran Mamdani as mayor of New York City. She is the first cousin once removed of Mayor Mamdani’s NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch.
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