Mark Cuban Joins Talarico on Campaign Trail in Texas Senate Race

Billionaire Mark Cuban campaigned for Democratic U.S. Senate hopeful James Talarico on Aug. 29 to promote the candidate’s plan to break up healthcare monopolies.

Cuban, who launched his own low-cost online pharmacy in 2022, endorsed Talarico after the Democratic candidate agreed to back the bipartisan “Break Up Big Medicine Act” if elected.

The bill, proposed by Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), would “prohibit pharmacy benefit managers, insurers, and prescription drug or medical device wholesalers from being under common ownership with certain medical service providers.”

“It is insane that one company can literally control the hospital where you pay to get care, the pharmacy where you pay for your medications, and the insurance company that decides how much you pay. It’s a racket, and these monopolies are—they are profiting off our pain,” Talarico said during a sold-out discussion with Cuban at the Ridglea Theater in Fort Worth on Saturday.

Talarico added that a “devastating diagnosis shouldn’t mean a devastating invoice,” suggesting that the healthcare industry in the United States “is not a free market; this is coverage by [the] cartel.”

“If we can break up those big companies—the CVSes, the Uniteds, etc.,” Cuban said on Saturday, “we literally could see the cost of pharmaceuticals and healthcare literally drop overnight 20, 30, 40 percent depending on where you live,”

Cuban gave a sweeping endorsement of the Democrat during the event, saying “character is destiny,” and told the audience that they can put their trust in Talarico “for anything.”

“One of the reasons I’m here is not just to talk about healthcare, but because of James and the fact that I believe in him,” Cuban added.

Talarico, a Texas state representative, is running against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Republican, who beat incumbent John Cornyn in the GOP primary runoff election.

The Cook Political Report recently shifted the race’s rating from “Lean Republican” to a “Toss Up” on Aug. 20.

The majority of polls taken in July and August show Talarico beating Paxton by a small margin.

Talarico is hoping to be the first Democrat elected to the U.S. Senate since 1988, when Sen. Lloyd Bentsen won reelection.

President Donald Trump, who won the state with 56.1 percent of the vote in the 2024 presidential election, gave Paxton a “complete and total endorsement” on May 19.

“Ken is a true MAGA Warrior who has ALWAYS delivered for Texas, and will continue to do so in the United States Senate,” Trump wrote in his endorsement on Truth Social.

Paxton is a supporter of Trump’s Make America Healthy Again agenda, saying he wants to take on Big Pharma and Big Food, increase transparency in U.S. food and healthcare systems, and allow people the freedom to make their own choices about their health.