Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) all but conceded in a Tuesday interview on Fox News that Republicans do not have the money to hold the Senate seat in Texas without help from President Donald Trump and his outside billionaire allies.

The Texas race, the latest in a long line of attempts by Democrats to compete in a longtime Republican bastion, has polled competitively all summer, with Democratic state Rep. James Talarico maintaining small but persistent leads against scandal-plagued Republican state Attorney General Ken Paxton. The contest also underscores how expensive statewide campaigns in Texas can be, where reaching voters across a vast media market often requires heavy early spending and sustained outside support.

So far, Talarico has dominated the airwaves with a spending advantage in what is one of the nation's most expensive states in which to campaign.

"We have to win this race," Thune said in the interview with Fox's Martha MacCallum. "I think all of our allies out there, including the president and his team and their resources, need to be brought to bear on Texas because it's not one that we can lose if we are going to hang on to Republican majority, we flat have to win there."

MacCallum noted that Trump's super PAC, MAGA Inc., is sitting on a war chest of $400 million. "Is that money going to start rolling any time soon?"

"We certainly hope so," said Thune.

"Texas is such an expensive state, we will need the president and his team to engage there and to be putting resources into that race," Thune added.