Billionaires Buying Elections
It's Primary Run-Off Time!
It’s become painfully obvious that Texas has three meaningful political parties. There are the Democrats of course, but then there is a split in what has been the Republican Party.
You’ve got the Dunn Wilks Republicans (DWR from here out), who are aligned with executing the Christian nationalist ideology, pushing for ever more power and control, more guns, more patriarchy, more anti-immigrant and anti-LGBTQ+ policy, ignoring and erasing history in pursuit of a self-promoting myth, injecting as much religion as possible into public spaces (and especially public schools), advantaging businesses over people, VOUCHERS!, and dismissing things that would have been scandals pushing people out of office a few short years ago in pursuit of maintaining levers of power.
Then you’ve got the Plain ‘Ol Republicans (POR from here out), who seem to vote for pretty much all of the same things above. The only real exceptions seems to bee the willingness to challenge raw corruption and pushing back on vouchers because of the impact on their specific districts (not really pro-public education across the board).
But there is a distinct difference in the contributors to DWR and POR. The Primary Run-Offs make that crystal clear. The DWR sense blood in the water and are coming hard. Those who support POR are spending everything they can to stem the bleed. And there are a few players who will straddle the line.
The TLDR version of what follows: Billionaires are buying Texas elections
Not just attempting to. We are way past that. They are dropping so much money it overwhelms systems. And it isn’t just Tim Dunn (but yeah, he’s still dropping money). The last time we saw money reported, it was for the March Primaries, and all reported dollars covered from January 1, 2024 to February 24, 2024.
The Primary Run-off reports cover from February 25, 2024 to May 18, 2024. Everything below (unless I call it out specifically) will be from the Primary Run-off reports.
Let’s run through the money, starting with those in the run-offs on May 28, 2024, including their party designations.
House District 1
DWR - Chris Spencer - $528,174
POR - Gary VanDeaver - $492,421
House District 12
POR - Ben Bius - $28,781
POR - Trey Wharton - $776,042
House District 21
DWR - David Covey - $1,657,036
POR - Dade Phelan - $3,285,943
House District 29
POR - Jeffrey Barry - $61,479
DWR - Alex Kamkar - $632,534
House District 30
POR - Jeff Bauknight - $928,842
DWR - A.J. Louderback - $600,378
House District 33
POR - Justin Holland - $1,248,699
DWR - Katrina Pierson - $473,320
House District 37 (Weird how there are no billionaires giving here)
DEM - Ruben Cortez Jr. - $42,330
DEM - Jonathan Gracia - $5,800
House District 44
POR - John Kuempel - $1,446,332
DWR - Alan Schoolcraft - $572,342
House District 58
POR - DeWayne Burns - $893,132
DWR - Helen Kerwin - $505,808
House District 61
POR - Frederick Frazier - $904,646
DWR - Keresa Richardson - $94,186
House District 64
DWR - Andy Hopper - $575,057
POR - Lynn Stucky - $776,064
House District 76
POR - Summara Kanwal - $35
POR - Lea C.S. Simmons - $270
I won’t burden you with pie charts for less than $300
House District 77 (Weird how there are no billionaires giving here)
DEM - Norma Chávez - $54,957
DEM - Vince Perez - Nothing Reported
House District 80 (Weird how there are no billionaires giving here)
DEM - Cecilia Castellano - $17,853
DEM - Rosie Cuellar - $142,128
House District 91
POR - Stephanie Klick - $861,728
DWR - David Lowe - $266,322
House District 97 (Weird how there are no billionaires giving here)
DEM - Diane Symons - $4,002
DEM - Carlos Walker - $7,801
House District 97
DWR - Cheryl Bean - $297,597
POR - John McQueeney - $1,897,177
House District 139
DEM - Angeanette Thibodeaux - $43,616 (Voucher / School Choice ALERT)
DEM - Charlene Ward Johnson - $24,075 (Ugh, and Charter Schools Now PAC)
District 146
DEM - Lauren Ashley Simmons - $298,364
Kinda DEM - Shawn Nicole Thierry - STILL HAS NOT FILED WITH TEC
State Board of Education District 10
DWR - Mary Bone - $184,224 (VOUCHER Donors)
POR - Tom Maynard - $111,502 (SCHOOL CHOICE / CHARTER Donors)
State Board of Education District 12
DWR - Jamie Kohlmann - $360,944 (VOUCHER and Charter Donors)
POR - Pam Little - $14,819
Senate District 15
DEM - Molly Cook - $616,258
DEM - Jarvis D. Johnson - $595,079 (School Choice / Charter Donors)
Total reported contributions to General PACs came to $33,323,637. Almost half of that came from just 10 people / groups.
Total reported contributions to COH (Candidate or Office Holder) filers came to $25,945,281. 45% of that came from just 10 people / groups (and note on the pie chart Dan Patrick and Texans for Lawsuit Reform show up twice, as when the COH files, they list the contributor, and differences in their submissions will display as a different contributor)
Which billionaires are doing the buying? We start with individual donors, limiting this to only those giving $200k or much much more.
Miriam Adelson - $9,100,000
Texas Defense PAC (created on 04/30/2024) - $9,050,000
Dade Phelan (TX House) - $50,000
Tim Dunn - $3,780,000
Texans United for a Conservative Majority PAC - $3,750,000
Republican Party of Texas - $30,000
Jeff Yass - $2,100,000
AFC Victory Fund - $1,700,000
Dan Patrick - $400,000
Richard (Dick) Weekley - $1,120,000
Texans for Lawsuit Reform - $1,000,000
Jamie Kohlmann (TX SBOE) - $100,000
Thomas Maynard (TX SBOE) - $10,000
Helen Kerwin (TX House) - $10,000
Alex Fairly - $750,000
David Covey (TX House) - $500,000
Alan Schoolcraft (TX House) - $100,000
Cheryl Bean (TX House) - $100,000
Andrew Louderback (TX House) - $50,000
John Nau - $777,500
Associated Republicans of Texas Campaign Fund - $475,000
Dan Patrick - $250,000
Texans for Lawsuit Reform PAC - $50,000
John Kuempel (TX House) - $2,500
George Soros - $600,000
Texas Organizing Project PAC - $600,000
Charles Butt (via The Charles Butt Public Education PAC which is fully funded by Mr. Butt) - $510,809
Associated Republicans of Texas Campaign Fund - $250,000
DeWayne Burns - $172,358
Justin Holland - $88,450
David Weekley (brother of Richard) - $300,000
Texans for Lawsuit Reform - $300,000
Woody Hunt - $272,500
Associated Republicans of Texas Campaign Fund - $167,500
Dade Phelan (TX House ) - $50,000
Charter Schools Now PAC - $35,000
Friends of the University of Texas at Austin - $5,000
Jeffrey Bauknight (TX House) - $5,000
John McQueeney (TX House) - $5,000
Brent Hagenbuch (TX House) - $2,500
Lynn Stucky (TX House) - $2,500
Harlan Crow - $270,500
Texans for Lawsuit Reform - $175,000
Associated Republicans of Texas Campaign Fund - $75,000
For Our Kids - $12,000
Justin Holland (TX House) - $5,000
Brent Hagenbuch (TX House) - $2,500
Jamie Kohlmann (TX SBOE) - $1,000
Reed Hastings (Netflix) - $250,000
Legacy 44 PAC
Montgomery (Monty) Bennett - $222,500
Texans for Educational Freedom PAC
Brent Hagenbuch (TX House)
Alan Schoolcraft (TX House)
Stephen Hopper (TX House)
Darlene Pendery - $215,000
Stephen Hopper (TX House) - $200,000
Jace Yarbrough (TX House) - $15,000
Brad Tucker - $200,020
Texans for Lawsuit Reform PAC - $200,000
Lake Travis Voices for Progress - $20
Now, let’s look at where each of the PACs captured above were giving to get a complete picture.
Texas Defense PAC - $3,087,413 (Miriam Adelson) All POR
John McQueeney (TX House) - $1,247,032
Justin Holland (TX House) - $528,420
Dade Phelan (TX House) - $480,747
Frederick Frazier (TX House) - $431,297
John Kuempel (TX House) - $399,917
Texans United for a Conservative Majority - $2,010,161 (Tim Dunn) All DWR
Andrew Louderback (TX House) - $456,106
David Covey (TX House) - $430,973
Stephen Hopper (TX House) - $222,798
Katrina Pierson (TX House) - $175,000
Wesley Virdell (TX House) - $158,275
Cheryl Bean (TX House) - $125,000
Alan Schoolcraft (TX House) - $100,000
Tarrant County Patriots PAC - $89,898
Helen Kerwin (TX House) - $75,000
Conservative Texas Alliance PAC - $35,000
Chris Spencer (TX House) - $30,973
Mary Bone (TX SBOE) - $27,500
Wise County Conservatives - $22,500
Denton County Conservative Coalition - $18,895
Jamie Kohlmann (TX SBOE) - $17,500
David Lowe (TX House) - $12,798
Keresa Richardson (TX House) - $11,946
AFC Victory Fund - $60,000* (Jeff Yass, Richard Uihlein, Betsy & Dick DeVos) DWR & POR crossover
Texas Federation for Children PAC (which is really all part of AFC) - $55,000
Family Empowerment Coalition PAC (vouchers) - $5,000
*BUT, AFC Victory spent AGAINST multiple candidates, which doesn’t get reported as an in-kind or direct contribution on the report of the beneficiary of the attacks. Here are those beneficiaries since the first of January:
That’s over $4.5 million. What’s interesting is there were some expenses from AFC Victory that DID list the expense in SUPPORT of the candidates above. But not a penny has shown up on the filings for those candidates.
Texans for Lawsuit Reform - $2,086,941 (Richard Weekley and other generally pro-business billionaires) POR & DWR crossover
Jeffrey Bauknight (TX House) - $483,266
Arthur Wharton (TX House) - $320,650
Alex Kamkar (TX House) - $250,633
Lynn Stucky (TX House) - $206,354
Stephanie Klick (TX House) - $157,157
John McQueeney (TX House) - $150,000
Houston Region Business Coalition - $140,000
Frederick Frazier (TX House) - $133,978
John Kuempel (TX House) - $115,250
Brent Hagenbuch (TX House) - $75,000
Dade Phelan (TX House) - $25,000
Justin Holland (TX House) - $15,250
DeWayne Burns (TX House) - $13,450
Texas Federation of Republican Women PAC - $950
Associated Republicans of Texas Campaign Fund - $942,157 (John Nau, Woody Hunt, Ross Perot, Robert Rowling, Charles Butt Public Ed) All POR
John Kuempel (TX House) - $242,521
Dade Phelan (TX House) - $230,369
DeWayne Burns (TX House) - $154,538
Gary Vandeaver (TX House) - $99,680
John McQueeney (TX House) - $79,364
Frederick Frazier (TX House) - $57,015
Jeffrey Bauknight (TX House) - $35,366
Justin Holland (TX House) - $31,970
Lynn Stucky (TX House) - $11,333
Texas Organizing Project PAC - $34,717 (George Soros) DEM
Lauren Ashley Simmons (TX House) - $22,369
Molly Cook (TX Senate) - $12,347
The scope and scale of the money isn’t even close
Charter Schools Now PAC - $206,744 (Reed Hastings, Jim Walton - WalMart, Richard Weekley) DEM, POR, & DWR
Jarvis Johnson (TX Senate) - $50,469
Thomas Maynard (TX SBOE) - $50,000
Jamie Kohlmann (TX SBOE) - $50,000
Dade Phelan (TX House) - $29,622
Stephanie Klick (TX House) - $10,000
Texans for Educational Freedom - $5,652 (Vouchers)
Charlene Ward Johnson (TX House) - $2,500
Angeanette Thibodeaux (TX House) - $2,500
Cheryl Bean (TX House) - $1,000
Brent Hagenbuch (TX House) - $1,000
Ben Bius (TX House) - $1,000
John McQueeney (TX House) - $1,000
Jace Yarbrough (TX House) - $1,000
Norma Chavez (TX House) - $1,000
OMG. I’m overwhelmed having compiled all of this. I can’t imagine how you the reader are feeling if you made it this far.
First, thanks for continuing to scroll.
Second, hopefully you can see just how jacked up the system is, when billionaires spend at will, utilizing propaganda and misdirection to seize control of levers of power, to advance their own ideology, and make them a ton of money.
At this point, the primary run-offs have just election day (Tuesday, May 28, 2024) to go. It’s hard to influence outcomes from here. BUT, we will know what we are up against for November.
It will take “we the people” saying enough is enough and voting for people who truly represent OUR desires for the state, not those of billionaires. You up for it?
See it. Name it. Fight it.
Thank you for compiling this information! How illuminating it is to see who is trying to control the levers of power. Our campaign finance laws are abysmal. The string-pullers are rarely revealed except when you pull back the curtain for us.
Truly doing the Lard’s/TexasJesus’ work over here