Despite a spending spree by George Soros and other liberal donors who sought to flip Texas to the Democrats, voters in the Lone Star State crushed leftists’ dreams on election night by delivering significant victories for Republicans up and down the ballot. Despite minimal help from the Republican Party of Texas and donors that were actively engaged in Primary Election fights, several Political Action Committees and donors opened their pocketbooks in a major way to help Republican candidates succeed.
Texans for Lawsuit Reform (TLR) and its sister organization, the Judicial Fairness PAC, spent far more than any other groups to elect Republicans to the legislative and judicial branches of the Texas government in the 2024 general election.
With most of its spending focused on battleground legislative races, TLR spent more than $8.5 million to assist Republicans in the general election. The group was the largest donor in the general election to the three Republican candidates who flipped legislative seats that were held by Democrats last session- Adam Hinojosa (Senate District 27), Denise Villalobos (House District 34), and Don McLaughlin (House District 80). TLR donated $600,000 to Hinojosa’s campaign, over $200,000 to Villalobos’ campaign, and over $536,000 to McLaughlin’s campaign.
In addition to their efforts flipping seats that Democrats had held, TLR also played a vital role in defending Republican seats in the Texas House. Over $5 million of TLR’s spending in the general election went to assist 43 incumbent Republican State Representatives and 16 Republican candidates running in Texas House districts currently held by Republicans.
As previously reported by The Texas Voice, the Judicial Fairness PAC spent over $17 million on successful efforts to elect 26 Republicans to regional appellate courts across Texas. These victories resulted in new Republican majorities on the appellate courts serving the Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, and South Texas regions.
In addition to receiving $1.2 million from its sister organization TLR, notable donors to the Judicial Fairness PAC included Elon Musk, Houston businessman and TLR co-founder Dick Weekley, Plano investor Kenneth Fisher, the Concord Fund, Las Vegas Sands, TRT Holdings, Inc., Trinity Equity Partners I LP, and Hillwood Development Corp.
The Texas Defense PAC, funded by Las Vegas Sands and Dallas Mavericks owner Dr. Miriam Adelson, spent $2.3 million to help Republicans in the general election. Their efforts were targeted toward seven competitive races in the Texas House. State Representatives Morgan Meyer, Angie Chen Button, and Janie Lopez and Texas House candidate Marc LaHood were the largest recipients of Texas Defense PAC donations in the general election.
Governor Greg Abbott spent $1.8 million to help a group of 14 Republican legislative candidates. All of the donations made by Abbott to the candidates he supported were in the form of in-kind contributions, primarily for digital advertising, canvassing, polling, and texting. Former Del Rio Mayor Robert Garza, who unsuccessfully challenged incumbent Democrat State Representative Eddie Morales in a district covering a portion of the Texas-Mexico border, received over $266,000 in the form of in-kind contributions from Abbott.
The Associated Republicans of Texas (ART), which has a history dating back to 1974, spent $1.5 helping Republicans in the 2024 general election. In recent years, ART has prioritized growing the Republican Party in Hispanic communities. ART was the largest donor to Robert Garza’s campaign in House District 74, spending over $480,000 in that race. The group also invested heavily in Denise Villalobos’ successful campaign to flip House District 34 in Nueces County and the re-election campaigns of State Representatives Janie Lopez, John Lujan, Morgan Meyer, and Angie Chen Button.
Texans United for a Conservative Majority, which spent over $7.5 million in the Republican Primary and Runoff elections earlier this year, donated just $1.1 million in either cash or in-kind contributions to Republican candidates in the general election. The bulk of the group’s general election spending was focused on four races- Adam Hinojosa’s campaign for Senate District 27, Denise Villalobos’ campaign for House District 34, Don McLaughlin’s campaign for House District 80, and Marc LaHood’s campaign for House District 121.
Midland oilman Tim Dunn, who is the largest donor to Texans United for a Conservative Majority, has been criticized by some on the right for prioritizing Primary election battles over beating Democrats in general elections. Shortly before Election Day, Current Revolt published an article detailing how a member of Dunn’s family had distributed a voter guide in Midland County that encouraged voters to support Democrats running for Midland City Council, Midland County Commissioner, and Midland County Constable.
The Texas Voice has previously reported how Tim Dunn once donated $500,000 to a SuperPAC that was integral to Beto O’Rourke’s initial election to Congress.
Neither Dunn nor Texans United for a Conservative Majority appeared to have played any role in the victorious efforts to secure Republican majorities on the regional appellate courts in Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, and South Texas regions.
Cisco businessman Farris Wilks, who was the second largest donor to Texans United for a Conservative Majority behind Dunn during the Primary Election season, seems to have been entirely absent from any efforts to aid Texas Republicans in the 2024 General Election.
The Texas Voice has reviewed campaign finance databases maintained by the Texas Ethics Commission and the Federal Election Commission and cannot find any record of Wilks making any contributions to any candidate or Political Action Committee since the Republican Primary Election earlier this year.
In January, The Texas Voice reported that a business controlled by Wilks and his family had implemented woke Environmental, Social, and Governance (“ESG”) and Diversity and Inclusion (“DI”) initiatives throughout the company, including programs that incorporated “Sustainable Development Goals” published by the United Nations.
The Thirteen Foundation, a charitable foundation funded by Farris Wilks and his wife, has been a financial supporter the organization that publishes the website “Texas Scorecard”. One of Texas Scorecard’s writers, Adam Cahn, has posted conspiracy theories attacking Donald Trump on his Twitter account and served as a Presidential Elector for Robert Morrow in 2020.
Morrow himself is known as an anti-Trump conspiracy theorist who had been condemned by the Travis County Republican Party for his “history of misogynist and vulgar language” and his “outrageous and slanderous allegations about President Trump” and other prominent Republicans. In a recent campaign for a school board seat in the Austin area, Morrow described Israel as an “illegitimate state” and opposed the teaching of “Zionist propaganda” in schools.
Cahn has stated that he voted for Morrow against Trump in 2016 and 2020 and indicated that would have supported Morrow had he run for President again this year.
Former Republican Party of Texas State Chairman Matt Rinaldi began working for one of Wilks’ business entities during his tenure as State Chairman. Rinaldi’s chairmanship was marred by controversy, with him being widely criticized for lackluster fundraising and using Party resources to wage false attacks against conservative Republican lawmakers.
The Republican Party of Texas played a minimal role in Republican victories in the 2024 general election. Although new State Chairman Abraham George promised field offices and a staff of over 100 during election season prior to his election as Chairman in May, those promises never materialized. The Party did not open any field offices and operated with a staff of only ten employees prior to the General Election. Additionally, the Party’s campaign finance reports do not reflect any expenditures for canvassing or other field operations for the General Election.
The Party did make donations to Adam Hinojosa’s State Senate campaign ($160,000) and Don McLaughlin’s ($55,000), Marc LaHood’s ($55,000), and Denise Villalobos’ ($60,000) State House campaigns. The Party also donated $29,000 to candidates running for regional appellate courts and made small donations to various down-ballot candidates as part of the Party’s Candidate Resource Committee program.
Television ads and mailers from the Republican Party of Texas supporting United States Senator Ted Cruz’s re-election campaign were made possible by large infusions of cash the Party received from the Ted Cruz Victory Fund ($2.6 million) and the National Republican Senatorial Committee ($2.8 million) that were earmarked towards efforts to support Cruz.
According to data from the Federal Election Commission, donations from individuals to the Republican Party of Texas’ federal account were down nearly 60% in 2024 when compared to 2020.
