Texas has long been a source of money for political candidates around the country, but the state also attracts plenty of wealthy donors from out of state – drawn here by particular causes, and the Texas politicians who support them.
Texas Monthly senior editor Alexandra Samuels investigated where the largest donors have spent their money in Texas. She says much of the money has gone to support “the big three” of Texas politics: Gov. Greg Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and House Speaker Dade Phelan. Listen to the interview above or read the transcript below.
This transcript has been edited lightly for clarity:
Texas Standard: Which people or organizations are the main sources of out-of-state money coming into Texas politics?
Alexandra Samuels: We identified five of the biggest out-of-state political donors who gave significant amounts of money to either candidates directly or to PACs that then passed that money on to various candidates.
So, in order, those donors are: Miriam Adelson of Nevada, Jeff Yass of Pennsylvania, George Soros of New York, Reed Hastings of California, and Richard Uihlein of Illinois. And as of mid-May, these five donors doled out a combined $33 million, which is an unprecedented sum.
Now, what about the recipients? Are there certain political groups or politicians that are receiving a particularly high percentage of this out-of-state money?
The big three. So House Speaker Dade Phelan, Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick were the individuals who received the most from these folks.
Adelson was especially generous to Phelan. She not only cut him a personal check for $50,000, but she also gave nearly $4 million to the Texas Sands PAC, which later passed on about $300,000 to Phelan. And then Adelson dropped an additional $9 million into another PAC, which then lavished Phelan with another $480,000 check.
Jeff Yass, meanwhile, gave a lot of money to Abbott and Patrick. So Abbott and his main political committee received a combined $6.25 million from Yass, while Patrick received $400,000 from him.
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What are the regulations about who can donate to political campaigns in Texas and how much they can spend?
Texas has some restrictions on out-of-state donations. It limits donations during the biannual legislative session and requires disclosure of political advertising that contain express advocacy. But there aren’t contribution limits for most offices and personal spending made by an individual or a PAC that’s not coordinated with a candidate is not considered a contribution.
So, for instance, if an individual wants to spend $100,000 on billboards for a candidate he or she supports and that person never coordinated that expenditure with the campaign, then it’s not considered a campaign contribution at the state or the federal level.
At the end of the day, though, candidates must report the money they raise and spend, including where the money raised came from.
Well, this is interesting. And it’s also interesting to examine the donations to these three top Republicans – top Republicans we know, but not people who always agree on the details or even on some of the broad issues. What impact does this have on Texas politics? What did you discover in your reporting?
Well, earlier this year, during the primary and runoffs, we got a glimpse into Abbott’s spending spree. And I guess I’ll focus more on him.
But he spent a little more than $4 million on mostly ads, polling and canvasing, largely aimed at ten GOP primary challengers to anti-voucher Republicans in the Texas House. This voucher effort was seemingly bolstered again by that record-setting $6 million contribution he received from Jeff Yass, and Abbott was wildly successful.
So in the March GOP primary and May runoffs, he helped take down nine of the 16 anti-voucher Republican incumbents who ran for reelection.
So why should Texans care? Does this matter that this is happening? Or is it important to understand where the money in our political system is coming from?
Of course. You know, in a sort of roundabout way, these people are helping shape which policies pass the Legislature and that has a direct impact on Texans.
For example, Abbott’s campaign, as I mentioned before, was given nearly $6 million from Yass. Yass supports school vouchers and so does Abbott. So Abbott then can use that money to promote anti-voucher Republicans and get rid of the legislators who don’t back his agenda, which is what we saw earlier this year.
And it’s the same with Adelson. She’s been pushing for a number of legislative sessions now to legalize casinos in Texas, and she’s giving money to PACs that are then passing that on to candidates who support casinos.
All of these billionaires have an agenda, and their money in some ways can help determine which laws ultimately get passed.
