governor abbott campaign contributions governor abbott campaign contributions

Dan Patrick pressured Abbott in public statements that issues related to the grid needed to be on the agenda. A number of factors, including whether an incumbent officeholder is running for reelection, influence donor activity. That far exceeds the $6.8 million in cash on hand that ORourkes committee, Beto For Texas, reported as of the same date. Patrick is in the middle of a131-stop bus tour across Texas, while Collier continues totout his alliances with moderateRepublicans who are endorsing him over the incumbent. And what you want to be able to do is have the ear of the lawmakers, said Andrew Wheat of Texans for Public Justice, an Austin non-profit that tracks money in Texas politics. The O'Rourke campaign has not yet released how much cash on hand it has. 4 min read. Democratic gubernatorial challenger Beto O'Rourke raised $27.3 million from Feb. 20 to June 30, while Republican Gov. Democrats have not won a statewide office in three decades, but incumbent Republican Ken Paxton is deemed vulnerable because of his2015 felony indictment for securities fraudand unrelated accusations of corruption that his top aides took to the FBIin late 2020. Abbott and ORourke are not the only gubernatorial candidates who have received backing from local Texas billionaires. King, Slawson and Shaheen did not respond to calls and emails seeking comment for this story. Thats what allows Gov. Still, in the 2019 legislative session, Abbott successfully appealed to GOP leaders and lawmakers to tend to bread-and-butter issues such as improving public schools and lowering property taxes. Greg Abbott said his campaign raised nearly $19 million in the last six months of 2021, a total that brought his campaign war chest to a staggering $65 million in December. There was a series of finger-pointing and falsehoods from state elected officials who wouldn't accept responsibility and falsely shifted blame to renewable energy sources as they vowed to fix the grid. As of February 19, Abbotts committee reported that it had about $50 million in cash on hand. Since then, ORourke received four major fundraising bumps: one right after the primary election; one after he confronted Abbott at a press conference following the school shooting in Uvalde in late May; one after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe vs. Wade in late June; and one at the end of September, a couple of weeks ahead of the voter registration deadline. contributions may be completely unrelated to the organization. Sign up for The Brief, our daily newsletter that keeps readers up to speed on the most essential Texas news. ORourke, who has had significantly less time to fundraise compared to Abbott, reported raising $4.3 million from the beginning of the year to February 19, compared to Abbott, who raised $5.3 million in the same time frame. Greg Abbott (R), who easily won the primary with more than 66% of the vote, is by far the largest beneficiary of the industry's political giving. For permission to reprint for commercial uses, Greg Abbott attacks Beto O'Rourke without mentioning him by name. As Gov. ORourke received about 391,496 individual donations from outside the state, while Abbott received roughly 109,493. In Texas, Gov. The epic Texas freeze fueled a surge of campaign cash, with the war chest of Gov. Patricks calls came after he tried to assert himself prominently in responding to the winter storm by demanding leadership changes at state regulatory agencies and sparring with one Abbott-appointed regulator on the senate floor. In November, Republicans held their 83-67 majority in the Texas House, despite organizing efforts by ORourkes Powered by People group and millions of dollars in TV ads bought by national Democratic super PACs. Abbott reported $37.9 million, with 79.1 percent of all spending going to the 10 payees topping the list. Texas Governor Greg Abbott threatened to cut off funding for the legislature after Democrats walked out of the final session to prevent the passage of Abbott's voter integrity bill. In 2021, the Abbott campaign had out-raised the O'Rourke campaign since the start of their respective campaigns. Officials with ERCOT, which ordered local utility companies to shed load from the power grid as energy demand exceeded supply, are expected to answer questions during the hearing. Greg Abbott hauled in nearly $19 million over the last nine days of June and boasted an eye-popping $55 million in the bank as he prepares to . Abbotts roster of rich donors is full of Texas Republicans with oil interestssome of who supported Trump ahead of the 2020 election. That has resulted in both candidates receiving a large number of donations from outside Texas. Of all the statewide elections in Texas, the attorney generals race is expected to be the most competitive. Paddie has received thousands in contributions from these entities in election years, but never this amount immediately after a legislative session. AUSTIN Heading into the 2022 campaign season, Gov. In fact, Abbott's campaign said he has raised $95 million this election season. Hancock also has ties to the energy industry in his full-time job as a business owner. That said, she fully supports Governor Abbotts decision to declare the grid event an emergency item for the Legislatures attention and is fully committed, along with her fellow commissioners, to engaging in the legislative inquiry on the way to understanding what factors collided with a natural disaster to cause the outages. Tuesday marks the deadline for candidates to file campaign finance reports with the Texas Ethics Commission detailing fundraising and spending from July through December. Other billionaires with major oil and gas interests who are backing Abbott include Nancy Kinder, the wife of Kinder Morgan cofounder Richard Kinder; Hilcorp cofounder Jeff Hildebrand; Chief Oil & Gas founder Trevor Rees-Jones; Hunt Oil heir Ray Lee Hunt and Western Refining founder Paul Foster, who Abbott appointed to run the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission in April last year. disclosures vary. The Legislature ultimately passed a bill shepherded by Paddie in the House and state Sen. Charles Schwertner, R-Georgetown, in the Senate that requires power generation companies to prepare to withstand extreme weather conditions. Loans are included in most of the elements, except for the top donor tables. This past Valentine's Day, Texas Senator Drew Springer filed SB 923, delivering on Abbott's reelection campaign goal to deny undocumented children access to public education unless the . Just 6%, or $1,141, of his overall campaign contributions in the brief June fundraising period after the 2015 legislative session came from the energy industry. corporations and unions can give directly to campaigns in many jurisdictions. For a time, there was buzz about Shelley Luther, who catapulted to fame for reopening her Dallas hair salon in defiance of COVID-19 restrictions. Texas Gov. During that week, Abbott assured Texans the grid was in better shape than ever. Political strife: The Texas Legislatures toughest 2021 challenges, A day after powerful thunderstorms, North Texas surveys the damage, 3 children killed, 2 wounded at Ellis County home; suspect in custody, How a Texas districts reaction to school shooting fears highlights discipline concerns, Carrollton man advertised pills on social media to entice teens to buy fentanyl, feds say. Democrat Mike Collier gets his rematch with incumbent Lt. Gov. Abbott is a member of the Republican Party and first assumed office in 2015. The Texas Tribune has been tracking contributions, expenditures and cash on hand for both candidates since ORourke officially entered the race in November last year. Cobos salary is $143,000. the Coronavirus crisis. Usually, state candidates in Texas get the majority of their donations from Texans. concerted effort by that organization to "bundle" contributions to the candidate. OpenSecrets aggregates state data from many sources and formats. Karnei, the CEO of a Central Texas power cooperative, is an abounding donor to politicians and energy-related political action committees, campaign finance records show. At a time when newsroom resources and revenue across the country are declining, The Texas Tribune remains committed to sustaining our mission: creating a more engaged and informed Texas with every story we cover, every event we convene and every newsletter we send. If enough contributions came in from people connected All rights reserved, Texas House Plans to Pass Largest Property Tax Decrease Ever,' Speaker Phelan Says, Texas Republicans to Vote on Resolution That Would Censure Rep. Tony Gonzales, 3 Children Killed, 2 Wounded in Ellis County Home; 1 in Custody: Sheriff, Actor Tom Sizemore, of Saving Private Ryan,' Dies at 61. Carpenter, Cobos and Walker are three of 10 remaining ERCOT board members after the five others all of whom live out of state resigned this week. Beto O'Rourke looks to put Greg Abbott on defense in early stages of Texas governor's race, Ahead of primary, Gov. Patrick, 70, has insisted he wants to stay where he is. Greg Abbott raised almost $25 million during the same period, according to. Carney, the Abbott adviser, dismissed talk that ORourke could pose a threat. individuals may be classified instead as ideological donors. He helped raised $54 million for GOP gubernatorial candidates in other states, Carney said. Were receiving support from those in every part of this state who are ready to hold Greg Abbott fully accountable for eight years of failing all of us as he continues to put his extreme agenda over the people of Texas. O'Rourke at that time had raised $7.2 million while Abbott raised nearly $19 million in the last six months of 2021, according to January campaign finance reports. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Abbott compares to the 10 other governors with campaign finance data available from Transparency USA in 2022: The data above are based on campaign finance reports that active Texas PACs submitted to the Texas Ethics Commission. Abbott's campaign said it received nearly 113,000 contributions and that 86% of the campaign contributions came from within Texas. Abbotts a prolific fundraiser, a weapon hes wielded to discourage competition as he moved up among Texas Republicans over the past two decades. with that same employer, the organization's name winds up on the Top Contributors list. Collier now has more money, a stronger team and a ground game that has pushed Patrick torun a more aggressive and public-facing campaignthan he ran four years ago. ORourke and Abbott will compete separately in their own party primaries on March 1, but many are already looking ahead to a general election between the former Democratic House representative and the current Republican governor. Abbott's campaign said his roughly $25 million in donations from the most recent filing period came from nearly 45,000 contributors, which is 1/10th of the number of donors reported by his. Of the trio, King received the most contributions from Karnei by far: five between 2004 and 2016 totaling $475, according to TEC records. As a nonprofit newsroom, we rely on members to help keep our stories free and our events open to the public. Most of Patrick's energy industry money received in June was driven by oil executives. Some of the state data included errors in the address field; these records were corrected when possible such as when the donors address was available elsewhere in the data set and omitted from the location-based calculations when not. His chemical logistics company serves the oil and gas industry, among others. Earlier, he was a statehouse reporter for three newspapers, including the Dallas Times Herald. Small donors make up almost half of the total amount ORourke raised. Gas producers got a pass by Texas policymakers, said Michael Webber, professor of energy resources at the University of Texas at Austin. reason, summary numbers are usually higher (and more current) than the numbers based on detailed records. Gov. Other ERCOT board members are listed in TEC records as having contributed to several energy-related PACs. Beto O'Rourke announces he's running for governor of Texas. About 26% of Patrick's contributions in June came from energy interests, more than $1.3 million, his most ever in the post-session stretch. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott dwarfing other candidates in energy-interest contributions, according to a KHOU 11 analysis of data . Texas has no limits on campaign contributions. Organizations like political action committees or industry associations can also give directly to candidate campaigns. Corporations themselves cannot donate to candidates at the federal level but federal candidates can get contributions from corporate PACs, employees and owners as well as their immediate families. As Gov. Totals for industries (and larger economic Rick Perry and Democrat Tony Sanchez spent in 2002 and the combined $90 million Abbott and Democrat Wendy Davis spent in 2014. DeSantis, who frequently tangles . The Defenders sent Oliver quotes from a Feb. 18 press conference during which Abbott said, ERCOT failed on each of these measures that they said they had undertaken. In April, Abbott had been ahead of O'Rourke by 11 points. Abbott has long been considered a prolific fundraiser and O'Rourke garnered a similar reputation during his 2018 bid for the U.S. Senate, when he raised more than $80 million for his campaign. Walker, a non-voting member of ERCOTs board, did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday. George W. Bush was heavily funded by his familys well-established energy network, his successor, former Gov. You may opt-out by, Source of wealth: Houston Rockets, entertainment, Source of wealth: Computer services, real estate, Source of wealth: Hyatt hotels, investments. Texas Ethics Commission records, however, show that three of the 13 representatives on the House Committee on State Affairs have accepted contributions from ERCOT board member Clifton Karnei. Is Dallas becoming unaffordable due to rising housing costs, inflation and stagnating pay? Texas is already guaranteed record-setting spendingfor a governor's race this year, and the numbers keep climbing. AUSTIN Since a deadly winter storm hit Texas earlier this month Governor Greg Abbott has repeatedly heaped criticism on ERCOT, the operator of the states electric grid, claiming the entity was woefully unprepared for the dangerous weather that has killed a still-untold number of people. Abbott signed into law last year an abortion ban excepting cases when the life of a pregnant patientis in danger that takes effect later this summer. Oil grew to become the states signature industry, rich oilmen and companies started showering politicians with money and a romance blossomed. Of the donors, O'Rourke's campaign said 98% of the donations were received online and that teachers contributed more than any other occupation. Making a million-dollar political donation to reward the government for its light touch and encourage the government to continue turning a blind eye to price gouging and windfall profits while hundreds of people die seems like a good return on investment., Making a million-dollar political donation to reward the government for its light touch and encourage the government to continue turning a blind eye to price gouging and windfall profits while hundreds of people die seems like a good return on investment.. Were talking about a historic blackout in the state of Texas, that affected millions of peoples lives, some in very dangerous ways, said Wheat. The state of Texas imposes no limits on how much money you can give to your local representative, your senator, your governor, said Wheat. Texas elected officials cant receive campaign donations during the session, but after it ended in May, they were showered in cash by the energy industry even more than usual for a group known for its deep pockets and generous campaign giving. More than a quarter of Hancocks contributions in June came from energy interests, about $53,500 the most he has ever received in a post-legislative session period. Copyright 2023 NBCUniversal Media, LLC. The organizations that donated the most money to Abbott this reporting period have previously given to the governor. O'Rourke's campaign reported Tuesday having raised $25.18 million over the most recent reporting period from July 1 through Sept. 29. The two-term governor is one of the most prolific GOP fundraisers in the country and had previously reported raising more than $30 million through the first half of the year and said Tuesday his campaign has now raised $95 million during the current election cycle from more than 418,000 contributors. About 26% of Patricks contributions in June came from energy interests, more than $1.3 million, his most ever in the post-session stretch. Paddie was among a chorus of elected officials from the governor on down demanding answers and solutions for why Texas grid was on the brink of total collapse in February. By signing up you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, Stand with us in our mission to discover and uncover the story of North Texas. State requirements related to itemization thresholds and employment disclosures vary. Power companies were in the hot seat, as millions of Texans who endured a week of subfreezing temperatures with no power demanded sweeping, multibillion dollar improvements to prevent another deadly disaster and lawmakers promised action.