MONITORING THE SITUATION (2/11/26)

CAUGHT ON VIDEO: Sign Shenanigans, Interesting County Purchases

Here are several situations we are monitoring just for you:

• Interesting Denton County Purchases

• CAUGHT ON VIDEO: Congressional Candidate Tears Down Opponents Signs

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Citizens Raise Eyebrows Surrounding County Contracts and Commissioner Candidate

Citizens have raised questions surrounding the company Denton City Mayor Gerard Hudspeth works for and the million dollars worth of contracts that were secured with Denton County after he was elected.

Gerard Hudspeth was elected Denton City Mayor in 2020. In 2022 he began working for a technology company named Freeit Data Solutions as the “State and Local Government Business Leader.”

On Freeit’s website, the company specifically tout’s Hudspeth’s role as Mayor and his responsibility in leveraging political relationships for business development and sales.

Eight months after Hudspeth began his role with Freeit, Denton County approved a $511,441 purchase of Nutanix hardware and installation service from Hudspeth’s employer:

More purchase approvals for Freeit Data Solutions would come after Hudspeth’s hire:

• February of 2023, a $482,505 software purchase was approved for Denton County.

• September of 2024, a $88,866 purchase of hardware was approved for Denton County.

• November of 2024, a $738,202 software subscription renewal from Freeit Data Solutions would be approved for Denton County.

• December of 2024, a $94,968 renewal of Cloudfare Service from Freeit Data Solutions would be approved for Denton County.

• January of 2025, a $843,839 equipment purchase would be approved by Denton County Commissioners Court.

• March of 2025, a $213,922 software subscription renewal from Freeit Data Solutions would be approved for Denton County.

• March of 2025 for $306,474 in equipment by Freeit Data Solutions would be approved by Denton County Commissioners Court.

• December of 2025, a $1,504,652 equipment purchase would be approved by Denton County Commissioners Court.

• December of 2025 for $755,212 for a software subscription renewal would be approved by Denton County Commissioners Court.

This would total approximately $5.5M in purchases from Freeit by Denton County after Hudspeth’s hire to Freeit.

Searches for Freeit purchases by Denton County prior to Hudspeth’s hiring yielded no results.

Current Revolt (CR) reached out to Mayor Hudspeth for comment as to whether he was compensated for any of the contracted deals with Denton County. Hudspeth confirmed he was compensated for the contracts signed by Denton county as he worked on securing the contract:

Yes. I work for the company and I worked on getting this contract. In fact, my name was mentioned and the issue was discussed when my opponent voted yes to give this business to Freeit recently. It was a unanimous vote. And after a brief discussion, prompted by my opponent, they all went ahead and voted yes. I was not involved in any price negotiations. That is because Freeit is an approved Texas State vendor and the prices are pre-set at the state level.
- Denton City Mayor Hudspeth

Hudspeth also told CR, were he elected, that he would not do any work relating to any city, school district, or any other government entity within the county nor would he do any commercial work for any entity within the county.

CR also asked if Hudspeth could confirm if the contracts signed with Freeit totaled approximately $5.5M:

I do not know the exact amount over the past 4 years, but that sounds accurate. Freeit has contracts that equate to about 3% of the Denton County’s IT business.
- Denton City Mayor Hudspeth

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CAUGHT ON VIDEO: Congressional Candidate Tears Down Opponents Signs

CD31 Congressional candidate Abhiram Garapati was caught on security camera tearing down and driving off with his opponents signs.

In the video, Garapati pulls up to a fence located next to a grocery store where he then gets out of his truck and takes down two signs belonging to Raymond Hamden and incumbent Congressman John Carter. Garapati then puts the signs in his truck and drives off.

Garapati, seen below, is running in the highly contested CD31 race which includes carpetbagger Valentina Gomez and eight other candidates.

When reached to for comment, Garapati told CR that he took down the signs in a fit of anger and that he would never do it again. Grapati also stated he had explicit permission from the business next door to tear down the signs. When CR asked if Garapati could put us in touch with the business owner who authorized him for the sign removal, he said he would have to get back to us.

CR also inquired as to what Garapati did with the signs after he removed them. Garapati initially said he left them on the ground, but when it was mentioned that the video showed him putting the signs in the truck he told CR he still had possession of the signs and was willing to give them back to their rightful owners.

The signs were located on the fence seen below:

Garpati claims The Movie Store (blue building seen above) next door gave him permission to tear down the signs. Google Maps shows The Movie Store being permanently closed.

Sign shenanigans are nothing new to Texas politics and it seems every cycle some candidate gets busted on camera stealing them.

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