CAMPAIGN FINANCE ROUNDUP
Semiannual campaign finance reports were published yesterday on the Texas Ethics Commission’s website. We’ll briefly highlight some of the more interesting races across Texas.
The following info is covering the period of July 1, 2023 to December 31, 2023.
Justin Holland/Katrina Pierson/Dennis London - HD33
Why this race matters: Holland has publicly opposed Abbott’s school choice agenda.
Justin Holland (incumbent)
Contributions - $407,484
Expenditures - $508,160
Cash on hand - $288,079
Notable donors:
• Texans for Lawsuit Reform PAC
• Dade Phelan Campaign
• Charles Butt Public Education PAC (Butt (lol) is the chairman of HEB and has voted most recently in Democrat primaries)
• Plano Firefighters Committee PAC
• Associated Republicans of Texas Campaign Fund (In-kind for opposition research)
Holland, who is easily the best-dressed politician in Texas, leads the HD 33 field in fundraising despite opposing Governor Abbott.
Katrina Pierson
Contributions - $47,728
Expenditures - $31,723
Cash on hand - $22,458
Notable donors -
Doug Deason
Pierson was featured in an article we wrote earlier this month highlighting her connection to an organization that promotes “cam-girls”. You can read that article here:
Dennis London
Contributions - $36,752
Expenditures - $38,774
Cash on hand - $20,543
Notable donations:
London has a pretty diverse set of donors without any large donations from PACs or millionaires.
Briscoe Cain/Bianca Gracia - HD128
Briscoe Cain (incumbent)
Why this race matters: Briscoe Cain is one of the most conservative Republicans in the House and is ostensibly being challenged from the right.
Contributions - $136,491
Expenditures - $159,165
Cash on hand - $160,292
Notable donors -
• Texans for Lawsuit Reform PAC
• Dade Phelan Campaign
• Family empowerment Coalition PAC
Cain maintains his status as having one of the most conservative voting records as a State Rep. Some Republican activists consider Briscoe Cain to be a “RINO” due to his heavy involvement in the impeachment process of Attorney General Ken Paxton.
Bianca Gracia
Contributions - $63,015
Expenditures - $12,265
Cash on hand - $50,749
Notable donors -
Patrick Byrne (formerly CEO of Overstock.com. Utah citizen. Recently gave money to a Russian foreign agent/spy to help her “land on her feet.”)
Gracia is currently one of those people calling Cain a “RINO” and, in her last failed run against Mayes Middleton, claimed that God told her to run for office.
Gracia has also claimed that someone in the Republican Party attempted to assassinate LtCol Allen West:
She has been endorsed by Attorney General Ken Paxton.
Brent Hagenbuch/Jace Yarbrough/Cody Clark/Carrie De Moor - SD30
Why this race matters: Despite fierce opposition from the right during his time as the Denton County GOP Chairman, Brent Hagenbuch has racked up several high profile endorsements, including Governor Abbott. Hagenbuch’s eligibility to run as per the Texas Constitution is also being challenged in court.
Brent Hagenbuch
Contributions - $41,340
Expenditures - $80,299
Cash on hand - $1,065,000(!)
Notable donors:
• Texans for Lawsuit Reform PAC
• Beer Alliance of Texas PAC
Notable expenditures:
$40,000 in litigation fees related to his residency requirements to run for office
Hagenbuch has been under intense scrutiny for the questions surrounding his residency. We visited his office/home earlier this week.
Hagenbuch has been endorsed by Governor Greg Abbott. This is extra funny because Hagenbuch had previously voted to censure Abbott in 2020.
Jace Yarbrough
Contributions - $101,517
Expenditures - $4,254
Cash on hand - $257,108 (with $200,000 loan)
Yarbrough also filed a legal suit against Hagenbuch regarding his residency. We also recently spoke with Yarbrough:
Cody Clark
Contributions - $0
Expenditures - $4,603
Cash on hand - $0
We also spoke with Clark recently.
Carrie De Moor
Contributions - $4,450
Expenditures - $65,678
Cash on hand - $0
De Moor also filed a suit against Hagenbuch regarding his residency. We wrote briefly about De Moor, who was very passionate about the COVID vaccine and promoting mask-wearing.
Other notable donations and races:
George Soros
Left-wing kook and supervillain billionaire George Soros contributed $2.6M to Democrat groups between the months of July to December!
Screenshots and info via Patrick Svitek of the Texas Tribune.
Ellen Troxclair/Kyle Biedermann - HD19
Ellen Troxclair:
Contributions - $156,039
Expenditures - $56,537
Cash on hand - $244,075
Kyle Biedermann:
Contributions - $33,891
Expenditures - $664
Cash on hand - $18,728 (with a $30,000 loan)
Info via Brad Johnson of The Texan. Check out his article with more races over at The Texan.
Let us know in the comments which races you think are worthy of coverage.
Man, democracy is expensive. With all the money we could make Trump a solid gold, bejeweled crown, make him king, and end all the waste.