governor abbott campaign contributions governor abbott campaign contributions

The Abbott campaign is eyeing aggressive advertising strategies ahead of the November election. A Texas Politics Project July poll indicates the race for Texas governor is tightening. 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. Abbotts candidate committee from another committee affiliated with the governor. Tuesday marks the deadline for candidates to file campaign finance reports with the Texas Ethics Commission detailing fundraising and spending from July through December. "As we move into the heat of the summer campaign, were well positioned to fund all our campaign efforts, Texans for Greg Abbott Campaign Chairman Gardner Pate said in the Friday release. DC The warnings led to renewed calls for the Legislature to take more urgent action to fix the power grid. Greg Abbott, who is heading into a re-election year. 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. The Republican governor raised 26% more in last years final six months than the $9.1 million he raised in late 2016 the comparable period in his first term. So although an Abbott campaign news release touted the $19.2 million he raised last year, it was just an 8% increase over the $17.8 million he raised in 2016. That amount is up from 12% of his contributions coming from energy interests after the 2019 session, about $383,000. Walker, a non-voting member of ERCOTs board, did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday. That amount is up from 12% of his contributions coming from energy interests after the 2019 session, about $383,000. Still, University of North Texas political scientist Matthew Eshbaugh-Soha said Abbotts $38 million will scare off most of the competition.. In the Republican primary, Abbott is facing former state Sen. Don Huffines, former Texas GOP Chairman Allen West, Chad Prather,Danny Harrison, Kandy Kaye Horn, Paul Belew and Rick Perry (no, not that Rick Perry). Greg Abbott raised almost $25 million during the same period, according to Friday press releases from both of the campaigns. 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. Gregory Wayne Abbott (born November 13, 1957) is an American politician, attorney, and former jurist serving as the 48th governor of Texas since 2015. Kathy Hochul raked in big campaign bucks over the last six months to the tune of $21.9 million from a well of donors who also used to give generously to disgraced ex-Gov.. Find a complete list of them here. Open Secrets following the money in politics, OpenSecrets Following the money in politics, Why (and How) We Use Donors' Employer/Occupation Information, Organization unavailable for these records. Organizations like political action committees or industry associations can also give directly to candidate campaigns. But an analysis of state campaign finance records by the KSAT 12 Defenders shows three current members of ERCOTs board have contributed thousands to Abbotts campaigns, with some of the funds dating back to his days as Texas Attorney General. Energy officials have repeatedly said that the states natural gas supply was also hindered by the storm, in large part because energy plants did not have properly winterized equipment. Most of Patrick's energy industry money received in June was driven by oil executives. Copyright 2023 NBCUniversal Media, LLC. 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. Florida Gov. Before Abbott and O'Rourke can face off at the polls, both candidates must first win their respective March 1 primary races. Beto O'Rourke announces he's running for governor of Texas. Gov. 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. In 2021, the Abbott campaign had out-raised the O'Rourke campaign since the start of their respective campaigns. OpenSecrets updates federal figures for "Total Raised and Spent" and for "PAC/Individual Split" a few days after Find a complete list of them here. There will be one last update in January with final fundraising numbers for the 2022 midterms. At the state level, corporations and unions can give directly to campaigns in many jurisdictions. And talk of a primary challenge from Lt. Gov. Most of Patricks energy industry money received in June was driven by oil executives. Abbott has run a similar playbook as Perry and has taken it to a different level, Rottinghaus said. Patrick spokeswoman Sherry Sylvester said: No one has been tougher on the energy sector and more proactive for ratepayers this session than Lt. As Gov. Were talking about a historic blackout in the state of Texas, that affected millions of peoples lives, some in very dangerous ways, said Wheat. In 2017, Abbott appointed her to lead the PUC, where she makes a $200,000 salary. Carney also said that while O'Rourke focuses on abortion rights and restricting assault-style weapons, Abbott would continue to emphasize economic issues, including the high inflation rate. Abbott and ORourke are not the only gubernatorial candidates who have received backing from local Texas billionaires. More:Governor's race tightens as Greg Abbott's lead over Beto O'Rourke shrinks to 6 points, poll finds. Just over 40% of the sum of ORourkes donations came from out-of-state donors, compared with 17% of Abbotts. In cases where two or more people from the same family contributed, the income-earner's occupation/employer is That amount is up from 12% of his contributions. In late June, it announced an $8.15 million digital media advertising buy, $8.8 million for TV and radio ads, and $2.75 million for Spanish media ads across platforms. interest group. The epic Texas freeze fueled a surge of campaign cash, with the war chest of Gov. Abbott received about $4.6 million from oil, gas and broader energy interests, his largest haul ever from those groups in the post-legislative session fundraising period following the four regular legislative sessions during Abbotts tenure as governor. 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. Abbott is a member of the Republican Party and first assumed office in 2015. A member of the Republican Party, he served as the 50th attorney general of Texas from 2002 to 2015 and as a member of the Texas Supreme Court from 1996 to 2001.. Abbott was the third Republican to serve as attorney general of Texas since the . He did not respond to a request for comment. The fifth payee, listed as Greg Abbott, represents reported expenditures a Gov. committee AND the candidate has received money from PACs representing that same ideological interest. 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 challenger over the same time period. Abbott reported $37.9 million, with 79.1 percent of all spending going to the 10 payees topping the list. 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. ORourkes Powered by People PAC gave $1.7 million to his own campaign. All told, the candidates together have raised a combined $147 million, have spent almost $196 million and have a combined total of almost $8 million in their campaign coffers. Copyright 2023 KSAT.com is managed by Graham Digital and published by Graham Media Group, a division of Graham Holdings. 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. On Wednesday, Abbott underscored state Republicans delight that they held off the Democrats charge in the election immediately preceding a once-a-decade redistricting of political boundaries. Greg Abbott dwarfing other candidates in energy-interest contributions, according to a KHOU 11 analysis of data . Beto O'Rourke looks to put Greg Abbott on defense in early stages of Texas governor's race, Ahead of primary, Gov. Knowing those groups is also 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. If enough contributions came in from people connected A spokesperson for Oncor said the company believes in actively participating in the political process. CenterPoint said: In this case, CenterPoint Energy Political Action Committee made public contributions to support members of the Texas Legislature who had announced their intention to run for re-election, regardless of party affiliation. A Calpine representative said its CEO, who made up the bulk of contributions tied to the company, donated money as he develops relationships with these members directly. The other two companies did not respond to requests for comment. Last Christmas, Governor Greg Abbott bussed and dumped migrant families in the freezing cold in Washington, D.C. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Beto O'Rourke shatter fundraising records in the Texas governor's race, see who has been donating to candidates with this campaign finance interactive.. With this tracker . for data entry). Here is how fundraising by Texas Gov. The amount of money the senator fundraised from energy interests jumped from $1,000 to $44,500, the Tribune found. Data for One of the things that contributors are buying when they are contributing to a public official is access. State GOP Chairman Allen West heads most lists of possible challengers to Abbott in the March 2022 Republican primary, many of which also include former state Sen. Don Huffines. Cobos was appointed chief executive and public counsel of the Office of Public Utility Counsel (OPUC) by Abbott in March 2019, three months after donating $1,050 to Abbotts campaign, state contribution records show. Abbott hasnt detailed what he wants the Republican-controlled Legislature, which convened Tuesday, to accomplish this year. According to the most recent campaign finance reports made to the Texas Ethics Commission, the governor received $44,778,653 in total contributions and spent $37,930,300 between January 1, 2021 and February 19, 2022. A PUC spokesman instead sent the following statement: Dillon, responding on Chairman Walkers behalf as shes still fully engaged in issues related to the winter storm related grid event. 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. During that week, Abbott assured Texans the grid was in better shape than ever. parties and political committees request employer information from contributors and publicly report it when the Abbotts roster of rich donors is full of Texas Republicans with oil interestssome of who supported Trump ahead of the 2020 election. Greg Abbott has $38M in his campaign bank, but is it enough to scare off 2022 challengers? Bank, his wife Matilda lists "Homemaker" and 12-year old Tammy shows up as "Student," OpenSecrets would identify all FEC and listed quickly on OpenSecrets processing and analyzing the detailed records takes much longer. All other numbers in these Unsurprisingly, Gov. Greg Abbott speaks during a campaign event on February 23 in Houston. databases are only as current as the FEC has been able to compile by that date (see the note above about lag times These generous contributions from people all across Texas show just how excited Texans are for this campaign, Abbott said in a statement. Abbott had $55 million saved up for his reelection campaign at the end of June. A report from Texans for Public Justice released this week found that Abbott raised more than $87 million in campaign contributions from the start of 2017 through the end of last year. He knows how to walk that fine line between moderate Republicans and those that are very right of center, she said. Of the $44.8 million already reported in the 2022 election cycle, 21.9 percent came from the top 10 donors. That's more than twice the $207,000 they gave during the same period when the legislative session ended in in 2019, according to a Texas Tribune analysis. Transparency USA publishes campaign finance data following major reporting deadlines. individual contributions have yet been classified by OpenSecrets. Rep. Chris Paddie, chair of the state affairs committee, also did not respond to calls and an email seeking comment. 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. This means that overall, Abbotts Texas donors gave more than ORourkes Texas donors. The other organizations on the list include law firms, teachers groups and liberal political action committees. In fact, Abbott's campaign said he has raised $95 million this election season. Other lawmakers who saw some of the largest spikes in funding from the energy industry were those who authored the power grid legislation and chaired the committees that heard the bills. For that While some of this money. Aug. 4, 20215 AM Central. Here's 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. That far exceeds the $6.8 million in cash on hand that ORourkes committee, Beto For Texas, reported as of the same date. O'Rourke did not say how much money his campaign has on hand -- or how much it has spent -- while teasing his fundraising numbers before filing his latest campaign finance report. 4 min read. Neither Cobos or the spokesperson ended up providing a statement for this story. Feel free to distribute or cite this material, but please credit OpenSecrets. He covers Gov. Hancock also has ties to the energy industry in his full-time job as a business owner. George W. Bush was heavily funded by his familys well-established energy network, his successor, former Gov. Im grateful for everyone who helped us raise $27.63 million in just over four months as we support the powerful work of our organizers and more than 78,000 volunteers, O'Rourke said in the release. Abbotts a prolific fundraiser, a weapon hes wielded to discourage competition as he moved up among Texas Republicans over the past two decades. Abbott's campaign stressed that since the start of 2021, the two-term Republican incumbent "has raised nearly $95 million from more than 418,000 donations." Since O'Rourke announced his. such as textbooks, contact OpenSecrets: info[at]crp.org. Greg Abbott, gives an update on an investigation into the massacre in Uvalde, Wednesday, May 25, 2022. We dont take anything for granted, he said. their contributions as being related to the "First National Bank" since that's the source of the family's income. Among the state lawmakers Karnei has contributed to are representatives Shelby Slawson, Phil King and Matt Shaheen, all Republican members of the committee now charged with investigating ERCOT. Abbott raises $19 million, Beto O'Rourke's fast start nets $7.2 million in race for governor. Connect with needs and opportunities from. The Texas House Committee on State Affairs is scheduled to hold a joint hearing Thursday morning with the House Energy Resources Committee to examine what led to statewide electrical blackouts. Abbott's campaign said it received nearly 113,000 contributions and that 86% of the campaign contributions came from within Texas. Gov. Carney said Abbott spent $6.1 million to help down-ballot Republicans. 20005. 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 . voters, researchers and others. O'Rourke's latest haul includes $2 million raised during the first 24 hours of his campaign, collected frommore than 20,000 individual donors. He gave $1 million to Abbotts campaign in June 2021. In Texas, Gov. Rick Perry, worked to cultivate a wide base of financial support from energy interests, Rottinghaus said. 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. In April, Abbott had been ahead of O'Rourke by 11 points. Greg Abbott and Beto O'Rourke shatter fundraising recordsin the Texas governors race, see who has been donating to candidates with this campaign finance interactive. Fixing Texas power grid was about the only thing Republicans and Democrats in the legislative session seemed to agree on earlier this year. 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. Abbotts: Oil mogul Javaid S. Anwar of Midland had given Abbott nearly $2.5 millionas well as $200,000 to Paxton. Rick Perry and Democrat Tony Sanchez spent in 2002 and the combined $90 million Abbott and Democrat Wendy Davis spent in 2014. But were looking at almost two years until our election. Of the donors, O'Rourke's campaign said 98% of the donations were received online and that teachers contributed more than any other occupation. Heres how they compare. If, for instance, Henry Jones lists his employer as First National Texas has no limits on campaign contributions. According to its website, OPUC represents the interests of residential and small commercial consumers, as a class, in utility proceedings in Texas. During that time same time period, Abbott's campaign said the two-term governor raised just under $25 million but didn't specify down to the decimal point. Energy Transfer CEO Kelcy Warren is one of Abbotts top donors. However, Abbott s handling of the COVID-19 outbreak has attracted criticism from Democrats, independents and staunchly conservative Republicans, weakening his once-robust job approval ratings in public polls. But to build a better future for every Texan, I need your help. However, his $7.7 million haul in the first half of 2020 was a nearly 12% decrease from the same phase of his initial term. Greg Abbott raised $11.5 million from July through December, and now can brandish almost $38 million of cash as he tries to scare off opponents in his campaign for a third term . Absent that storm, his contributions would have been different, said Bill Miller, a longtime Texas political consultant and lobbyist. Both candidates have received more campaign cash from ZIP codes where wealthier people live because thats who tends to give money to politicians on both sides of the aisle. Greg Abbott. Greg Abbott urges letting the vote counting play out in Trump-Biden race, How a Joe Biden win isnt necessarily bad news for Texas Gov. Texas doesnt limit political giving, with no caps on individual contributions for candidates for state office. A fifth-generation Texan, Bob earned a bachelors degree from Harvard University. ORourke received $2.2 million from Austin couple Simone Coxe, who has worked in communications, and Tench Coxe, a former venture capitalist. OpenSecrets aggregates state data from many sources and formats. Sometimes it's hard to make apple-to-apple comparisons across some of the pages in a candidate's profile. Do you value our journalism? Oil grew to become the states signature industry, rich oilmen and companies started showering politicians with money and a romance blossomed. 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. and formats. Hes running for reelection in 2022, said Patrick spokeswoman Sherry Sylvester. 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. ORourkes 2019 presidential run created some problems, she acknowledged. available information, the donor is given an economic code. Speaking of donations he received from Texans in all 254 counties, Abbott said that with such help we will continue to spread the messages of freedom and liberty to every corner of the Lone Star State.. As Texas voters go to the polls next week, it is clear which candidate billionaires are backing in the . Oliver told KSAT that he was also unaware of any recent criticism levied toward ERCOT by Abbott. Updated: Feb. 10, 2023. Abbott's support comes from a wide variety of Texans all across the Lone Star State." O'Rourke's haul came from 511,000 donors, with. In the final half of 2020, Abbott collected contributions from 22,598 donors, 10,116 of whom were new, his campaign announced Wednesday. Leading up to Abbotts decision, Lt. Gov. The power grid was not included. State or federal law may require filers to submit additional reports. Those donations have added up, bringing in about $9.7 million for Abbott and $37.8 million for ORourke. Greg Abbott attacks Beto O'Rourke without mentioning him by name. The data presented here is sourced from the Texas Ethics Commission, which displays campaign finance filings from candidate committees.