The oil and electric industries are rallying around Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, helping him rake in more than $25 million over four months and boosting other statewide Republican candidates.
Democrats, whose fundraising trails the GOP in most statewide races, said they’ve raised enough money to stay in the fight — while arguing that the gusher of oil money shows their opponents are out of touch.
Texas gasoline prices sit well below the national average, but on Sunday, the state average was about 29 percent higher than a year earlier, according to AAA. And Texas’ data center construction boom has rural residents worried about the impact on their local electric rates, as well as the disruption of living near new facilities and the power plants they require.
Those issues are in play as Abbott seeks a fourth consecutive term as governor. He’ll have to beat Democratic state Rep. Gina Hinojosa in November.
“Follow Greg Abbott’s money and you’ll find everything wrong with government,” said Hinojosa campaign spokesperson Tommy Kubitschek in a statement.
Eduardo Leal, a spokesperson for Abbott’s campaign, said in an email that the governor “continues to earn broad support from Texans because of his proven record of slashing property taxes, securing the border, and keeping Texas affordable.” Leal said contributions to Abbott’s campaign are publicly disclosed and in keeping with Texas law.
Big money is nothing new in Texas politics, where there’s no limit on individual campaign contributions in most statewide races. In the 2022 governor’s race, Abbott and Democratic challenger Beto O’Rourke raised and spent about $160 million combined.
Abbott has argued that the Texas economy, which is generally faring better than the national economy, shows his approach is working. Still, government watchdog groups have said for years that the growing cost of Texas campaigns is damaging trust in politics.
“The result is that a few individuals with wealth unimaginable to working Texans can buy the type of government they want, rather than the one the people might otherwise choose,” Adrian Shelley, Texas director of Public Citizen, said in a statement.
But sometimes the energy industry has to adjust to voters.
That happened in this year’s Republican primary runoff for a spot on the state Railroad Commission, which regulates oil and gas operations in Texas. Challenger Bo French toppled incumbent Jim Wright, despite notable oil and gas support for Wright. French is now aiming to defeat Democratic state Rep. Jon Rosenthal and keep the commission seat in GOP hands.
In the governor’s race, Abbott started the year with $106 million in his campaign fund, and after spending for the March primary election — and raking in $25.5 million in the latest cycle — had $67.2 million to spend on the general election, according to his latest filing.
Hinojosa raised $6.2 million over the last four months and reported about $3 million in cash available as of last week, her filing showed. Her campaign said she relied heavily on small donors.
In the most recent campaign season, Abbott picked up donations from political action committees run by the Texas Oil and Gas Association and Chevron, along with individual contributions from oil executives. That included Javaid Anwar ($1.25 million) and Double Eagle co-founders Cody Campbell ($300,000) and John Sellers ($250,000).
Musk money
And donations from big names aren’t limited to the oil business. Tesla CEO Elon Musk donated $500,000 to both Abbott’s campaign and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick’s campaign.
A PAC associated with Oncor Electric Delivery — the state-regulated company that provides the electric distribution network for much of northern Texas — gave Abbott’s campaign $100,000. Oncor CEO Allen Nye contributed $170,000 and six other Oncor executives kicked in a combined $95,000.
Oncor’s Nye also donated $150,000 to Patrick’s campaign and gave $20,000 to Mayes Middleton, the Republican running for Texas attorney general, records show.
Oncor said the company was advocating for its interests, although the donations came from company employees.
“Political contributions are funded by an Oncor employee group, not rate payers, and are not based on party lines or individual issues,” Oncor spokesperson Kerri Dunn said in an email. “Personal donations from leadership are similarly not funded by rate payers nor based on party lines or individual issues.”
None of Abbott’s other major energy donors responded to requests for comments.
Patrick’s campaign benefited from many of the same donors as Abbott, including Musk and Oncor’s Nye.
The lieutenant governor raised $5 million during the latest period and has $35 million in his campaign account. His opponent, state Rep. Vikki Goodwin, raised $397,000 during the same time and had $317,000 on hand.
Goodwin said people are willing to give Democrats a chance, even in conservative rural areas, because of both President Donald Trump’s unpopularity and the impact of Texas Republican policies.
“Particularly with the data center issue right now, people are very worried about their water and energy prices increasing,” she said in an interview.
Democrats have their own reliable funding sources, although they tend to give an order of magnitude less than Republican donors.
State Rep. James Talarico, the Democrat running for U.S. Senate who has become a prolific fundraiser as he battles Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in the race, has donated $100,000 to Hinojosa’s campaign and either given or promised contributions to other statewide Democrats this cycle.
Annie’s List, an Austin-based organization that promotes progressive women candidates, gave $10,000 to Hinojosa’s campaign this cycle, records show, and the Texas American Federation of Teachers contributed $75,000.
Don Henley, the frontman for the Eagles rock band who grew up in East Texas, gave $109,000 to Goodwin’s campaign along with smaller donations to other candidates.
Henley was unavailable for comment, according to his publicist, and the other major Democratic donors didn’t respond to emails seeking comment.
At least two of the Republican candidates are self-funding part of their campaigns with family money. Middleton, an heir to an oil and gas fortune, loaned $15.2 million to his own campaign during the Republican primary for attorney general, according to Transparency USA.
Texas state Sen. Nathan Johnson, who’s running against Middleton, said in an interview that Middleton has essentially unlimited money and that he’s counting on voters being disenchanted with Republicans in general and with the individual candidates.
Middleton, for instance, branded himself “MAGA Mayes” in the primary election, which may not help in the general election.
Likewise, the Republican nominee for state comptroller, Don Huffines, comes from a wealthy family and has largely self-funded his own campaign. He is also serving as comptroller for the rest of this year after being tapped for that role by Abbott.
Sarah Eckhardt, a state senator who’s running against Huffines, said Democrats are working together to overcome the funding gap, often scheduled campaign stops together.
Eckhardt had $240,000 in her campaign account as of last week, compared to $1.1 million for Huffines. She said that’s enough to mount a competitive race.
“It’s not going to be a multimillion dollar campaign, but we don’t need multimillions,” she said. “We need votes.”
