President Joe Biden arrives on Air Force One at Ellington Field Joint Reserve Base on March 21 in Houston.
Former President Donald Trump talks with Texas Gov. Greg Abbott as they visit Shelby Park in Eagle Pass on Feb. 29.
President Joe Biden receives a briefing on the status of immigration and Border Patrol needs as he visits the Texas border to remark on immigration reform on Feb. 29 in Brownsville.
Former President Donald Trump speaks on stage near deep sea machinery during his event at Trendsetter Engineering in Houston on Nov. 2, 2023.
Joe Biden has banked almost twice as much money in his presidential re-election account than Donald Trump, so Democrats are not baying for campaign finance reform as they have in the past.
Republicans and Democrats complain they spend more time raising money than fulfilling their constitutional duties. But finance chairs are developing questionable ways to raise funds as experts anticipate $12 billion in spending this year on political advertising alone.
Biden visited Houston and Dallas last month for private fundraising events in the homes of very wealthy Democrats. His campaign said the stops raised $6 million, a remarkable number considering Trump had raised only $8.8 million in all of his Texas fundraising through February, my colleague Jeremy Wallace reported.
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Both candidates brag about their large number of small donors, but everyone knows a national campaign relies on big checks spread out among the constellations of local, state and national parties and affiliated political action committees.
Federal law limits individual giving to $3,300 per candidate. However, the same person can give $5,000 a year to an associated PAC, $10,000 to local party committees, $41,300 to the national party and an additional $123,900 to national party committees.
If you want to give more than $183,500 or remain anonymous, “dark money” groups such as Super PACs are happy to take all your money. Campaign finance watchdog OpenSecrets reports such dark money groups have spent $2.8 billion to influence elections since the Supreme Court's Citizens United v. FEC decision in 2010 protected them.
A conservative Republican group, Defending Democracy Together, spent $2 million in 2024, the most of any dark money organization. Americans for Constitutional Liberty, another conservative group, spent $1.1 million. Building America's Future, which calls itself nonpartisan, spent $685,000 promoting infrastructure spending this year.
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In Texas, AFC Victory Fund, a Super PAC affiliated with school voucher advocacy group American Federation for Children, spent $3.5 million to defeat Republicans who stood up for public schools, OpenSecrets reported. Texas has no limits on campaign donations.
The money from AFC Victory Fund was in addition to the $6 million that billionaire gambler Jeff Yass gave Gov. Greg Abbott to pass a school voucher bill and the $3 million that Defend Texas Liberty, a PAC financed by billionaire Tim Dunn, gave Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick to advance an agenda that includes privatizing public education.
Yass recently made national headlines when his Susquehanna International Group was identified as the largest institutional investor in Trump Media & Technology Group, the company behind Truth Social, which went public last week and added $4 billion to Trump’s personal wealth. Not bad for a company that lost $58 million last year and has only generated $5 million in revenue since its inception in 2021.
No sane investor would put such a high value on a weak company with only one unique attribute: Trump. But the company with the stock ticker DJT reminds me of how wealthy donors used to sell homes to Texas politicians at a discount. Then, another donor would buy the property at an astronomical valuation. There is more than one way to put a politician in your pocket.
Interestingly, Yass’ involvement in Truth Social coincided with Trump lifting his call for a ban on the short-video site TikTok. Yass owns 7% of TikTok, while Susquehanna holds a 15% stake, worth $21 billion.
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IHeartMedia devised its own method to reward Texas Sen. Ted Cruz for hosting a podcast for them. Cruz has long proclaimed that he doesn’t profit from the unusual arrangement, yet iHeart has made regular payments to a super PAC supporting the senator totaling $630,850. The broadcaster acknowledged the money came from profits generated by Cruz’s podcast.
Republicans do not hold a monopoly on billionaire donors or questionable fundraising strategies. Billionaire George Soros is the world’s largest donor to liberal causes through his Open Society Foundations. He has also given $2.5 million to the Texas Majority PAC to elect more Democrats.
The most prominent donors to Texas politics, though, are fossil fuel PACs and family foundations linked to banking and oil and gas fortunes, according to OpenSecrets data from the 2022 election. While Biden may have the advantage nationally, Republicans dominate the game in Texas.
The rules are set for the 2024 elections, but all Americans should demand campaign finance reform after November. The biggest opponents will be the campaign consultants for both parties, who take a cut of every dollar raised and spent, and the oligarchs, who see their influence every election cycle.
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Award-winning opinion writer Chris Tomlinson writes commentary about money, politics and life in Texas. Sign up for his “Tomlinson’s Take” newsletter at houstonhchronicle.com/tomlinsonnewsletter or expressnews.com/tomlinsonnewsletter.
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