Austin News

Since November 2023, Texas Governor Greg Abbott and Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick have received nearly $10 million in individual-donor contributions for their political campaigns, despite neither being on the ballot in 2024. A significant portion of these funds includes a historic $6 million donation to Gov. Abbott from Jeff Yass, an out-of-state supporter of private school vouchers. This voucher system aims to redirect public school funds towards subsidizing private school budgets in Texas.

Last year, Common Cause Texas highlighted a record-breaking $3 million contribution to Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick from allies of Paxton during his impeachment trial. Texas is among eleven states that impose no limits on individual contributions to candidate campaigns.

Anthony Gutierrez, Executive Director of Common Cause Texas, criticized this lack of contribution limits: "Texas is witnessing wealthy interests outspending the contributions of individual Texans at a record pace, and our representative democracy is paying the price."

Gutierrez further commented on the influence of wealth on public policy: "Public policy bends in the direction of wealth all over America but nowhere more so than here in Texas. A campaign finance system that puts no limits whatsoever on how much a rich person can give a politician is just straight up legalized bribery, period."

He cited specific instances involving state officials: "Dan Patrick received $3 million from a group that wanted to influence the Ken Paxton corruption trial, and it worked. Greg Abbott got $6 million to do everything he could to take money out of public schools and put those dollars into a private school voucher scam, and he did."

Gutierrez concluded by advocating for legislative change: "As long as we have this corrupt system in place, Texans can expect politicians to keep prioritizing wealthy special interests over the public interest." He urged for legislative action: "The obvious solution to make the system fairer for all would be for the Texas legislature to pass a bill capping political contributions, and we’ll be fighting to make that happen."