Texas Senate 30 candidates getting most of their campaign cash from a few places
Hundreds of thousands of dollars are pouring into the campaign war chests of Dallas Salon Owner Shelley Luther and State Rep. Drew Springer in their bids for a North Texas Senate district, with the bulk of Luther’s funding coming from one conservative megadonor.
The two Republicans are vying to replace State Sen. Pat Fallon, R-Prosper, in Texas’ Senate District 30. Early voting has wrapped up, with more than 37,000 people casting ballots by mail and in person. Election Day in the special runoff is Saturday.
Springer’s contributions totaled $936,866 between Oct. 25 and Dec. 9, according to a recent campaign finance report. His top contributions include $300,000 from the Texans for Lawsuit Reform PAC, as well as a $50,000 contribution from embattled House Speaker Dennis Bonnen’s Texas Lead PAC.
Springer, R-Muenster, also received about $161,500 from Gov. Greg Abbott’s campaign in digital ads, calls and travel. That in-kind contribution was not initially reported on Springer’s campaign finance report, but was corrected two days later. In addition to endorsing Springer, Abbott’s campaign is airing a television ad targeting Luther.
Springer reported $924,805 in expenditures and having $217,534 in cash on hand.
In the days since his runoff report was filed, Springer has reported receiving more than $42,200 from a PAC representing Texas Realtors in monetary and in-kind contributions, as well as another in-kind contributions from Abbott’s campaign of nearly $104,300.
“I’m honored to have the endorsement of Governor Abbott,” Springer said, when asked about his recent in kind contributions. “We don’t always agree on everything, but what we do agree on is continuing to work for Texas to make it the beacon of the whole world.”
Luther’s campaign reported $564,155 in contributions in her report covering Sept. 20-Dec. 9. Her top donor was conservative megadonor and Midland oil magnate Tim Dunn, who contributed $500,000 to her campaign.
She also received about $34,800 from the Defend Texas Liberty PAC, funded by Dunn. Rep. Jonathan Stickland, R-Bedford, is listed as the PAC’s campaign treasurer. Other contributions were primarily from individual donors and for less than $2,000.
She reported $873,194 in expenditures and $183,600 in cash on hand.
In the days since that report was filed, Luther reported receiving an additional $200,000 from Dunn.
Luther declined to comment on the contributions from Dunn.
Two things in the runoff reports stood out to Rice University political science professor Mark Jones: Dunn accounted for more than 90% of Luther’s contributions, when including the Defend Texas Liberty PAC, and Springer received strong support from the Republican establishment and Austin lobby.
Springer wouldn’t typically be considered an establishment candidate, said Jones who does a ranking of lawmakers by their partisanship.
“You feel you’re in some sort of twilight zone or bizarro world where Drew Springer is a moderate, or at least being accused of being a moderate,” Jones said.
The candidates’ donors came up Wednesday when they appeared on the Chris Salcedo Show on WBAP AM. During a conversation on taxpayer-funded lobbyists, Luther criticized Springer for taking lobby money.
“When we talk about lobby money as being evil, there was no taxpayer-funded lobby money that I have ever taken in there,” Springer said.
Springer said he has taken money from groups that represent the district, like the Texas Farm Bureau, which contributed $50,000 to his campaign from Oct. 25-Dec. 9. He criticized Luther for taking money from Dunn, who he said is trying to “buy this seat.”
“I’ve got 15,000 Farm Bureau members in this district,” Springer told the Star-Telegram. “I’ve got 4,000 Realtors. I’ve got thousands of cattle raisers, so that’s where those monies are coming from, and in that regard, I have no issues whatsoever.”
Luther, in an interview with the Star-Telegram earlier this month, addressed a $1 million loan she received previously from Dunn.
“He gave me the money, because he saw the way that I stood up, and honestly thought that I would actually stand up to the Austin establishment,” Luther said.
This story was originally published December 17, 2020 at 12:00 AM.
