Texas politicians will be reporting their fundraising totals today.

It’s great to be back in the Lone Star State!

Texas politicians will be posting their fundraising numbers later today. Here is today’s Texas Minute.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan

Monday, July 15, 2019

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One of the best resources for campaign finance information in Texas is TransparencyTexas.org. Most of today’s bullets are taken from their research. Sign up for their free updates and reports [[link removed]].

State officials were prohibited from raising money in the “blackout” period surrounding the legislative session – Dec. 9, 2018, through June 16, 2019. What incumbents will report later today is reflective of their fundraising activities during the last two weeks of June.

During the 2018 election cycle – defined as Jan. 1, 2017, through Dec. 8, 2018 – there were $493 million in donations and $630 million in expenditures.

Here are the top-3 PACs by spending in the 2018 election cycle. The Texas Association of REALTORS [[link removed]]; they spent $54 million. Next was the Democrat-promoting ActBlue [[link removed]], spending $10.2 million. Texans for Lawsuit Reform [[link removed]] spent $8.6 million.

Meanwhile, the re-election campaigns of Gov. Greg Abbott [[link removed]] and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick [[link removed]] spent $85 million and $25 million, respectively. Their Democrat challengers reported expenditures of $1.7 million [[link removed]] and $1.5 million [[link removed]]. Rounding out the “Big 3” statewide officials, Attorney General Ken Paxton [[link removed]]’s campaign spent $12.8 million; his Democrat challenger spent $6.5 million [[link removed]].

(Our conservative-focused political action committee spent $5.77 million during the 2018 cycle.)

[[link removed]] reports there were 2,355,803 individual contributions to Texas’ state-level candidates and PACs.

“A whopping 98 percent of the contributions — that’s 2,308,643 individual donations — were for $1,000 or less.” – [[link removed]]

While [[link removed]] focuses exclusively on money, another great election-related resource is Direct Action Texas [[link removed]]. They focus on the mechanics of elections and electioneering – including ballot fraud.

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Special thanks to Morgan Williamson and Brandon Waltens for covering the Texas Minute while I was away.

I spent nearly two weeks hiking more than 75 miles of Philmont Scout Ranch in the New Mexico backcountry with my son and a crew from his troop.

Nothing can compare to watching my son step up as a servant-leader with his fellow scouts, taking on the myriad of daily tasks and responsibilities everyone must bear on such a trek. I’m very proud of him and his pals.

Personally: Two weeks without much in the way of cell service - meaning no email or text messages - was glorious! I miss the smell of the pine trees, the cool mountain air, and the glorious vistas, but being back in the Lone Star State is even better. And the simple pleasure of waking up the last few mornings in a bed I didn’t have to roll up and place on my back was nice!

Number of the Day

231

Number of days until the 2020 Primary Election.

[Source: calendar]

Today in History

On July 15, 1839, the first battle of the Cherokee War – pitting the Republic of Texas against the Cherokee tribe – began west of Tyler.

Quote-Unquote

“Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys.”

– P.J. O’Rourke

Your State Lawmakers

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Request A Speaker [[link removed]] Contribute [[link removed]] Manage Your Email Preferences [[link removed]] Michael Quinn Sullivan

CEO, Empower Texans

Texas Scorecard & Texans for Fiscal Responsibility

​www.EmpowerTexans.com

www.TexasScorecard.com

(888) 410-1836

PO Box 49730 | Austin, TX 78765

PO Box 700981 | Dallas, TX 75370

PO Box 36875 | Houston, TX 77236 The Texas Minute is a quick look at the news and info of the day that we find interesting, and hope you do as well. It is produced on week days and distributed at 6 a.m. (though I'll probably take the occasional break for holidays and whatnot). Like [link removed] Tweet [link removed] Forward [link removed] Unsubscribe [link removed]