RRC open: Sen. Van Taylor (R-Plano) and former RRC Chair Michael Williams endorsed former Rep. Wayne Christian (R-Center). Former candidate Weston Martinez endorsed Gary Gates. Martinez finished fifth in the primary with 10% of the vote.
SD1 open: Former Lt. Gov. Bill Ratliff (R-Mount Pleasant) endorsed Rep. David Simpson (R-Longview).
HD18 open: Texas Alliance for Life PAC endorsed Ernest Bailes. Texas Right to Life PAC has previously endorsed Keith Strahan (and James Morrison, who did not make the runoff).
MPAC Monthly Reports: Some general-purpose PACs file on a monthly basis, and their recent reports indicate some activity in runoff races. We covered the Texas Farm Bureau’s AGFUND yesterday. Some highlights of other MPAC filings:
- AT&T Texas PAC gave $5K each to Wayne Christian (RRC), Rep. Susan King (SD24) and Rep. Wayne Smith (HD128); $3K to Rep. Doug Miller (HD73); $1K to Rep. Ron Reynolds (HD27); and $10K to Comptroller Glenn Hegar, who is not up for election this year.
- Border Health PAC gave $125K to Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who is not up for election this year.
- Texas Apartment Assoc. PAC gave $2K to Justin Holland (HD33), $1.25K to Lynn Stucky (HD64) and $1K to Austin Ruiz (HD54).
- Texas Friends of Time Warner Cable PAC gave $25K to Gov. Greg Abbott, who is not up for election this year.
- Texas Medical Assoc. TEXPAC gave $15K each to Dawn Buckingham (SD24) and Rep. Susan King (SD24); and $1K each to Justin Holland (HD33) and Lynn Stucky (HD64).
- Texas Optometric PAC gave $10K to Rep. Susan King (SD24), $3.5K in kind to support Austin Ruiz (HD54) and $5K to Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who is not up for election this year.
April MPAC reports cover activity between February 26 and March 25, so they are the first reports of contributions after the primary. Some other large MPACs, such as the Texas Assoc. of Realtors TREPAC, made no significant contributions to runoff candidates during the period. Other large PACs, such as Empower Texans PAC and Texans for Lawsuit Reform PAC, do not file monthly reports and instead follow the candidate/officeholder reporting schedule.
