Atty. Gen. Ken Paxton raised $305K during the second half of 2020, the second smallest contribution total he has reported in the last half of a year since 2012. Coming into 2020, Paxton reported an average of $1.15M in contributions in the final reporting period of a calendar year since his January 2013 semiannual report. He reported at least $1M in contributions during the final reporting period of every year except 2017 ($774K) and 2015 ($271K). Paxton was indicted on state securities fraud charges in late July 2015.
He was on pace to raise less than $200K during the second half of 2020 until a late swell of contributions, accounting for 48% of his total, put him over $300K for the period. He raised $146K from December 10 to December 12, which were the last three days a state official could accept a contribution before the statutory moratorium took effect.
On December 8, Paxton filed suit with the U.S. Supreme Court seeking to overturn the election results of four states. The Court rejected the suit on December 11.
He raised $31K on December 10, including $25K from Dallas investor James Dondero. Paxton received $58K in contributions on December 11 and $57K on December 12, much of it from donors giving $100 or less. Prior to the filing at the U.S. Supreme Court, 96% of Paxton’s contribution total came from Texans. After the suit, 57% of contributions came from out of state.
HD68 special: Early voting concludes tomorrow (Tuesday) for Saturday’s special election to fill the unexpired House term of Sen. Drew Springer (R-Muenster). Polls were closed today (Monday) for the holiday and most, if not all, polls were closed over the weekend.
Party Fundraising: The Texas Democratic Party’s PAC out-raised the Republican Party of Texas PAC, $400K to $209K, over the final 10 weeks of 2020. The Democratic Party ended the year with a $214K to $58K advantage in cash on hand. Over the same period ending 2018, the Republicans out-raised the Democrats, $508K to $16K, and had a $314K to $74K advantage in cash on hand. These are the state general purpose committee reports. Federal fundraising results are not included.
Since July 6, the Republican Party out-raised the Democrats, $4.79M to $2.77M.
The Libertarian Party of Texas PAC reported $65K in contributions over the last six months of 2020 and ended the year with $35K on hand. The Green Party raised less than $1K and has less than $1K on hand.
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