12/31/2022
Elections for all 31 seats in the Texas State Senate took place on Nov. 8, 2022. Republicans held an 18-13 majority heading into the election.
Committee chair fundraising
State legislative committee chairs set a committee’s legislative agenda. Some committee chairs raise significantly more money than their non-chair counterparts in the state legislature. The average amount raised by delegates who did not serve as a committee chair was $609,242. The funds raised by each of the State Senate’s 15 committee chairs are shown below.
- Administration Committee – Charles Schwertner – $1,120,076
- Business & Commerce Committee – Kelly Hancock – $927,008
- Criminal Justice Committee – John Whitmire – $626,696
- Education Committee – Larry Taylor – $108,439
- Finance Committee – Jane Nelson – $10,000
- Health & Human Services Committee – Lois Kolkhorst – $900,780
- Jurisprudence Committee – Joan Huffman – $1,038,418
- Local Government Committee – Paul Bettencourt – $470,355
- Natural Resources and Economic Development Committee – Brian Birdwell – $198,248
- Nominations Committee – Dawn Buckingham – $3,896,781
- Senate Higher Education Committee – Brandon Creighton – $710,776
- Senate State Affairs Committee – Bryan Hughes – $334,847
- Senate Transportation Committee – Robert Nichols – $879,585
- Veteran Affairs & Border Security Committee – Donna Campbell – $822,879
- Water, Agriculture, & Rural Affairs Committee – Charles Perry – $266,901
The data above are based on campaign finance reports that active Texas PACs submitted to the Texas Ethics Commission. Political expenditures that are not controlled by candidates or their campaigns, known as satellite spending, are not included in candidate totals. Federal PACs are not required to report to state agencies. Transparency USA publishes campaign finance data following major reporting deadlines.
This article is a joint publication from Ballotpedia and Transparency USA, who are working together to provide campaign finance information for state-level elections. Learn more about our work here.