Smith County Republicans

Across the 10 states included in Transparency USA’s database, several prominent women dominated donor lists in the 2020 election cycle. Some, like Karla Jurvetson and Deborah Simon, targeted key state-level elections across multiple swing states. Others focused their contributions closer to home, supporting candidates and PACs in their state of residence. While Transparency USA focuses on state-level campaign finance, all of these women have supported federal candidates and causes as well. See those contributions here.

As the 87th Texas legislative session resumes after a two week adjournment, efforts to ban taxpayer-funded (TPF) lobbying are back in the spotlight. Considered priority legislation by the Republican Party of Texas, bills were once again filed by State. Rep. Mayes Middleton (R—Wallisville) in the House, and State Sen. Bob Hall (R—Edgewood) in the Senate.

Now that lawmakers have convened in Austin, private citizens and PACs are no longer able to make political contributions, so the sole financial influence on lawmakers during the legislative session comes from lobbyists. In fact, in session and out, lobbying is by far the biggest source of money in Texas politics — and taxpayers are footing the bill for a lot of it. This look at the City of Houston is the first installment in our series analyzing the top taxpayer-funded entities in Texas.