Which Texas candidate raised the most money?

Lobbying is big business in Austin. Over $667 million was spent by lobbyist clients to influence lawmakers during the 2020 election cycle (January 1, 2019 – December 31, 2020), with the vast majority of that spending occurring while the Texas legislature was convened in 2019. Yet only two percent of all those expenditures have a legislator’s name attached to them. That’s right. In the entire two-year cycle, only $12,944,291 ever made its way onto a detailed report filed with the Texas Ethics Commission.

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.