Texas campaign donations drawing national spotlight

AUSTIN, Texas — What used to be a novelty has now become commonplace in Texas politics – the $1 million check.

In the past 16 months, Gov. Greg Abbott’s received six such donations.

His Democratic challenger, Beto O’Rourke, pulled down four $1 million checks in seven months.

The rush of seven-figure checks demonstrates the no-limits nature of the state’s campaign finance laws and a growing national spotlight on Texas, experts say.

Texas is one of 11 states that don’t limit individuals’ campaign contributions in races for statewide office, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Though some givers say they expect nothing in return, a consumer rights advocacy organization says the mega donations emit a foul odor.

“It’s not believable that a donation of that size doesn’t buy you influence,” said Adrian Shelley, Texas director of Public Citizen. “Most people would never believe that. One million dollars is a very large sum of money, and it obviously buys you some amount of influence.”

Brigham Young University political scientist David Magleby attributes the spike in seven-figure donations to Texas’ growing influence in national affairs.

“One-million-dollar contributions in a governor’s race is rare,” said Magleby, who’s written several books about campaign finance.

“Abbott and O’Rourke are playing on more than a Texas stage, as these million-dollar contributions show. It is only a matter of time before candidates in other high-profile states with lax contribution limits follow suit.”

The other states with no caps on donations in statewide elections are Alabama, Indiana, Iowa, Mississippi, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Utah and Virginia.

In federal elections, the limit is $2,900 per primary, general or special election. In most circumstances, that means an individual can give a federal candidate no more than $5,800 – $2,900 each for the primary and general election. If there is a runoff, though, as happens in Louisiana, federal law allows the overall limit to increase by another $2,900.

Texas’ high-dollar history

In modern races for governor in Texas, million-dollar contributions used to be rare. Typically, wealthy donors break them into smaller chunks spread out over time.

When Democratic nominee for governor Chris Bell received a $1 million check from flamboyant Houston plaintiffs’ lawyer John O’Quinn about a month before the 2006 general election, then-Gov. Rick Perry quickly countered with a TV ad that showed sharks swimming as the Jaws soundtrack played.

“The sharks are back in the water,” a narrator intoned, referring to O’Quinn before blasting Bell as too liberal for Texas.

Almost a year before the 2014 governor’s race between Abbott and then-Democratic state Sen. Wendy Davis of Fort Worth, Davis received a $1 million check from Austin doctor-lawyer Carolyn J. Oliver. Oliver also gave $1 million to the turnout-focused group Battleground Texas, which supported the unsuccessful Davis.

In June 2017, as Abbott actively started campaigning for a second term, he collected his first $1 million check – from Michael and Mary Porter, who’d moved from California to Texas in 2010.

The Porters recall being impressed by a March 2017 speech Abbott gave at a function for the Admiral Nimitz Foundation, which helped develop the National Museum of the Pacific War in Fredericksburg.

Driving back to their Cross Creek Ranch in Doss, also in Gillespie County, the Porters discussed Abbott’s speech, they told The Dallas Morning News in an interview Thursday.

“Mary says, ‘You know, I really was impressed with him,’” Michael Porter said of Abbott. “And that’s huge, coming from my wife – any politician for her to be impressed with was a big deal.”

Of Abbott, Mary Porter said: “At his core, this is a very good man, and we need more of that.”

Michael Porter grew up in California, worked in the construction industry after he got out of the military and made his fortune in “investments and real estate purchases,” he said. Mary was the daughter of Frank Batten Sr., the chairman of Landmark Communications, a Virginia-based newspaper and TV station chain. He also founded the Weather Channel, which fetched $3.5 billion when sold in 2008.

Michael Porter, who says liberal California Democrats pass too many regulations and taxes, said he didn’t realize $1 million donations would draw so much attention from the Texas news media. The Porters have given Abbott three – in 2017, 2019 and last June.

“Beto O’Rourke will take us down the path of a [California Gov. Gavin] Newsom or some of the other people that have absolutely destroyed California in my eyes,” he said. In the past two years, Mike Porter has founded the Texans for Responsible Government PAC, which supports Abbott’s allies in the Legislature. He and Mary Porter have given Abbott $3.5 million, a figure that includes some gifts of free airplane rides.

The News reached out to all 11 individuals or households who in this midterm elections cycle have forked over $1 million to Abbott, now seeking a third term, or O’Rourke, who’s in his third bid for high office in just four years. Other than the Porters, none responded.