Judicial Races Elevated by Paxton Draw Texas Billionaires

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s desire to force out incumbent judges that ruled he can’t prosecute voter fraud has pulled his billionaire donors into an otherwise low-profile judicial election for the state’s highest criminal court.

Paxton supporters have given $273,000 to a political action committee established to unleash attacks against three Republican judges facing a primary challenge in the March 5 election, according to campaign finance reports released Tuesday. Paxton (R) has been plotting political revenge since the court stripped away his authority to prosecute voter fraud more than two years ago.

Two Texas billionaires opened their wallets to Paxton-aligned Texans for Responsible Judges: Dan Wilks, a west Texas oil man, and Excel Communications founder Kenny Troutt. Each contributed $50,000 to the PAC.

Overall, the fundraising total is modest in a state with 17 million registered voters. The nearly quarter of a million dollars raised for the PAC since July “isn’t even enough to reach all the voters in Harris County,” the state’s most populous county, said Mykle Tomlinson, who runs Democratic campaigns in Texas.

However, it’s more than what’s given in a typical judicial race, said former Court of Appeals Judge Charlie Baird.

The money the PAC has raised, combined with the backing of Paxton—who has become a conservative darling in Texas and beyond since beating impeachment charges last year in the Texas Senate—"make it a force to be dealt with,” said Baird, who served on the court from 1990 to 1998.

Incumbent Funding

Meanwhile, opposition to Paxton’s efforts has emerged in the form of a PAC that has outraised the attorney general-aligned PAC.

Seven contributions make up the entire $825,000 reported as raised by Judicial Fairness PAC, which is backing incumbent judges Sharon Keller, Barbara Hervey, and Michelle Slaughter. Two donors gave $250,000 each: investment manager Stephen Yacktman, who donation records show had never before given in a Texas election; and Texans for Lawsuit Reform, a pro-tort reform organization that has long feuded with Paxton.

Giving $100,000 each to the incumbents were billionaire Omni Hotels & Resorts founder Robert Rowling; and Joe Lonsdale, founder of tech firm 8VC. Lonsdale employs Blake Brickman, a Paxton aide turned adversary who sued Paxton’s office for wrongful termination after he and others in the office made a criminal complaint against him.

The candidates themselves have struggled to raise money. Combined, the three incumbents have brought in about $80,000—slightly more than half the $142,000 collectively raised by their opponents. That’s to be expected, said Baird, the former judge, because donations to candidates for this court typically come from criminal law lawyers with limited means.

Paxton wants to frame the race around voter fraud, an issue that he says is threatening the integrity of the state’s elections. He’s been publicly brooding since the court in December 2021 said Paxton’s office must get permission from local county prosecutors to pursue cases of voter fraud. The decision, on an 8-1 vote, overturned a decades-old law, holding that it violated the separation of powers doctrine.

Since the ruling, Paxton has repeatedly blasted the court, suggesting its decision will lead to Democrats stealing elections and flipping Texas from reliably red to blue. In September, he told radio host Glenn Beck “we have to get those people elected,” referring to the GOP candidates challenging the judges: David Schenck against Keller; Gina Parker against Hervey; and Lee Finley against Slaughter.

In a statement, Lee Parsley, president of Judicial Fairness PAC, called the incumbent judges “independent-minded jurists who believe the words of our Constitution must be respected.” The PAC supports them because “we believe judicial independence and experience are critically important to maintaining a respected judicial system and strong democracy,” he said.

Since the start of the year, the Paxton-aligned Texans for Responsible Judges has brought in $183,000 and spent $95,000, most of it for advertising. It had $154,000 remaining as of Feb. 24, its report showed.

Raising money in statewide judicial races “is a huge challenge when there’s so many other things happening,” like presidential and senate races, Tomlinson said. He is running the campaign of Holly Taylor, a longshot Democratic candidate who in November will face the primary winner between Keller and Schenck. In Texas, Republicans have had a stranglehold on the electorate, winning every statewide election in the past 30 years.