Texans hoping to uncover the financial backers behind the torrent of advertisements saturating the U.S. Senate primaries may be left in the dark. Recent campaign finance disclosures reveal a significant involvement of dark money—funds from political nonprofits that are not required to disclose their donors.
A super PAC aligned with Democratic candidate James Talarico reported raising $6.1 million from January 1 to February 11. However, over half of this amount originated from a political action committee that is entirely financed by a dark money organization, as indicated in its previous monthly report.
On the Republican side, Representative Wesley Hunt of Houston is vying for a place in a primary runoff, with financial backing from a group that, like others, draws most of its funds from anonymous sources, according to filings submitted to the Federal Election Commission.
The latest financial reports highlight a substantial investment from wealthy interests in the Texas primaries, yet these contributors are choosing to remain anonymous at a pivotal moment in the electoral contest.
Incumbent Senator John Cornyn is facing a challenging race, potentially heading toward a runoff against either Attorney General Ken Paxton or Hunt. Meanwhile, in the Democratic primary, Talarico’s supporters are intensifying their efforts to outpace Representative Jasmine Crockett of Dallas, who entered the race with greater name recognition.
A newly established group backing Hunt, Fighting For Texas, reported raising $690,000 during the same reporting period, all sourced from Standing for Texas, another nonprofit that does not disclose its donors. Prior to Hunt’s candidacy announcement in July, this group had invested months in statewide advertising to enhance his visibility.
Conversely, the Conservative Texans PAC, which opposes Hunt, disclosed $4.1 million in contributions, entirely sourced from the Conservative Americans PAC, a super PAC funded by a nonprofit that similarly keeps its donor information private.
The Lone Star Rising PAC, supporting Talarico, reported that $3.75 million of its funds during this period came from Government That Works PAC. Notably, this group received $4 million from the Sixteen Thirty Fund, a prominent dark-money organization affiliated with notable Democratic donors such as Swiss billionaire Hansjörg Wyss and George Soros.
Among the individual contributors to Lone Star Rising PAC are LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, who donated $500,000, and Austin philanthropist Simone Coxe, who contributed $400,000.
The reliance on anonymous funding poses a significant political dilemma for Democratic candidates, who advocate for reducing the influence of money in politics. Talarico has publicly criticized the use of “corporate PAC money” and dark money, but he has also stated that he will not completely forgo support from super PACs when challenged on this issue.
Following the launch of negative advertising directed at Crockett by Talarico’s supporting group, she accused him of hypocrisy. In response, a spokesman for Talarico emphasized that federal law prohibits coordination between campaigns and super PACs, asserting that the Talarico campaign had no role in the ads.
“When James has the power to change federal law in the U.S. Senate, he will fight to ban super PACs like this one,” spokesperson JT Ennis remarked.
Crockett also has a super PAC, Texas Forward, backing her, but it began its spending after the deadline that would mandate disclosure of its latest donors before the March 3 primary, rendering the financial support for her campaign effectively anonymous for now.
In contrast, the super PACs supporting Cornyn and Paxton provided more transparency regarding their individual donors. The pro-Cornyn PAC, for instance, reported receiving $2.9 million from Houston businessman John Nau. The leading individual contributor to the pro-Paxton super PAC was Midland oilman Douglas Scharbauer, who donated $250,000, both of whom have previously made significant contributions to their respective super PACs.
Notably, the second-largest donor to the pro-Paxton group during this reporting period was a dark-money organization, Preserve Texas Inc., a Virginia-based entity that emerged shortly after Paxton launched his campaign last year.
