Last-minute primary donations flow for Republican proxy battles and school choice

In the March 1 Texas primaries, House Speaker Dade Phelan deployed more than $1 million to help over a dozen GOP lawmakers fend off their intraparty foes. Each challenger was backed by a right-wing group with a singular mission: defeating establishment Republicans and installing hard-line conservatives in their place. Undeterred by defeat, the political action committee known as Defend Texas Liberty is again spending lavishly in the May 24 runoffs, hoping to unseat three incumbent Republican lawmakers who failed to win outright in March. The group is also backing several candidates running for open statehouse seats, each pitted against a runoff opponent supported by Phelan. The speaker, a Republican from Beaumont, has responded by pouring more than $650,000 into the runoff contests, funding a mix of advertising and polling for his preferred candidates, according to campaign finance reports made public Tuesday.

With the House all but certain to remain under Republican control in November, the runoffs will help determine the clout of GOP lawmakers and activists who believe the Legislature did not go far enough last year, when it passed a slew of conservative legislation including a six-week abortion ban and sweeping election changes. Phelan, meanwhile, is aiming to keep an ironclad grip on his role as the House’s presiding officer. He was elected to the post last year with just two opposing votes from the 150-member chamber, yet has faced criticism from a small but vocal number of conservative Republicans who want him to strip Democrats of their committee chairmanships and pursue more far-reaching election laws. Renée Cross, senior director of the Hobby School of Public Affairs at the University of Houston, said voters who turn out for Republican primaries, especially runoffs, tend to favor more conservative candidates, creating a built-in advantage for the challengers backed by Defend Texas Liberty. By late January, the Texas Federation for Children — a political action committee that advocates for so-called private school choice — had just $12,000 in the bank, according to campaign finance records. The “school choice” movement has stalled in recent years at the Capitol, with all but 29 House lawmakers voting last spring to bar state funds from being used on a voucher program to send kids to private schools. But school choice advocacy groups have gained renewed momentum since Abbott rolled out a “Parental Bill of Rights” earlier this year, then touted his support for a private school voucher program last week. The push comes as conservatives already are focused intently on classroom-related politics, mostly centered around restricting how teachers can talk about race and gender. From late March to late April, the latest period covered by public campaign finance records, Texas Federation for Children PAC hauled in more than $270,000, mostly from conservative philanthropist Stacy Hock and Houston developer and megadonor Richard Weekley. It was the group’s most robust fundraising period this cycle, setting up a push for candidates who support private school vouchers in the homestretch of the runoffs.