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By Renzo Downey and The Texas Tribune Politics Team
Early voting began today in the primary runoffs
4 days until early voting ends in the primary runoffs
8 days until the primary runoffs
Programming note: The Blast will come to you five days a week this week for early voting. See you tomorrow!
IN TODAY’S BLAST
Adelson bets on Wright vs. French
Exclusive: TDP responds to Aleshire’s Scudder complaint
Abbott makes Houston-area Lege endorsements
ADELSON BETS ON WRIGHT VS. FRENCH
The GOP runoff for railroad commissioner is panning out to be one of the most expensive runoffs in Texas, with casino magnate Miriam Adelson and others coming to the defense of incumbent Chair Jim Wright.
Wright reported raising $1.9 million since the first round, including half a million from Texas Sands PAC, one of the groups funded by Adelson. The Israeli-American Republican megadonor comes to Wright’s aid against former Tarrant County GOP Chair Bo French, who Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and plenty more have accused of antisemitism and religious bigotry.
“My support from Miriam Adelson underscores Bo French’s hateful attacks on the Jewish people and his repeated anti-Semitic rhetoric,” Wright wrote on social media. “Dr. Adelson and I stand firmly with the state of Israel, and I join conservative leaders across Texas in condemning his ignorant bigotry.”
In Texas, Adelson’s name has been tied to two big things: the trade of Luka Dončić from the Dallas Mavericks and the gambling industry’s attempts to crack into the Lone Star State, the biggest untapped market for sports betting.
In a social media post last night, French questioned why Texas Sands would get involved in the race for railroad commissioner, which oversees the oil and gas industry.
“The liberal out of state casino lobby is now Democrat megadonor Jim Wright’s single largest donor,” he wrote in a follow-up this morning.
French’s pre-runoff report, which is due today, has not yet appeared on the Texas Ethics Commission’s portal. However, Wright’s $1.9 million haul and $1.9 million in expenditures marks a significant change of pace from the first round of the primary.
Wright raised just $203,000 in roughly the final month of the first round. French, meanwhile, raised $331,000 in that period. Wright barely finished ahead of French in the voting, both netting 32%.
Far-right megadonor and oilman Tim Dunn and his son, Luke Dunn, each contributed $250,000 to the pro-French Texas Conservative Voters PAC. The group contributed $100,000 directly to the French campaign earlier this month and spent $300,000 on streaming ads supporting his campaign.
Adelson wasn’t the only one coming to Wright’s aid this time around. Brewers are getting involved, with $100,000 from billionaire beer, wine and spirit businessman Richard Sands — no relation to the Texas Sands effort — and $100,000 from CraftPAC. The Texas Oil and Gas Association Good Government Committee gave $80,000 and billionaire oil executive Kelcy Warren gave $50,000.
The Blast will have more campaign finance tidbits as reports continue to come in this week.
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EXCLUSIVE: TDP RESPONDS TO ALESHIRE’S SCUDDER COMPLAINT
Former Travis County Judge Bill Aleshire has filed a complaint with the Texas Ethics Commission against Texas Democratic Party Chair Kendall Scudder, alleging that the first-term chair is “deliberately and knowingly” concealing debt owed to the party’s longtime general counsel, Chad Dunn.
Scudder, who has been celebrated for paying off $500,000 in party debt inherited from his predecessor, Gilberto Hinojosa, is running for his first full term as party chair at the Texas Democratic Convention next month. The complaint, first reported by Ken Martin of The Austin Bulldog, is Scudder’s latest reelection complication as he faces a challenge from former party Executive Director Monique Alcala.
Scudder was elected by the State Democratic Executive Committee in March 2025. In some of the first acts after winning the gavel, he addressed the party’s debt in a closed-door meeting of the executive committee, which revealed the seriousness of the financial situation. Since then, even his intraparty critics commend him for fundraising efforts since taking command of the party.
But even after payments owed to Dunn fell off the party’s filings after May 2025, the party paid Dunn at least $61,000, as reported to the TEC, and a total of $103,000, as reported to the Federal Election Commission. More than $81,000 of that was labeled as “non-federal” campaign purposes.
Dunn resigned his position as general counsel the day before Hinojosa was set to step down, meaning these weren’t new legal services.
“The evidence is clear that Scudder started paying the Dunn debt, knowing all along how much debt TDP had accumulated, but failed to timely report the unpaid incurred obligation,” Aleshire wrote.
Aleshire has a history of burning bridges in his political crusades, so not everyone is jumping at the allegations.
“If it had come from anyone more credible I probably would sit up and listen,” one SDEC member told The Blast.
In a statement shared exclusively with The Blast, TDP Executive Director Terri Burke said the party will not be “distracted” by individuals putting themselves ahead of the party’s attempt to build a grassroots operation across the state.
“Regardless of what was said in an ill-informed, politically motivated attack on our party and its chairman, the TDP has followed compliance guidelines completely since Kendall Scudder became chairman,” Burke said.
“Democrats in Texas are tired of the navel gazing and internal spats — we are laser focused on building a grassroots operation in every corner of this state to win elections,” she continued.
Moreover, the Scudder-era filings list Hinojosa as the party treasurer and the party address in Austin despite moving its official headquarters to Dallas, as part of Scudder’s plan to spread operations across the state.
Burke called the listing of Hinojosa as treasurer a “clerical error” and said that has been corrected.
ABBOTT MAKES HOUSTON-AREA LEGE ENDORSEMENTS
Ahead of Gov. Greg Abbott’s campaign stop in Houston for the first day of early voting, the governor announced some new general election picks in his bid to challenge some entrenched blue Texas House seats.
Abbott endorsed seven candidates in total. Despite the timing — which would suggest that they are in runoff races next week — all seven have already secured their GOP nominations.
HD-131: Scott Whitmarsh
Challenging Staci Childs or Lawrence Allen Jr.
Rep. Alma Allen is retiring
HD-134: Mike Michna
Challenging Rep. Ann Johnson
HD-142: Heidi Hall
Challenging Rep. Harold Dutton
HD-143: Frank Salazar
Challenging Ana Hernandez
HD-144: David Flores
Challenging Mary Ann Perez
HD-145: Inocensia Moreno
Challenging Christina Morales
HD-146: Alexandria Nicole Butler
Challenging Lauren Ashley Simmons
By and large, Abbott’s endorsements are staking challenges in races where Republicans haven’t tried their luck in recent years. Only two of the races had GOP challengers in 2024: Johnson was reelected by 23 points and Simmons, who ousted Rep. Shawn Thierry in the primary, was elected by more than 55 points.
The most interesting of the untested races is HD-144, where Republicans potentially missed out on a flip as President Donald Trump carried the district by 3 points.
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TX-SEN: A new Texas Southern University poll has U.S. Sen. John Cornyn leading Democrat James Talarico 45% to 44% and Talarico tied with Attorney General Ken Paxton at 45%. Talarico wins a plurality of independents in both matchups, leading 40% to 18% versus Cornyn and 45% to 20% versus Paxton.
TX-SEN cont’d: Former Gov. Rick Perry encouraged voters to support Cornyn in a text campaign today.
Lieutenant governor: The Marcos Vélez campaign is paying people $25 to encourage friends and family to support him in the Democratic runoff with Austin state Rep. Vikki Goodwin.
TX-19: Current Revolt shared explicit 2017 texts purportedly between Abraham Enriquez and a man who claims to have had a physical relationship with the congressional candidate after meeting him on the gay dating app, Grindr. Current Revolt said it confirmed the number belongs to Enriquez, who rejected the accusations as “ridiculous.” Enriquez faces Tom Sell in the GOP runoff next week.
TX-35: Project 218, the group associated with the liberal American Bridge 21st Century super PAC, launched four new broadcast ads supporting Bexar County Sheriff’s Deputy Johnny Garcia, attacking ICE raids, Medicare cuts and healthcare costs. Two of the ads are running in Spanish. Project 218 is one of the many groups that have come to Garcia’s aid in the Democratic runoff against Maureen Galindo, who Garcia and others accuse of being antisemitic.
HD-41: Missed this on Friday — U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, endorsed “progressive” Julio Salinas in the Democratic runoff in the race to succeed retiring state Rep. Bobby Guerra, D-Mission. Salinas, a former Lege staffer, is up against McAllen City Commissioner Seby Haddad, Guerra’s pick. Salinas did not try to present himself as the liberal choice in the first round of the primary, opting instead to contrast himself with Haddad, who has a history of voting in the GOP primaries, and activist Eric Holguín. The race will be a key battleground for the state House in November. Attorney Sergio Sanchez and activist Gary Groves are running head-to-head in the GOP runoff.
Tomorrow, for your campaign radar:
TX-SEN
U.S. Sen. John Cornyn
Amarillo
Lubbock
Attorney General Ken Paxton
Collin County
Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows, a Lubbock attorney, is part of the team representing Texas Tech quarterback Brendan Sorsby in his lawsuit against the NCAA. Sorsby, who is under investigation from the league for gambling violations, sought a temporary injunction today that would allow him to play the 2026 college football season. Notably, casino magnate Miriam Adelson helped fund the primary defense of several Texas House GOP incumbents, and one of Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick’s interim charges seeks recommendations to protect the “integrity” of Texas sports from prediction markets.
Texas GOP Chair Abraham George last night called state Rep. Matt Shaheen the “definition of a RINO” after the Plano Republican campaigned for U.S. Sen. John Cornyn. Shaheen last week re-shared a memo, first reported in The Blast, alleging that Attorney General Ken Paxton would have a 5- to 8-point drag on down-ballot races. Shaheen was reelected by little more than half a point in 2018.
The 2026 Texas primary elections mark a pivotal moment in a state. There are more than 18 statewide elected officials up for election, along with Texas’ members of Congress, state legislators, district-based judges and local elected officials. In many cases, the winner in May will essentially decide the winner before Election Day.
The morning after the May 26 runoff elections, TribCast co-hosts Eleanor Klibanoff and Matthew Watkins, along with a panel of experts, will analyze the results from the U.S. Senate race, the battles for statewide office and what the results mean for November.
Doors open at 10:30 a.m. at the Tribune’s Studio 919 and the hourlong conversation begins at 11 a.m. Coffee is provided.
This week:
The House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee will meet at 10 a.m. tomorrow to hear invited and public testimony on rural criminal justice workforce development and fraud targeting elderly and vulnerable Texans.
Next week:
The Senate Health and Human Services Committee will meet Wednesday at 9:30 a.m. to hear invited testimony on:
The House Select Committee on Homeland Security, Public Safety & Veterans’ Affairs, chaired by Rep. Cole Hefner, R-Mount Pleasant, will meet Thursday at 10 a.m. to hear invited testimony on:
The authority of the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement, including to establish new agencies
Law enforcement recruitment and retention
HB 33 — The “Uvalde Strong Act,” regarding regarding safety measures to prevent active shooter incidents at primary and secondary schools
There will be another anti-Big Bend border wall protest at the state Capitol tomorrow morning. It comes after U.S. Customs and Border Protection awarded a $1.7 billion contract last week for “border wall in Big Bend Texas,” seemingly a reversal of CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott’s comments to the Washington Examiner that there would be no wall. The Big Bend back-and-forth rages on! Read more from the Tribune’s Ayden Runnels.
Do you or someone in your office have a new job you’d like mentioned? Email us.
State Sen. Brian Birdwell, R-Granbury, was unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate as an assistant secretary of defense today.
Gov. Greg Abbott selected GOP donor John Nau as chair of the Texas Bicentennial Commission. Other commission appointees include businessman Tilman Fertitta, the United States ambassador to Italy and San Marino, and movieman Taylor Sheridan.
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“Texas summer camps have closed, scaled back operations due to state’s new regulations,” by Stephen Simpson of The Texas Tribune
“He’s been impeached and indicted. He has a chance in Texas’ Senate race.” by Michael Kruse and Lauren McGaughy of The New York Times
“The Texas-size fight over Rick Perry’s nuclear power startup,” by Jennifer Hiller of The Wall Street Journal
Do you or someone in your office have a birthday you’d like mentioned? Email us.
(May 18) State Rep. Vikki Goodwin
(May 18) Country legend George Strait
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