Texas
Money from outside House District 21, and Texas, dominates fundraising in Phelan-Covey race | Houston Public Media
Dade Phelan Facebook, Dave Covey Facebook
Early voting in the May 28 Texas primary runoffs ends today. One of the highest-profile contests in the state is the Republican runoff in House District 21 between Texas Speaker of the House Dade Phelan and former Orange County GOP chairman David Covey. The race could prove the most expensive state legislative contest in Texas history.
Monday night, former Governor Rick Perry introduced Speaker Phelan to a capacity crowd at Courville’s, a Cajun restaurant and catering venue just off US-90 in Beaumont. One of the first things Phelan did as he took the stage was to apologize to his family.
“I apologize for your mailboxes,” Phelan said. “I apologize for what you’ve seen on TV. The lies, the lies, the lies are unimaginable. We’ve never seen anything like it in the history of Southeast Texas.”
Andrew Schneider
Phelan was referring to the political attack ads directed at him. He’s running for his sixth term in the Texas House and claimed the money spent on House District 21 is breaking state records. It’s certainly having an outsized impact in the district, a three-county region along the Louisiana border that’s also known as “the Golden Triangle.”
“I’ll remind you, when you buy $100,000 in TV in Beaumont, it’s like buying $500,000 in Houston,” he said.
And the money is not just going into TV commercials. It’s paying for social media campaigns and mailers, including one with a doctored photo showing Phelan hugging the former U.S. Speaker of the House, and Democrat, Nancy Pelosi. Phelan said much of the money comes from a handful of very wealthy individuals supporting his opponent, David Covey, who has never run for state office before.
“Here we are in a runoff,” Phelan said, “because he has taken money from two West Texas billionaires, and now some guy from Pennsylvania, who I’ve never heard of until the last six weeks, who just came in and spent millions of dollars against me.”
Covey’s Donors
Phelan didn’t name them, but he was talking specifically about two conservative oil executives from the Midland area, Tim Dunn and Farris Wilks, along with Pennsylvania tech investor Jeff Yass. All three have been pouring millions of dollars into efforts to defeat politicians who have opposed school choice.
Yass is one of the largest contributors to the Club for Growth, a conservative 501 nonprofit based in Washington, D.C. The Club has spent nearly $1.8 million on advertising to defeat Phelan who’s been accused of blocking school vouchers. They also blame the House Speaker for giving away power to Democrats.
“Basically, we don’t feel you can call yourself a conservative if you oppose school freedom,” said David McIntosh, the president of the Club for Growth and a former Indiana congressman. “I think it’s an important symbolic victory if Mr. Covey wins, and the reason would be, it basically sends a signal to other Republicans: You don’t want to try to get power in this fashion.”
This fashion, meaning by giving some House committee chairs to Democrats. It’s a traditional power-sharing arrangement in the Texas Legislature that’s fallen sharply out of favor with conservative Republicans. Many blame the process for preventing the passage of school choice, among other priorities.
According to campaign finance reports filed with the Texas Ethics Commission, since July of last year, oil executive Tim Dunn has donated just over $8.6 million to a pair of political action committees, Defend Texas Liberty and Texans United for a Conservative Majority, either directly or through an entity known as Hexagon Partners. Oil executive Farris Wilks donated about $2.8 million over the same period.
Tim Dunn and Farris Wilks provided virtually all the donations to Defend Texas Liberty and Texans United for a Conservative Majority over the current cycle. Those two PACs in turn donated $800,000 to David Covey’s campaign. Covey received another $700,000 directly in donations from a third Texas billionaire, insurance broker Alex Fairly of Amarillo. Neither Dunn, Wilks, nor Fairly responded to requests for interviews. For context, Covey’s campaign has raised just over $2.5 million since July of last year, and more than three out of every five dollars came from three men.
“Texas has no campaign finance limits whatsoever,” said Anthony Gutierrez, executive director of Common Cause Texas. “So, if you’re a billionaire, and you want to throw millions of dollars into the political system to change who’s in office, you can do that.”
Gutierrez, who studies campaign finance, is convinced that the Phelan-Covey race could easily be the most expensive race for a State House district in Texas history, though he said no one will know for certain until the Texas Ethics Commission publishes the final campaign finance reports of the cycle in July.
Asked about the potential influence of these three men, David Covey told Houston Public Media, “Dade Phelan has raised more money from out-of-state donors than the total amount of money I have raised. The amount of money Phelan received from outside of the district is greater than 5 times the amount of money I raised.”
Phelan’s Contributors
Covey’s claim isn’t without merit, and it speaks to an important point about the influence of money in a region like the Golden Triangle.
“Generally, money is probably the most important factor in any political campaign,” said political consultant Bill Miller, whose firm, Austin-based HillCo Partners, has donated to Phelan’s campaign. “I think there’s so much money that’s been raised, and is being raised, that money is irrelevant. And there’s very few races where you can say that. But this race — because it’s a small area, and there’s so much money — I don’t think that either side will want for money to do whatever it is that they believe will help them win the race.”
Campaign finance records show Phelan has raised more than $9.4 million this cycle. The largest individual donor to Phelan by far is Miriam Adelson, widow of Sheldon Adelson and owner of the Las Vegas Sands Corporation. Adelson’s company is one of the main forces pushing to legalize casino gambling in Texas.
Adelson donated more than $13 million to a pair of political action committees, Texas Defense and Texas Sands. Those two PACS in turn donated more than $800,000 to Phelan. Adelson also donated another $100,000 to Phelan’s campaign directly. Altogether, she’s supplied 1 dollar out of every 10 Phelan has collected. More than half of that money came in the critical two months following Phelan’s second-place finish in the first round of primary voting.
Phelan’s next biggest contributor is the Associated Republicans of Texas Campaign Fund. The fund’s parent body, the Associated Republicans of Texas, bills itself as a non-profit dedicated to maintaining a Republican majority in the Texas Legislature. The group has raised $7.5 million since last July. One of its biggest benefactors is Houston-based John L. Nau III, the chairman and CEO of Silver Eagle Beverages, one of the nation’s largest Anheuser-Busch distributors. Nau, who co-chairs the Associated Republicans’ board of directors, gave the organization $2.1 million over the past ten months.
Phelan has received just over $238,000 from the Associated Republicans of Texas Campaign Fund. That’s only 3% of the group’s total fundraising over the current cycle, but virtually all of it followed Phelan’s second-place finish to Covey in the first round of primary voting in March, making it a crucial lifeline.
What comes next?
It’s far from normal to see so many millions of dollars in campaign donations flowing through this district. The last time Phelan fought a competitive race was his first legislative contest back in 2014. In that cycle, he raised just 2% of what he raised for this primary. So, I asked Phelan whether it’s time for tougher state campaign finance rules.
“It’s less of a finance issue than some of the campaign graphics and some of the images and some of the voiceovers that are obviously not realistic,” Phelan said. “They’re not accurate. And they’re obviously deep fakes. And AI, as it gets more and more refined, is very problematic in campaigns. We saw it in my campaign. We’re seeing it in other campaigns across the state of Texas. It’s a misdemeanor right now, and I don’t think that’s strong enough at all.”
Whether any such legislation comes to pass hangs on the outcome of this race: if Phelan loses, campaign finance limits will fall on whoever succeeds him as Speaker of the House.
Regarding the broader question of campaign finance regulation, Phelan is more philosophical, as someone who’s in the lead when it comes to fundraising can afford to be.
“It’s a First Amendment right to spend your money,” he said. “I get it. And I don’t know how the state of Texas will address that and still be under the constitutional standards that we expect from free speech.”
The Texas Longhorns had a great weekend in the College Football Playoffs and the NFL. Multiple former players scored touchdowns, sacks and even made interesting kicking history.
Here are some of the top performances for former Longhorns in the NFL:
Jones tried his best for Denver against the Los Angeles Chargers having his third game of the season with ten tackles (seven solo). He even added his tenth pass deflection of the year, the first time he has had 10+ pass deflections in his five-year NFL career.
The Broncos however dropped to 9-6, losing 34-27.
The other Longhorn in the Broncos secondary also had a good game to a lesser extent. Locke got six tackles (two solo) which was third on the team. The Broncos next play the Cincinnati Bengals on Dec. 28th.
Now going to the winning side of Thursday Night Football, Dicker knocked down both of his field goal attempts, including a rare fair catch free kick from 57 yards out to cut the Chargers’ deficit to 21-13.
A rare fair catch free kick results in a Cameron Dicker 57-yard FG for the @Chargers 🤯
It’s the first free kick FG since 1976! pic.twitter.com/yb0cyPuKnR
— NFL (@NFL) December 20, 2024
That kick was his second longest of the season, Dicker also knocked down a 37-yarder earlier in the second quarter as well and knocked both of his extra-pointers. The Chargers are now 9-6 this season.
Worthy has seen his production increase for the Chiefs in recent weeks. And on Sunday against the Houston Texans, Worthy had a career-high seven receptions for 65 yards and a touchdown. The touchdown came in the third quarter to give the Chiefs a 24-16 lead. Kansas City went on to hold on 27-19 to continue to a league-best 14-1 record.
That’s Worthy’s fifth touchdown of the season which ties him for first on Kansas City in receiving touchdowns with Noah Gray.
Tucker has struggled a tiny bit in recent weeks but he bounced back strongly in the 34-17 win against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Tucker tried and succeeded with a 51-yarder late in the second quarter to extend the lead 17-7, and then he hit a 23-yarder to put the game to rest in the fourth and make it 34-17.
Tucker also knocked his four extra point attempts as the Ravens won a crucial game, and moved to 10-5.
The Falcons dominated on all cylinders with new QB Michael Penix against the New York Giants, and Bijan Robinson helped a lot with it.
He rushed for 94 yards on 22 attempts, scoring two touchdowns, one in the second and one in the third. Robinson is now at 11 touchdowns this season for the Falcons as they win 34-7 and improve to 8-7.
The Browns struggled, losing 24-6 to the Cincinnati Bengals. But Hicks led the team in tackles with nine (seven solo).
But the Browns move to 3-12 after losing their fourth straight.
On the other sideline, Ossai had his best game of the season, having a season-high in tackles with five (four solo) and also getting his fourth sack of the season.
Ossai capped off his dominant performance with his first forced fumble as well as the Bengals win their third straight, and go to 7-8.
Monday Night Football between the Green Bay Packers and the New Orleans Saints will only have one former Longhorn with Saints linebacker Jaylan Ford, has only four tackles all season for them.
That game will start at 7:15 p.m. CT on ESPN.
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After a 103-57 win over South Dakota State on Sunday, the Texas Longhorns will head into their holiday break on a high note.
Sunday’s lopsided win at Moody Center came five days after Texas beat La Salle by a 111-49 score. Texas hadn’t scored 100 points in consecutive games since it did so against McNeese State and UTSA in November 2017.
Texas never trailed on Sunday, and freshmen Jordan Lee and Justice Carlton served as first-half catalysts for the No. 6 team in the USA Today Sports Coaches Poll. Lee started and scored 10 first-quarter points while Carlton came off the bench to score 17 first-half points on 7-of-9 shooting. Combined, Lee and Carlton had 29 points in the first half. South Dakota State’s entire team had 26.
While Texas built its 53-26 lead in the first half, eight of the nine Longhorns who played scored. The surprising exception was All-American Madison Booker, who distributed three assists and grabbed three rebounds but missed her three shots.
A perennial NCAA tournament qualifier that had split its prior games against ranked Creighton and Duke teams, South Dakota State (10-3) never cut into its 27-point halftime deficit in the second half.
Here are three observations from Sunday’s 46-point rout:
Mwenentanda remains patient with her process
Carlton finished with 19 points and nine rebounds while senior forward Taylor Jones had 15 points, 11 rebounds and four blocks. Lee and senior guard Rori Harmon respectively added 14 and 13 points for a Texas team that shot 53.9% from the field. Booker was limited to nine points, but Harmon pointed out after the game that Booker’s +/- of 41 was the best among the Longhorns.
Ndjakalenga Mwenentanda was the fifth Longhorn to record a double-digit scoring total. Over 11 minutes, Mwenentanda scored 10 points on 5-of-6 shooting.
Mwenentanda grew up in South Dakota and was that state’s Gatorade Player of the Year in 2022. The school in Sioux Falls where she won a state championship is about an hour drive from South Dakota State’s campus. Mwenentanda was recruited by the Jackrabbits but she said that she was attracted to what Texas could offer her athletically and academically.
Since arriving on campus, Mwenentanda has shown glimpses of her potential since arriving at Texas, but she has mainly been a role player for the Longhorns. Sunday was the 11th time that she scored at least 10 points in a game. Just twice in her career has she played more than 25 minutes.
Mwenentanda sees herself as a Swiss Army Knife on the Texas roster. She’s listed as a 6-foot-2 guard on the team’s roster, but Vic Schaefer has mainly used her as a “4” player this season. Mwenentanda played some in the paint last season, but she got more playing time as a guard. Training more with the post players this offseason has helped her adjust to that role this season.
“I physically prepared for it, I mentally prepared for it. I’m enjoying it,” Mwenentanda said.
Schaefer praised the play of Mwenentanda in his postgame press conference on Sunday. Earlier in the week, Mwenentanda said that she was staying patient with her process.
“Everybody’s process is different. I feel like comparing myself to other people’s process would be one reason to give up,” Mwenentanda said. “Everybody on this team are great players, are great women so even though this process is a little bit different for me, it’s not something I look at negatively because I know everybody’s working hard and everybody’s pitching in.”
Status for sidelined Laila Phelia remains unclear
Texas senior Laila Phelia missed her third straight game on Sunday. Phelia suffered a detached retina during the offseason. Texas has not announced a timeline for her return, but Schaefer has said the program will soon release an update.
The leading scorer at Michigan last season, Phelia has played in just eight of the Longhorns’ 13 games. She is averaging 6.1 points and 19.4 minutes per game while shooting 40.5% from the field.
What’s next for Texas? Rest and one final tune-up
Next on the schedule for Texas is a home game against UTRGV (6-6) on Dec. 29. That will be the Longhorns’ final game until their Southeastern Conference debut at Oklahoma on Jan. 2, 2025.
But first, the Longhorns will get some rest. Mwenentanda won’t be able to fly back to South Dakota until Monday morning, but the rest of the Longhorns headed home after Sunday’s win. The Longhorns will return to practice on Dec. 27.
How will the Longhorns spend their break? The three players who attended Sunday’s postgame press conference – Carlton, Harmon and Mwenentanda – said they’d take some time off, but they added that they’ll get some workouts in with family and hometown trainers.
As for Schaefer? He’ll do some work over the break, but he won’t be in his office.
“I’m going to be standing in about knee-deep water in the morning calling a duck and having my son (Logan) with me and my dog, my hunting dog, not my show dog. We’ll enjoy some time together in the morning and then we’ll wet a line and fish in the afternoon,” Schaefer said. “I’ll probably sit in my bow stand a couple of nights with my computer in my lap and watch film. I don’t really care if I see anything or not, but I usually see a lot. I get more work done sitting in a bow stand in a bow blind than I do a lot of times sitting at my desk.
“I’ll just enjoy time with family. I’m really blessed with Holly and Logan and Blair here and we’re all together at Christmas, and it’s just a special time for us. We really embrace the Christmas season.”
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Former Colorado Buffaloes defensive end Dayon Hayes is set to continue his collegiate career at Texas A&M after transferring following a season-ending injury. Hayes, a 6-foot-3, 265-pound defender, began his journey at Pitt, where he played from 2020 to 2023, accumulating 13 sacks and 80 tackles over four seasons.
At Pitt, Hayes showcased his potential in his sophomore and junior years, logging around 500 combined snaps and producing 30 pressures. His breakout came in 2023 when he amassed 44 pressures and a 13% pass rush win rate, ranking 12th in the ACC. Hayes also demonstrated solid run defense, posting an average tackle depth of 1.6 yards and recording 10.5 stops for loss. His ability to set the edge and prevent runners from escaping outside made him a critical piece of Pitt’s defense.
Following his success at Pitt, Hayes transferred to Colorado as a highly sought-after addition to Deion Sanders’ revamped Buffaloes roster. He made an immediate impact, registering two sacks and 3.5 tackles for loss in Colorado’s first three games. However, his promising start was cut short by a knee injury in the fourth game, sidelining him for the rest of the season.
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Despite the setback, Hayes’ strong early performance likely earned him a medical redshirt, granting him another year of eligibility. With his final collegiate season on the horizon, Hayes opted to join Texas A&M, bringing his pass-rushing skills to the SEC. The Aggies, coming off an eight-win season, are set to face USC in the Las Vegas Bowl. Hayes’ ability to pressure quarterbacks and defend the run should bolster Texas A&M’s defensive front, adding experience and depth to their edge rotation for the 2024 season.
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