Texas
TikTok billionaire, voucher supporter gave Gov. Abbott $4M ahead of Texas House runoffs
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott received an additional $4 million campaign donation from a prominent school voucher proponent just after the March primary elections, boosting his successful effort to toss out GOP House members who opposed his school choice plans, according to new state ethics reports filed on Monday.
The April 3 donation by TikTok investor Jeff Yass brings the Pennsylvania billionaire megadonor’s contributions to Abbott to more than $10 million since last fall. Yass previously donated $6 million in December, which Abbott described as the largest single donation in Texas campaign history.
Yass has donated more than $200 million in the last decade to federal and state candidates and to groups to promote school choice.
The mandatory campaign finance reports filed Monday by the Republican governor as well as by his campaign at the Texas Ethics Commission offer the first comprehensive look into Abbott’s money machine during two heated election cycles earlier this year.
Abbott and his campaign’s political action committee, Texans for Greg Abbott, were only required to file them in January and July because he wasn’t on the ballot.
An email requesting comment from Abbott’s campaign was not immediately answered early Tuesday. Staff at his Capitol office referred questions to the campaign.
Public education advocates have criticized Yass’ heavy-handed funding of Abbott’s campaign, saying that as an out-of-state activist he has too much influence.
Earlier this year, Yass, through a spokesman, provided a brief statement to The Dallas Morning News on his supporting school choice: “School spending has doubled in real terms over the last 30 years and results have gotten worse, particularly in urban districts. The time for choice and competition is now. I plan to support pro-school choice candidates in any state.”
The Monday reports show Abbott’s officeholder account, which received the Yass donations, spent nearly $12 million during the first six months of the year. Most of that was on travel, events and advertising. More than a quarter of that was spent on advertising, polling and consulting in April and May alone, according to Abbott’s 190-page officeholder report.
Throughout the primary and runoff season,10 mostly rural incumbent House Republicans were fighting off attacks from Abbott and his pro-voucher allies after the lawmakers repeatedly blocked legislation that would have created education savings accounts, or ESAs.
Proponents — including Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick — argue that public schools in some areas of the state are failing, so parents need help paying for alternatives. The ESAs would allow for taxpayer money to be spent on private schools.
Opponents argue that private schools are unregulated and sometimes exclude students with special needs. They want public schools to be fully funded.
Many rural Republicans argue that ESAs would drain the funding from their schools — the largest employer in many rural counties — and hurt their communities, particularly because many of those areas don’t have private schools.
Before the March primary, Abbott and his campaign gave more than $6 million to House candidates, many of whom were challenging those incumbents. Then he donated another $2.3 million during the next two months for the May runoffs to defeat those who survived in March, according to earlier campaign reports.
Abbott’s well-funded victories in those contests appear to have given him the votes he needs to pass school choice during the next regular session, which starts in January 2025. His candidates must survive the general election in November.
The legislative effort to create the state’s first voucherlike program appears to be already underway.
On Tuesday, Texas House Public Education Committee Chair Brad Buckley, R-Killeen, scheduled a hearing on a range of issues, including the viability of ESAs, for Aug. 12 – the same week many major Texas districts start the new school year.
Meanwhile, the Abbott campaign PAC maintains a healthy war chest of more than $51 million as of June 30, according to the reports. The PAC received nearly $25 million in donations since January.
The political action committee’s 29,292-page report is brimming with donations of $1 and $2, although individual contributions of $110 or less that are not received electronically are not required to be itemized. Online donations must be listed individually even if they are under $1.
Aarón Torres contributed to this report.
NORTH TEXAS – This week’s snow event will end with a “few flurries” during Friday’s morning commute, according to CBS News Texas meteorologist Jeff Ray.
“But roads will have frozen over,” Ray said.
Expect hazardous road conditions in the morning, as it will be “the worst” the roads have been since the event started on Thursday morning, Ray said.
Late in the morning, temperatures will rise above freezing, which will “help drivers get around the Metroplex,” Ray said.
A cold front is expected Friday, he said.
“We are going to have wind chills in the 20s all day,” Ray said. “By nightfall on Friday, temperatures will drop quickly and water will re-freeze on the roads across the evening. This ice will remain until mid-morning on Saturday before the sun and warmer temperatures in the mid-40s clear the roadways.”
CBS News Texas will continue to provide updates as information becomes available.
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South Carolina women’s basketball hosts its SEC home opener against Texas A&M on Thursday evening. Here’s how to watch and what to watch for.
1. Missing Ashlyn
South Carolina announced on Tuesday that junior forward Ashlyn Watkins will miss the rest of the season with a torn ACL. Staley let Watkins tell the team about her injury, and then the coaches have tried to push forward.
“We just keep it moving, try not to harp on it too much because it’s felt,” Staley said. “The more you move on, the more they move on – and our players have to move on. It’s a part of it.”
I broke down how South Carolina will try to replace Watkins here.
Staley said, “Only time will tell” the impact of Watkins’ absence, but it is definitely an opportunity for Maryam Dauda, Adhel Tac, and Sakima Walker to step into a new role.
“Sometimes, when you remove someone as big as Ashlyn from your equation, other people have an opportunity,” Staley said. “And what they do with that opportunity, usually, they do something pretty good with it. We’ll work with them, and we’ll be patient with them.”
2. Spurtability
South Carolina’s strengths this season have been its bench and its transition game. In the first two SEC games, South Carolina pulled away with the second unit on the court getting stops and getting out in transition.
Watkins, with her ability to rim run with or without the ball, was a huge part of that. Her absence isn’t going to stop the Gamecocks from running, especially at home. Even without Watkins, the Gamecocks had 15 fast break points on Sunday.
That quick-strike ability has Texas A&M coach Jni Taylor worried.
“We have a saying around here that says, ‘before you know it,’” Taylor said. “If you keep doing the right thing, keep putting your head down, keep grinding, you look up and before you know it, you’ll be where you’re supposed to be. Likewise, if you don’t come out ready, if you are pouting, if you are feeling sorry for yourself, before you know it, you won’t be where you’re supposed to be. That’s one of those things at South Carolina. They’re a really good team. They play really well at home. We will be, flashback of last year here, we’ll be down 15 to zero before we can bat an eye if we don’t come out ready to go.”
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3. (Dress rehearsal)
Nobody is going to say it out loud, but Thursday’s game is an important tune-up for the Sunday showdown against no. 5 Texas.
Is Tac ready to battle Kyla Oldacre? Can Dauda’s shooting pull Oldacre away from the paint? Is there enough rim protection to keep Rori Harmon from getting easy layups, or do they need to get creative? Who should guard Madison Booker?
It’s a familiar refrain in these parts. Get the game in hand early so you have the fourth quarter to look at some different lineups.
“We let our players play through some stuff, and then you’ve got to look at the scoreboard,” Staley said. “If we’re holding serve on the scoreboard, and we’re up, more lenient to leave them out there to give them some minutes. But, if the scoreboard moves in an unfavorable way, then you got to get combinations out there that’s going to move it the opposite way.”
Texas hosts no. 18 Alabama on Thursday night, so the Longhorns can’t afford to look ahead. But we can.
[USC-Texas WBB: Win tickets, parking]
4. Availability report
Maddy McDaniel and Sakima Walker were both listed as OUT on the Wednesday evening Availability Report.
McDaniel has not played since the holiday break after suffering a concussion. Walker has not played since the Iowa State game and hasn’t been available since the TCU game with an ankle injury. Both have started participating in practice this week but obviously are not yet full-speed.
Vanessa Saidu is listed as OUT for Texas A&M. She has yet to play this season. Amirah Abdur-Rahim is listed as questionable.
Side note: Because Watkins has been declared out for the season, she is not included on the availability report.
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5. Scouting the Aggies
The Aggies are one of the three SEC teams that haven’t reached 10 wins yet. There are a lot of good players on the roster – anyone in the country would take Lauren Ware, Sahara Jones, and Janae Kent – plus a great scorer in Aicha Coulibaly, but the sum of the parts hasn’t been quite where it needs to be.
However, Texas A&M is coming off an upset of then-25th-ranked Ole Miss on Sunday. The win was a 60-58 rock fight in which Ole Miss shot 0-12 in the fourth quarter, but that fits Joni Taylor’s defensive mindset.
‘I think that we’ve been able to show really good spurts defensively of how we can impact the game,” Taylor said. “To hold Ole Miss or any team, for that matter, without a field goal in the fourth quarter is really impressive, and I think it just shows, again, what we are capable of.”
Coulibaly has been a thorn in the Gamecocks’ side before. She scored 32 points and grabbed six rebounds against the Gamecocks in the SEC tournament quarterfinals last season. Coulibaly had no problem getting to the basket and drawing fouls, going 13-15 from the line. And that was with Watkins and Kamilla Cardoso guarding the rim.
“Coulibaly is the one that we haven’t solved playing against her,” Staley said. “I do think they’re better. They’re playing more cohesive. They’ve got some bigs that do what bigs do. They have guards that are a year older, some transfers that have played in our league, so … formidable. And then, they’re coming off a big win against Ole Miss.”
Texas A&M freshman Taliyah Parker was a high school teammate of Tac’s at South Grand Prairie. Parker has appeared in all 14 games this season and averages 5.3 points and 2.4 rebounds.
The Ws
Who: #1 South Carolina (14-1, 2-0) vs Texas A&M (8-6, 1-1)
When: 5:00 EST, Thursday, January 9
Where: Colonial Life Arena, Columbia, SC
Watch: ESPN2
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