While Beto O'Rourke raises a lot of money, other state-level Democrats receive no love

When the Democratic candidate for governorship, Bill White, launched his candidacy in 2010 to overthrow the government of the day. Rick Perry of Bobby Patton, an investor in Fort Worth, took a close interest in the Democratic Party and donated $ 250,000 to White's campaign. White lost the election of 13 points.

Four years later, when Democratic hopeful Wendy Davis ran against Republican Greg Abbott as governor, Patton, co-owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team, became one of Davis' biggest donors, giving just over $ 250,000. Davis finally lost 20 points.

This election cycle, Patton decided to change teams. He made a check this year for Abbott's $ 25,000 re-election campaign. This was in addition to the $ 250,000 he had donated to Abbott the year before.

Patton, who declined to be interviewed for this story, is far from being the only major funder to break ties with state-level Democrats, according to a Texas Tribune study on campaign finance records. Even though congressional candidates are gaining records, as evidenced by the unprecedented $ 70 million war treasure of US Senate candidate Beto O. Rourke, the most cashed funders have largely abandoned Democratic candidates for election. governor, lieutenant governor and other non-judicial offices at the state level.

Despite the fact that unlike these congressional candidates, state nominees can reap unlimited individual donations under the Texas Campaign Finance Act.

And since candidates from across the country have largely failed to recoup the money elsewhere, their fundraising campaign is only 10% to 20% of what their predecessors did in 2010 and 2014, noted the Tribune.

It's a bad year not to call Beto O'Rourke.

"At the federal level, you have a plethora of very high quality and talented candidates coming to districts where there is a realistic prospect of victory," said Mark Jones, professor of political science at Rice University. "You can compare that to the national races where the Democrats were actually left with … the one who was ready to run."

Less than a week before the November 6 general election, Lupe Valdez, a former Dallas County governor, led by the Dallas County Governor, raised $ 6.5 million over the course of the cycle. the $ 59.8 million that the 2014 budget reported. less than a quarter of the $ 27.5 million that the 2010 nominees contributed.

They are miles away from their Republican opponents this round. Abbott alone has raised nearly $ 42 million during this cycle, while the rest of the non-judicial list of Republicans has yielded about $ 30 million, according to an analysis of the Texas Ethics Commission's archive.

Brandon Rottinghaus, professor of political science at the University of Houston, explains that Abbott's race does not seem competitive. The current governor boasts of having declared that "Abbott University", a voter mobilization program he has been pursuing since the 2014 elections, has trained nearly 7,000 volunteers and campaign workers.

While O 'Rourke has energized the Democratic base and appears to have forced the US Senator in office, Ted Cruz, to participate in Texas' most competitive run for decades, the drought of money that remains on the market is a reflection of a long-term problem for Democrats, said Rottinghaus. .

"Cultivating donors is key to being resource-rich to fund infrastructure," he said. "If this does not happen or happens only at times, it makes it impossible to maintain an ongoing relationship that Democrats must maintain with voters."

Democratic agents see things differently. Comparisons between election cycles are misleading because there are more great candidates this year in the federal election, said Jeff Rotkoff, a politician with a long history in Texas Democratic circles. Campaigns at the Congress of Democrats Joseph Kopser, Gina Ortiz Jones and Lizzie Pannill Fletcher, for example, announced combined contributions worth over $ 12 million.

"In 2014, the candidate for the US Senate [David Alameel] did not raise money, "he said. "In 2014, no congressional candidate had collected millions of dollars.

"In my opinion, this is not poor, it reflects what the theory of change is for Texas progressives … that the path to victory is," a rising tide lifts all boats, " said Rotkoff.

It remains to be seen whether all the attention and money spent on this year's congressional candidates will bring negative benefits to candidates from across the state. However, an analysis of campaign financial data clearly reveals a shift this year in the type of Texas candidates and political action committees left-wing donors are willing to fund, as state-wide candidates ranking among the biggest losers.

The death last year of mega-lawyer and Democratic lawyer Steve Mostyn has left a notable void. During the 2014 cycle, Mostyn, his wife Amber and their law firm paid more than $ 3.3 million to state-wide candidates, which included donations. in cash and the use of their private plane for country trips. In the 2010 cycle, the Mostyn paid more than $ 370,000 to applicants from across the country.

This year, Amber Mostyn and the Mostyn law firm did not report any non-judicial grants, but continued to donate to other causes that support progressive candidates, such as Annie's List. , Texas Battleground and ActBlue. Amber Mostyn did not answer the questions sent by email.

Another important absence from this cycle is the family of Garrett Boone, co-founder of The Container Store. Boone and his wife Cecilia donated $ 10,000 to the Democratic state ticket during this cycle, while their daughter Aimee Boone Cunningham donated about $ 5,500. This represents a drop of more than $ 690,000 that the trio paid for the 2014 ticket and more than $ 250,000 for the 2010 ticket.

Other major donors who have reduced their contributions to statewide campaigns include:

• Boston-based Planned Parenthood Board Chair Naomi Aberly, who donated $ 1,500 in this cycle, compared to more than $ 500,000 in 2014 and $ 131,000 in 2010.

• Houston philanthropist Sara Morgan donated more than $ 37,000 this cycle, up from more than $ 610,000 in 2014 and $ 120,000 in 2010. Morgan also donated $ 25,000 to the first unsuccessful offer. Andrew White against Lupe Valdez this year.

• Carolyn Oliver, an Austin-based physician who donated more than $ 1.1 million in 2014 and about $ 90,000 in 2010, but made no donations to any candidate on the scale of the year. State during this cycle.

There are positives for Democrats. Attorney General Justin Nelson's hope has raised more than $ 3.2 million this year, more than any other state candidate. Investor Austin, Robert Turner, and San Antonio lawyer Mikal Watts became the largest donors of statewide democratic campaigns in this cycle, after offering valuable gifts greater than $ 187,000. The vast majority of their donations went to the Nelson countryside.

Cunningham downplayed the concerns raised by the candidates' fundraising campaigns.

"I do not remember having ever seen so much enthusiasm among donors towards Democrats going up and down the ballot as I see it this year," she said in an e-mail. . "Candidates running for local, regional and congressional positions – and of course Beto – are collecting unprecedented amounts for their races. I am confident that this year will be a great year for us. "

Disclosure: Rice University, the University of Houston and Steve Mostyn and Amber Anderson provided financial support to The Texas Tribune, a non-partisan, non-profit press organization funded in part by membership donations. foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in Tribune journalism. Find a complete list right here.