The latest campaign finance news from The Texas Tribune.
The 15 largest donors to Texas politicians and PACs gave a total of $4.7 million in the first six months of 2011, according to a Texas Tribune analysis of Texas Ethics Commission filings. The biggest beneficiary of their largesse: the Texans for Lawsuit Reform Political Action Committee. Full Story
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Aguilar on the denial of asylum petitions by border judges, Galbraith on the history of wind, Grissom talks to the head of the Jail Standards Commission, Hamilton on plans for the state's new online university, Murphy and Ramsey on political warchests at midyear, Philpott on Texas' trucker shortage, Ramsey talks data privacy and abortion with Susan Combs, Ramshaw on the Rick Perry's experimental adult stem cell procedure, Root on the response to The Response, M. Smith on the country's could-be next first lady and Tan on a few of the ways Texas will change on Sept. 1: The best of our best content from Aug. 1 to 5, 2011. Full Story
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About two dozen candidates and political action committees have more than $1 million in their accounts, some of them much more, according to our analysis of midyear filings with the Texas Ethics Commission. Full Story
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About two dozen candidates and political action committees have more than $1 million in their accounts, some of them much more, according to a Texas Tribune analysis of midyear filings with the Texas Ethics Commission. Full Story
In mid-July, individuals, candidates and PACs filed itemized reports with the Texas Ethics Commission providing detailed breakdowns of each filer's totals for fundraising, spending, outstanding loans and cash on hand. Full Story
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We have updated our news application to include contributions from 2011 reported to the Texas Ethics Commission on July 15. Use our app to search campaign donations to Gov. Rick Perry from 2000 to 2011 to see who has financially supported the longest-serving governor in Texas history. Full Story
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Use our news application to search campaign donations by Texans to see who has provided financial support to the 2012 presidental candidates registered with the Federal Election Commission. Full Story
We have prepared a series of graphics and tables that examine Gov. Rick Perry's success in growing his war chest from year to year and from campaign to campaign, and which cities and individuals or entities have done the most to ensure the governor's electoral success in Texas. Full Story
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Rep. Senfronia Thompson's campaign contributions for the 2010 election cycle, classified by donor type. Full Story
Texas politicians and political action committees, or PACS, regularly report their financial activities to the Texas Ethics Commission, and we've put some of their numbers into this sortable spreadsheet for comparison. This list includes a mix of what the former group had on hand on June 30 and what the latter group had on hand on July 31. Full Story
Texas politicians with mistakes on their campaign finance reports will be able to correct them without penalties if the governor signs a bill approved during the regular legislative session. Full Story
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Candidates running for U.S. House and Senate races in Texas have raised millions of dollars to fund their campaigns during the 2011-12 election cycle. Use this news application to see which individual donors are helping finance those contests — or download the raw data filed by the candidates to the Federal Election Commission. Full Story
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Candidates in next year’s U.S. House and Senate elections in Texas raised more than $5 million in the first quarter from individuals. Most live in Texas. But a significant portion came from outside the Lone Star State, according to the Federal Election Commission. California led the way, followed by Virginia, Washington, D.C. and New York. Full Story
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Members of Congress from Texas — and potential candidates for those offices — have raised more than $9 million in the first quarter of this year in advance of the 2012 federal elections, campaign records show. Full Story
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This week, lawmakers from two senate committees called the power players in the electricity industry to Austin to grill them about the rolling blackouts on Feb. 2. As it turns out, many of those executives and their companies' PACs have contributed thousands to the senators who were questioning them. Full Story
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The big power companies in Texas on the hot seat during a Senate hearing about this month's rolling blackouts have donated more than $400,000 since 2000 to members of the two committees asking questions. The donations are part of nearly $4 million in campaign money the companies and their employees have spent on political candidates during that time. Full Story
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How did the candidates on the ballot last year compare in their political spending on advertising, polling and staff? Use our interactive bubble chart to explore category data released recently by the Texas Ethics Commission. Full Story
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We already know that the major-party candidates in the governor's race spent more on advertising than others on last year's ballot, thanks to the cost of television. But some other ad vendors also received lucrative business from the competitive state House races, with mixed results. Full Story
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What happens if Gov. Rick Perry or Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst decide to run for federal office and win, creating a vacancy — or two — in Texas? That sound you hear is a herd of GOP pols rushing to update their resumes. Full Story
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The 2010 political campaigns are over, but looking back at the fundraising and spending that financed them is now fully possible thanks to records made public by the Texas Ethics Commission after Tuesday’s filing deadline. Full Story
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