Monty Bennett

Bennett, a Dallas-based hotelier whose business has unraveled amid his rise as a pugnacious Republican activist, built his family hotel company into a portfolio of more than 100 properties across the United States.

His companies took a major hit during the pandemic, and he struggled to refinance the firms’ portfolios, forcing him to sell off assets and even put one REIT up for sale. Even so, he continues to take on new projects, including the conversion of a former CPS headquarters in downtown San Antonio. 

Bennett was roundly criticized when his companies applied for and received tens of millions in Covid-era government assistance loans intended for small businesses — the largest payouts in the country — prompting public backlash and later SEC subpoenas into related transactions. The loans were eventually returned.

An attendee of the Jan. 6 Capitol riots, Bennett has given millions to the Republican party and national Republican races, as well as thousands to far-right school-board candidates.
In 2021, he founded right-wing online news operation the Dallas Express — using the same name as one of the longest continuously published Black-focused newspapers in the country. He was accused of using the publication as a mouthpiece during a 2024 proxy fight with Blackwells Capital. 

— Jess Hardin