Texans in real estate are trying to bring their favored candidates over the finish line with last-minute campaign contributions in the final leg of this election cycle.
Most high-profile donors stuck with the standard play of regular PAC contributions. Elon Musk, of course, mixed things up.
In addition to dumping $118 million into Trump-supporting America PAC, the Tesla entrepreneur, who lives in the Austin area, pledged to give $1 million a day to supporters of gun rights and free speech.
There’s no lack of intrigue in these final days. Here’s who’s donating.
Crow family
Conservative boomer parents and their liberal millennial children are a trope for a reason. Just ask the Crows.
After his gifts to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas made waves last year, Harlan Crow spent mightily — to the tune of $1.2 million — on backing Republican challengers to former president Trump. His donations appear to have dried up in June.
Though Crow’s sister, Lucy Billingsley, donated to Republican causes earlier in the election cycle, since June, she’s only donated $3,300, and it was to ActBlue. The donation was earmarked for congressional candidate Julie Johnson, an openly gay member of the Texas House.
The political sympathies of the Crow family swing left just one generation removed from Harlan and Lucy. George Billingsley (Lucy’s son and Harlan’s nephew) and his wife, Lindsay, together have donated $116,000 to Democratic PACs in the last few months.
Ross Perot Jr.
Like Harlan Crow, Ross Perot Jr. dumped money into PACs supporting Trump opponents in the primaries — including almost $167,000 to Nikki Haley.
Unlike Crow, the Dallas developer pushed $100,000 directly into former President Donald Trump’s PAC in May.
Previously, Perot’s lifelines have stretched from Miami to Pennsylvania, including to Chris Christie and Ron DeSantis.
Mehrdad Moayedi
Purchasing a jet from former President Trump wasn’t enough for Centurion American founder Mehrdad Moayedi. In addition to the jet worth $10 million, he gave Trump’s election PAC an extra $100,000 bump in May
Moayedi’s relatively sudden rise in large-scale projects across North Texas has mirrored the steady rise of his political contributions — which were already nearly $140,000 this year, punted to WinRed and the RNC.
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Richard Weekley
Another Republican megadonor, David Weekley Homes co-founder Richard Weekley, injected $34,000 into Trump PACs since June, though his contributions haven’t always run along party lines.
He backed pro-development Democrat and now-Houston Mayor John Whitmire last year with a $100,000 donation, drawn to Whitmire’s pledges for faster permitting and infrastructure upgrades.