Election Day for the party primary runoffs in Texas is this upcoming Tuesday, July 14. All eyes are on elections for the Texas Legislature this round, because the results of these runoffs could have an outsized impact in November. Although primary elections were held back on March 3rd, 16 of those elections have proceeded to a runoff because no candidate was able to garner at least 50 percent of the vote. 

But this year was different. Governor Greg Abbott called legislators back to Austin this summer from July 18 – August 15 for a “Special Session” to address what Gov. Abbott considered unfinished business from the regular session. Unlike the regular session, there was no moratorium on politicians receiving donations during the special session. They could legally take money from those in Austin seeking to influence legislation. Some lawmakers publicly announced they wouldn’t take donations during the special session, while others remained silent. Several prominent elected officials took donations up until the day before the special session began, and then turned off the flow of money once the session began.

1.  Governor Greg Abbott ($10,091,875) had quite the haul, raking in more than $10 million in campaign contributions in just twelve days, despite the fact that he has no likely Republican primary challenger or significant Democrat opponent in sight. And he certainly didn’t need the cash – Governor Abbott’s war chest was already one of the largest in the nation; it now registers over $41 million, more than double what he had when he first ran for governor in 2013.