Now that lawmakers have convened in Austin, private citizens and PACs are no longer able to make political contributions, so the sole financial influence on lawmakers during the legislative session comes from lobbyists. In fact, in session and out, lobbying is by far the biggest source of money in Texas politics — and taxpayers are footing the bill for a lot of it. This look at the City of Lubbock is part of our series analyzing taxpayer-funded entities in Texas.

Rumors have been swirling in the political world about what’s going on with fundraising — who’s ahead and who’s behind. We decided to pull the data, do the math, and bring you the numbers. We compared 2020 to the 2018 election cycle. What we found was, frankly, shocking. 

Cries for “Campaign Finance Reform” come from both sides of the political aisle. It’s popular for candidates and interest groups to claim that we need to “get money out of politics” — and that limiting the amount of money citizens can donate to politicians and political causes is the way to do it.