This article is Part 4 of a four-part series demonstrating how the money in a lobby sector can impact state politics and legislation. Read the first three articles here, here, and here.

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. 

Who’s conspicuously absent from the first campaign finance reports of 2020? Texas Speaker of the House Dennis Bonnen.