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And the cycle starts anew. There will be new names coming and current ones departing in the coming months, but to close the circle here’s where things stood after Election Day. The October 2024 reports for both are here, the July 2024 reports are here, and the April 2024 reports are here. The January 2024 reports for Senate are here, the October 2023 reports are here, the July 2023 reports here, and the April 2023 reports are here. The January 2024 reports for Congress are here, and the October 2023 reports are here. The earlier reports had both Senate and Congress, as the fields were small enough then to do them together.
Colin Allred – Senate
Sandeep Srivastava – CD03
John Love – CD06
Lizzie Fletcher – CD07
Al Green – CD09
Michelle Vallejo – CD15
Veronica Escobar – CD16
Sheila Jackson Lee – CD18
Sylvester Turner – CD18
Erica Lee Carter – CD18
Joaquin Castro – CD20
Kristin Hook – CD21
Sam Eppler – CD24
Sylvia Garcia – CD29
Jasmine Crockett – CD30
Julie Johnson – CD32
Marc Veasey – CD33
Greg Casar – CD35
Lloyd Doggett – CD37
Melissa McDonough – CD38
Dist Name Raised Spent Loans On Hand
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Sen Allred 68,751,658 65,430,438 0 3,321,220
03 Srivastava 430,070 428,977 620,733 4,686
06 Love 135,300 123,995 0 11,958
07 Fletcher 2,440,397 2,445,442 0 1,316,661
09 Green 392,514 439,824 0 219,084
15 Vallejo 2,388,898 2,382,802 100,000 17,813
16 Escobar 1,343,214 1,474,082 0 115,844
18 Jackson Lee 553,256 909,923 4,896 12,656
18 Turner 652,566 444,504 0 208,062
18 Lee Carter 70,270 51,642 3,125 18,627
20 Castro 689,806 713,892 0 138,657
21 Hook 514,005 509,648 0 4,357
24 Eppler 1,161,955 1,161,871 0 84
29 Garcia 938,007 950,725 0 371,753
30 Crockett 3,114,949 1,656,565 0 1,611,233
32 Johnson 2,071,913 1,841,010 10,000 230,903
33 Veasey 1,878,488 1,679,753 0 1,009,480
35 Casar 1,116,006 908,128 10,000 370,838
37 Doggett 1,501,841 625,765 0 6,188,367
38 McDonough 193,004 172,084 113,239 22,699
I finally figured out that the reason I wasn’t seeing the finance reports I was expecting for incumbents is because the FEC system had switched to defaulting to the 2026 cycle, which of course explains why there was no data yet. Once I realized I needed to change it back to 2024 – which was only the case for the incumbents, not for the challengers, which added to my confusion – I was able to find the reports I’d been missing.
Colin Allred raised a ton of money, but Ted Cruz took in $106 million, so. John Cornyn is up this time, and someone needs to run for Governor. It would not shock me if Allred looks at his performance compared to other Dems and thinks “in a friendlier year, I’d have a decent shot at it”. Whether he does or not, I have no idea – finding a nice quiet, cushy job somewhere surely has appeal at this point. But it would not be crazy to think in those terms, and at this point it’s hard to imagine who’d give him a serious primary challenge if he did. And whoever does run for Senate may find themselves running against Ken Paxton and not John Cornyn, as there are plenty of rumors right now that our crooked AG is itching to jump into that contest.
Two things to take away from the final 2023-24 totals are that Democratic challengers have a higher floor for fundraising capability than they had a decade ago, when anyone outside of CD23 struggled to even get to $100K for the cycle, and that CD15 is the new CD23, which was never on the radar last year. We can debate whether Michelle Vallejo would have done better last year if she’d remained in the more progressive lane, as she had done in 2022, or if tacking right kept her competitive even if it didn’t help in the end. In a sense it doesn’t matter because she won’t be back on the ballots – South Texas Dems are already recruiting new blood. If what happened in 2024 is an ongoing trend and not an aberration, it won’t matter much anyway. I remain hopeful for CD24, especially if 2026 is a better environment for Dems.
New kids Jasmine Crockett, who is definitely making a national name for herself, and Julie Johnson both showed some fundraising prowess this cycle. I’ll say again, we need more of a commitment from our incumbent elected officials to spread the wealth they collect for the benefit of the whole team. I feel confident that Crockett and Johnson – and Greg Casar and Veronica Escobar and Joaquin Castro and Marc Veasey and Lizzie Fletcher and Sylvia Garcia – will answer the call. The one who may need a push is Lloyd Doggett, who has needed to defend himself in some high-profile primaries in the past as Republicans have drawn him out of multiple districts but who is as safe as one can hope to be these days. You’ve got six million bucks in the bank, Lloyd. Use some of that to get some like-minded souls elected and make your life easier.
While things have gotten better in the last couple of weeks, it took longer than it should have for Congressional (and Senate) Dems to find their footing and fight back against Trump in a way that has been able to break through. We’re going to need a lot more of that, and it won’t surprise me if 2026 is a year with a higher percentage of serious primary challenges, coming largely from people who have been frustrated with past messaging and campaigns. Too soon to say, but something I’ll be watching.
I’ve decided I’ll take a look at the reports for local legislators next, and then finish up with HISD and HCC. Let me know what you think.