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Musk Roped into Top-Ranked House Battle
as Colleagues Give LaHood Confidence Vote
Texas House & Senate Races Rankings
Capitol Inside
January 2, 2026
Elon Musk entered 2026 with a surprise cameo in the hottest Texas House race in the March 3 primary election after GOP State Rep. Marc LaHood called him on Thursday for a lesson on the unintended consequences from his political generosity as a seven-figure contributor to the Texans for Lawsuit Reform PAC.
LaHood - a San Antonio trial lawyer who's the number one TLR target for defeat on the House battlefield in round one this year - took a shot at the PAC that wants to oust him after reposting a message from Musk on X on the death of a friend in a crash that he sought to attribute to an illegal immigrant behind the wheel of a truck.
LaHood gave the impression that he was trying to enlighten the billionaire who owns Tesla and SpaceX on what to expect from the lavish sum of money that Musk donated to the TLR PAC in July 2024 with a contribution of $1 million. .
"You are a major financial contributor to TLR and its family of PACs," the rookie Republican representative wrote. "I sincerely doubt you know what TLR is pursuing legislatively. I know you’ve been sued countless times in your life. And I also know and truly believe you care deeply about the American people. And TLR wanted to change Texas law dramatically to continue a scheme that creates a perverse incentive structure to continue hiring these foreigners and allow the companies who do so to escape any measure of accountability that could cause them to change this deadly practice."
TLR and its allies in Austin have portrayed LaHood as a greedy member of the plaintiffs bar who's masquerading as a conservative Republican in his first re-election race for the Legislature's lower chamber. The deep-pocketed group that represents big business and insurance interests is pouring hundreds of thousands of dollars into David McArthur's campaign as the lone challenger in LaHood's path in a bid for a second term in House District 121.
LaHood contended that TLR pushed for legislation that he opposed on the grounds that it would prevent trucking companies from being forced to take legal responsibility for highway accidents that are caused by drivers with commercial drivers licenses they obtained independently. TLR accused LaHood of scheming against the trucking liability proposal in Senate Bill 39 as a member of the Judiciary & Civil Jurisprudence Committee where it died in the 2025 regular session.
TLR also pinned a significant amount of blame on LaHood for a deadlock in a conference committee where the tort reform organization's only surviving major priority died
during the regular session's final weekend before reaching the floor for a final vote. TLR pointed the finger at Speaker Dustin Burrows as well in the post-mortem wrangling on an unprecedented agenda crash as the leader who appointed the conferees who blocked the proposal. The group threatened the possible bankrolling of primary foes for the speaker and GOP State Rep. Mitch Little of Lewisville as a member of the conference committee on Senate Bill 30 with LaHood. But Burrows and Little are both running unopposed in the primary this year.
Several rookie House Republicans rallied behind LaHood when he questioned Musk's understanding of how his money is used by TLR and tried to tie the group to alleged CDL mills in California where people who aren't U.S. citizens can secure commercial permits for operating trucks. .
"Policies that make it easier for companies to hire illegal immigrants to kill you and your family without consequence to their employers are bad," Little said on Thursday in a post on X. "They’re bad when Republicans or Democrats offer them. They’re bad when rich people or poor people support them."
GOP State Rep. Shelley Luther of Sherman gave LaHood a vote of confidence as well. "Proud to stand with @LaHood4Texas in the Texas House," Luther said on X. "This isn't right against left... it's right vs. wrong.
in the Texas House. This isn't right against left... it's right vs. wrong."
more to come ...
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