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At Least 36 Percent of Texas GOP Legislators
Have Scored Trial Lawyer Cash in Two Years
Capitol Inside
December 25, 2025
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| 1 |
Marc LaHood |
$235,000 |
| 2 |
Mitch Little |
$140,000 |
| 3 |
Dade Phelan |
$75,000 |
| 4 |
Charlie Geren |
$65,000 |
| 5 |
Katrina Pierson |
$60,000 |
| 6 |
Brent Money |
$55,000 |
| 7 |
Todd Hunter |
$50,000 |
| 8 |
Dustin Burrows |
$45,000 |
| 9 |
AJ Louderback |
$40,000 |
| 9 |
Mark Dorazio |
$40,000 |
| 11 |
Drew Darby |
$35,000 |
| 11 |
Tom Oliverson |
$35,000 |
| 13 |
Kelly Hancock |
$30,000 |
| 13 |
Wes Virdell |
$30,000 |
| 13 |
Shelley Luther |
$30,000 |
| 13 |
Andy Hopper |
$30,000 |
| 17 |
Matt Morgan |
$27,500 |
| 18 |
Mike Olcott |
$25,000 |
| 19 |
Briscoe Cain |
$20,000 |
| 19 |
Jared Patterson |
$20,000 |
| 19 |
Shelby Slawson |
$20,000 |
| 19 |
Bryan Hughes |
$20,000 |
| 19 |
Angela Paxton |
$20,000 |
| 19 |
Brandon Creighton |
$20,000 |
| 25 |
Jeff Leach |
$10,000 |
| 25 |
Will Metcalf |
$10,000 |
| 25 |
Janis Holt |
$10,000 |
| 25 |
Keresa Richardson |
$10,000 |
| 25 |
Ken King |
$10,000 |
| 25 |
Stan Lambert |
$10,000 |
| 25 |
Jay Dean |
$10,000 |
| 25 |
Gary VanDeaver |
$10,000 |
| 25 |
Gio Capriglione |
$10,000 |
| 25 |
Bob Hall |
$10,000 |
| 25 |
Trent Ashby |
$10,000 |
| 25 |
Charles Perry |
$10,000 |
| 37 |
David Lowe |
$2,500 |
| |
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Texas Trial Lawyers Association
Contributions in 2024 and 2025 |
|
| 1 |
Dustin Burrows |
$25,000 |
| 2 |
Marc LaHood |
$20,000 |
| 2 |
Mitch Little |
$20,000 |
| 2 |
Brent Money |
$20,000 |
| 2 |
Charlie Geren |
$20,000 |
| 6 |
Todd Hunter |
$10,000 |
| 7 |
Katrina Pierson |
$5,000 |
| 7 |
Tom Oliverson |
$5,000 |
| 7 |
AJ Louderback |
$5,000 |
| 7 |
Mark Dorazio |
$5,000 |
| 7 |
Andy Hopper |
$5,000 |
| 7 |
Shelley Luther |
$5,000 |
| 7 |
Wes Virdell |
$5,000 |
| 7 |
Bob Hall |
$5,000 |
| 15 |
David Lowe |
2,500 |
| 15 |
Matt Morgan |
2,500 |
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More than one-third of the GOP state lawmakers in Texas have taken campaign cash from trial lawyers who've been accused of trying to hijack the west wing in Austin for Democrats who've been the minority party for nearly two dozen years.
The flood of funds from the plaintiffs bar to Republican legislators for the 2026 elections sparked an outburst of anger and criticism from the leader of the powerful political action committee Texans for Lawsuit Reform in a guest column in the Houston Chronicle this week.
TLR founder and chairman Dick Weekley asserted in the op-ed that the same personal injury attorneys who've funded left-wing Democrats and causes are "engaged in something more insidious" in the Lone Star State. Weekley contended that Houston trial lawyers Kurt Arnold and Jason Itkin and the law firm they control were spending lavishly on GOP legislators from a $10 million pool of funds that the law firm they control created with a group they hatched in June as the Texans for Truth & Liberty PAC.
"The same trial lawyers who once bankrolled Democrats are now spending heavily to influence Republican primaries in Texas, hoping to buy influence where voters least expect it," Weekley wrote. "This isn’t a partisan conversion. It’s an infiltration. A charade."
A Capitol Inside examination into the TLR claims found that 36 Texas House and Senate Republicans received more than $1.1 million combined in the past two years from the firm Arnold & Itkin, the two main partners and their PAC. The total jumps to almost $1.3 million when contributions that GOP legislators scored from the Texas Trial Lawyers Association PAC in 2024 and 2025 are added to the equation.
A pair of rookie Republicans - State Reps. Marc LaHood of San Antonio and Mitch Little of Lewisville - have been the biggest beneficiaries of the Arnold and Itkin generosity with contributions the past two years of $235,000 and $140,000 respectively when $20,000 apiece from TTLA is added to the mix. LaHood and Little played major roles in the torpedoing of TLR priorities in the regular session in 2025.
House Speaker Dustin Burrows listed a contribution of $25,000 from the TTLA to go with $20,000 from the Houston lawyers who attracted the brunt of Weekley's wrath. TLR blamed Burrows for the death by neglect of a Senate bill that had been its leading priority in regular session this year. Former Speaker Dade Phelan, who isn't running for re-election in a district that's anchored by his hometown of Beaumont, reaped donations of $75,000 from the Arnold and Itkin duo in the past two years.
Veteran State Reps. Charlie Geren of Fort Worth and Todd Hunter of Corpus Christi are ranked fourth and seventh respectively on the list of Arnold and Itkin recipients. Three freshmen Republicans - State Reps. Katrina Pierson of Rockwall, Brent Money of Greenville and AJ Louderback of Victoria joined Little and LaHood in the top 10 on the list of Texas GOP legislators with campaign funding from Arnold, Itkin, the firm or the PAC are various combinations in 2024 and 2025.
The list of freshmen representatives with contributions from those particular sources includes State Reps. Wes Virdell of Brady, Shelley Luther of Sherman, Andy Hopper of Decatur, Matt Morgan of Richmond, Mike Olcott of Aledo, Janis Holt of Silsbee and Keresa Richardson of McKinney.
The list of Republicans who've accepted donations from the Houston pair, their firm, their PAC or a combination of the three grows to 37 when the TTLA giving is taken into account as a group that's shared in the largess with funds that it took from them. Rookie State Rep. David Lowe of Fort Worth is the only GOP lawmaker who reported a contribution from the TTLA PAC but none from Arnold or Itkin or their PAC or law firm. The trial lawyers group gave Lowe $2,500.
Four Republicans in the Texas Capitol's east wing - State Senators Bryan Hughes of Mineola, Angela Paxton of McKinney, Bob Hall of Edgewood and Charles Perry of Lubbock - reported contributions from Arnold or Itkin or both as individual givers or through their firm or PAC. State Rep. Trent Ashby - a Lufkin Republican who's a candidate for the Senate in 2026 - appears on the list of legislators who took cash from the Arnold & Itkin law firm in 2024.
The funds from the two trial lawyers who the TLR boss citied in the GOP primary infiltration urgent alert were not the only sources of campaign funding for Republicans from the plaintiffs bar in 2024 and 2025. But the number of GOP lawmakers with contributions from Arnold and Itkin in the past two years represents 36.3 percent of 102 Republicans on the Legislature's current roster.
more to come ...
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