Wall puts $8.3M of own money into runoff
Houston Republican’s self-funding total sets two Texas records for a U.S. House race
Houston Republican Kathaleen Wall has put $8.3 million of her own money into her campaign for Congress, setting a new Texas record for self-funding a U.S. House race.
She has already spent $6.5 million of that total — also a new Texas record for overall spending in a U.S. House race — with at least three more weeks of spending to come in the primary runoff.
It gives Wall a major financial advantage over her Republican primary opponent, Fort Bend Sheriff Troy Nehls, in the 22nd Congressional District, which includes most of Fort Bend County plus parts of Brazoria County and southern portions of Harris County. Nehls has raised just over $476,000. Early voting is underway and ends Friday. Election day is July 14.
Despite being outspent by Wall nearly 12 to 1 during the GOP primary on March 3, Nehls got 40 percent of the vote. Wall received 19 percent, finishing second in a crowded field. No candidate hit 50 percent, forcing the top two candidates into the runoff.
Both Nehls and Wall have pitched themselves as potential allies for President Donald Trump. Both have expressed support for his policies, particularly on immigration reform as both say they will help Trump build a wall on the Mexican border to prevent illegal crossings.
Nehls has campaigned heavily on his 21 years in the Army and his last eight years as sheriff. Wall is a former salesperson for a semiconductor company and a big GOP financial donor who points to her financial backing of Trump, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz and Gov. Greg Abbott as evidence of her commitment to Republican politics.
Since April, Wall has donated another $1.5 million to her campaign and loaned herself an additional $1.5 million. She has reported spending $2 million through June 24. Just on Tuesday, she reported to the Federal Election Commission that she had given her campaign another $300,000. Then one Wednesday she put in another $500,000.
Nehls, meanwhile, has raised just over $100,000 for his campaign since April and spent about $95,000 through June 24, according to the latest FEC records.
Nehls is picking up key financial help from outside groups. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce political action committee donated $2,500 to his campaign and he’s picked up $5,000 each from the National Automobile Dealers Association and SEAL PAC, a Georgia-based conserva
tive group led by retired Navy SEAL Robert O’Neill. Nehls has also received $1,000 from former U.S. Rep. Lamar Smith, R-San Antonio.
Wall, meanwhile, has picked up endorsements from U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., and Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller.
A big piece of Wall’s spending has gone to big television ad buys. She’s run two separate ads against Nehls accusing him of being soft on human trafficking — a claim Nehls has called false.
“Sheriff Troy E. Nehls failed our community,” she
wrote in a Facebook post about his work on human trafficking.
Nehls fired back.
“I am the only candidate in this race who has done something to combat human trafficking,” Nehls wrote on his Facebook page. “As sheriff, I’ve jailed sex traffickers, I’ve established a local 24/7 human trafficking hotline, I’ve closed down numerous illicit massage parlors, which are known to be a hub for sex trafficking, and I’ve requested and received funding for two additional detectives who specialize in human trafficking investigations.”
Wall’s $8.3 million beats the record she set just two years ago when she gave her 2018 campaign $6.2
million in her failed bid to win the 2nd Congressional District in Houston. Wall lost in the primary to U.S. Rep. Dan Crenshaw, RHouston.
While she’s the biggest self-funder for a U.S. House seat in Texas, she is still $7 million behind Republican David Dewhurst, who holds the record for self-funding a U.S. Senate race in the Lone Star State. Dewhurst spent $19.7 million of his own money when he lost his Republican primary runoff in 2012 to Cruz.
Candidates who spend their own money in bids for the House or Senate in Texas have historically struggled to win their races. Of the top 10 self-funders in Texas history, only one has won a seat in Congress: current U.S. Rep. Van Taylor, RPlano, who loaned his campaign $3.3 million to win the 3rd Congressional District in the Dallas area in 2018.
The winner of the 22nd District GOP primary will face Democrat Sri Preston Kulkarni in November in a race that congressional experts say will be one of the biggest battles in the nation. In 2018, Kulkarni came within 5 percentage points of beating incumbent U.S. Rep. Pete Olson, R-Sugar Land. Olson is not seeking re-election. Both national Democrats and Republicans have targeted the race.
The winner of the seat will get a two-year term in the U.S. House and a $174,000 annual salary.