On Tuesday, Jan. 30, voters in Hunt, Hopkins, and Van Zandt counties will decide who will fill out the remaining term of Bryan Slaton, who was expelled from the Texas House after an investigation found he got an intern drunk and had sex with her.
The choice in front of voters is between Greenville lawyer and former city councilman Brent Money and former GOP county chair and school board trustee Jill Dutton.
The winner fills the seat until January 2025. These two will face off again for the next full term in the March 5th Republican primary. In the first round of the special election, Money received 32% of the vote and Dutton received 25% - neither gaining a majority to win outright. So now there's the runoff election on Tuesday.
Both are conservative Republicans and agree on many policy items. Where they differ are the details on specific policies and who the two get financial support from in their race for the Texas House. The result could preview an inter-party battle for control over the Texas House.
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Jill Dutton has raised more in campaign donations. She's backed back major business and Republican groups based in Austin. They include Texans for Lawsuit Reform, a prominent tort-reform group that backed a challenger to embattled Attorney General Ken Paxton two years ago. The Associated Republicans of Texas, a group that largely supports Republican incumbents and allies to Speaker of the House Dade Phelan (R-Beaumont), has also contributed to Dutton. The powerful Anheusher-Busch distributor John Nau III has also donated to her.
She viewed the groups as critical in winning Republicans power two decades ago and keeping Texas a GOP state. She told NBC 5 her supporters aim to unify, grow, and keep the Republican Party the dominant party in the state. Former Gov. Rick Perry, Congressman Lance Gooden, and a series of local state reps and city officials have endorsed Dutton.
Brent Money is supported with donations from a rebranded group, Texans United for a Conservative Majority. That is a new group in which West Texas oil businessmen Tim Dunn and Farris Wilks funnel their campaign donations. They used to use the group Defend Texas Liberty until the president there met with a well-known white supremacist, Nick Fuentes. The president of the group stepped down afterward. The group also supported the expelled State Rep. Bryan Slaton. Money told NBC 5 when the scandal broke that he did not have white supremacist views so he was OK with accepting donations from the group.
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Money is also backed with donations from the Family Empowerment Coalition, a Pennsylvania group supporting school choice voucher policies as well as Texas State Sen. Mayes Middleton (R-Galveston).
For endorsements, Money is backed by embattled Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton, Sen. Ted Cruz (R), Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller (R) and several insurgent members of the Texas House.
On Immigration
Border security is a top issue across Texas for Republican primary voters. Spurred on by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, the Texas legislature has put billions of dollars towards border security efforts through Operation Lone Star. The legislature also passed Senate Bill 4 last year, which will allow local and state police to arrest people they believed crossed the border into Texas illegally.
Both Dutton and Money say there are additional measures to be taken.
Money supports requiring all businesses in the state to use E-verify, a program to scan employees for their legal status. Dutton says it should be required for big businesses only because it will be a burden for small businesses that could hamper their growth.
Dutton also says she supports creating a special police force for border issues and taking away state grants to nonprofits that provide services to people who came to Texas illegally.
On Education Savings Accounts
On Abbott's priority of Education Savings Accounts, which would allow families to use thousands of state public school dollars on private and home schools, both candidates are supportive of the idea. The policy did not have the votes in the Texas House late last year in a very high-profile vote on the issue.
Dutton supports Abbott's education reform plans but wants limitations on eligibility and supports adding accountability requirements to private schools that accept the money. She wants to ensure the students are learning what they need to learn through the program and do it in a way that won't close down rural public schools.
Money supports the program for every student across the state and also supports stripping the accountability and testing requirements for public schools.
Paxton's troubles create awkward situations for candidates
Paxton survived the Texas House impeachment attempt last year. The Senate acquitted him on bribery and abuse of power charges after a two-week trial. A group of former employees sparked the trial by going to the FBI with their concerns. Paxton then fired them. The whistleblowers continued their civil lawsuit and are scheduled to depose Paxton this week after a lengthy back and forth where Paxton tried several times to avoid going under oath.
Paxton also is under FBI investigation, has a criminal trial in Harris County on a separate allegation that he misled investors in a McKinney technology company, and is fighting to keep his bar license after a complaint stemming from his efforts to stop the transfer of power from former President Trump to President Joe Biden.
Money told NBC 5 that the impeachment acquittal vindicated Paxton but doesn't know what to think about his civil and criminal trials ahead. He believed the legal process should play out as normal. During the campaign Money said he would have voted against the impeachment effort.
Dutton told NBC 5 she thinks Paxton is a good attorney general but doesn't know how she would have voted during the impeachment trial because she didn't have hands-on experience with the process.
