Patrick Sets New Donations Record
for 2021 Despite Sessions Juggling

Capitol Inside
January 18, 2022

Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick announced on Wednesday that he'd raised nearly $3 million in the second half of 2021 while focusing on three special sessions with fundraising for a re-election race this year as a secondary priority.

Patrick said that he still managed to leave fundraising marks shattered in his wake despite the distraction before heading into January with more than than $25 million in the campaign bank in a bid for a third term as the state Senate president.

"Having spent much of the fall in Special Session concentrating on the people’s priorities as the Democrats broke quorum and fled the state, we still managed to post record-breaking numbers," Patrick said in an email today. "I presided over what has been called the most conservative and productive legislative sessions in Texas history. From the grassroots to business owners, we are continuing to grow our support.”

While Patrick's claim on statehouse productivity is debatable, he's right about the legislative agenda that he crafted for Donald Trump supporters on the far right in the face of opposition from Democrats at the Capitol and major corporate leaders around the state. He's on the mark as far as new heights in fundraising are concerned based on the total amount of money that he raised during a single calendar year with donations of more than $8 million in the past dozen months.

Patrick rounded up a mere $6.6 million in 2017 when he was preparing for his first re-election campaign the following year. But Patrick haul during the second half of 2021 was less than 30 percent of the sums that he'd reported in the two previous six-month reporting periods.

Patrick raised more than $5 million in less than a month when the fundraising ban on contributions in a regular session expired last year. The lieutenant governor reported almost $5.2 million in donor support during the second six months of 2020 alone.

Political pundits inside the Austin beltway had expected Patrick's cash for the most recent reporting period to be in a league with Governor Greg Abbott, who said on Wednesday had raised almost $19 million in the past six months for a total take of nearly $33 million in 2021. An analysis of Texas Ethics Commission found that Patrick generated a quarter for every dollar that the Republican governor corralled during the seven months last year after the regular session prohibition ended. Patrick pulled in less than 16 cents for every Abbott donor dollar in the second half of 2021.

But Patrick is facing token opposition in the GOP primary election on March 1 when Abbott will be squaring off with a trio of primary challenges whose names are recognizable in Texas political circles with Don Huffines, Allen West and Rick Perry running for governor in 2022 as well. Abbott ramped up his fundraising apparatus a month ago as a result of the need to spend a substantial educating primary voters on the fact that the Perry on the ballot in March isn't the same person who served for 14 years as the governor here.

Perry the current contender listed Ricky as the official name on the campaign finance report that he filed this week with the TEC. The candidate has Rick as his nickname on the fundraising statement. Perry's sole contribution came when Empower Texans official Tony McDonald paid the name game candidates filing fee of $3,750 in December.

Patrick will need money more when he will expect to face Democratic State Rep. Michelle Beckley of Carrollton or 2018 lieutenant governor nominee Mike Collier in a rematch of a race that the incumbent won by less than 5 percentage points. His camp thinks he has plenty in the meantime.

“A campaign war chest of this size is without precedent," Patrick senior political strategist Allen Blakemore said. "The campaign is well-positioned for 2022. Dan Patrick has delivered on the issues that matter to most Texans. We have the resources to conduct a campaign in 2022 that will ensure we keep Texas red and capitalize on the failures of the Democrats both here in Texas and Washington DC.”