Harlan Crow donations among more than $1 million for Dallas City Council races this year
Harlan Crow #HarlanCrow
Candidates running for Dallas City Council and mayor have raised nearly $1.2 million in donations since January, with boosts in the last month of the May 6 election from political action committees, and cash from billionaire Harlan Crow, records show.
Crow’s yearslong bankrolling of luxury trips and gifts for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has recently raised ethics and disclosure concerns nationwide.
The real estate mogul has given only a fraction of the more than $70,000 candidates in campaign finance filings have reported receiving from him and his family this year. Incumbents Jaime Resendez and Jaynie Schultz, and first-time candidates Zarin Gracey and Kathy Stewart, who are seeking open seats, each reported getting $1,000 from Crow in April.
Political donations to Dallas, state and national candidates aren’t uncommon for Crow and his family. Over the last 30 years, he has donated almost $15 million to candidates and campaign committees, including at least $13 million to Republicans. At least one member of Crow’s family, including his Dallas-area developer sister Lucy Billingsley and real estate investor brother Trammell S. Crow, gave money to candidates in all but one of the 15 races for a seat on the Dallas City Council, according to available campaign finance reports.
Besides Gracey and Stewart, they also donated $500, $1,000 or $2,000 to Mayor Eric Johnson and 11 incumbent city council members seeking re-election. It’s unclear if any donations were made to council member Cara Mendelsohn, who is running unopposed for reelection to represent District 12 in Far North Dallas and because of that wasn’t required to submit two campaign finance reports due in April.
“I don’t know what megadonor means,” Harlan Crow told The Dallas Morning News last month when asked about being referred to as a Republican megadonor. “I have been a donor to moderate Republican individuals running for office, as well as groups that are involved in that kind of world to support more moderate Republican stuff.”
Gracey, Resendez and Schultz voted Democrat and Stewart voted Republican according to public records from the 2022 primary. The Dallas City Council elections are nonpartisan races. City Council candidates Sukhbir Kaur, John Sims, Denise Benavides, Sidney Robles Martinez, Marvin E. Crenshaw, Davante “Shawt” Peters didn’t submit their latest campaign finance reports, which were due April 28.
City code allows individual donors to give up to $1,000 to City Council district candidates and allows up to $2,500 by political action committees. For mayor, individual donors can give up to $5,000 and PACs up to $10,000.
Police, firefighters PAC money split
Meanwhile, PACs representing Dallas police officers and firefighters, as well as the Dallas area real estate industry, rental housing industry and other groups were largely split on who to financially back in races around the city.
District 10 candidate Stewart, District 5 incumbent Resendez and District 9 incumbent Paula Blackmon all reported receiving $2,500 from the Dallas Police Association PAC, and so did challengers in District 4 Jamie Smith, District 6 Monica Alonzo and District 14 Amanda Schulz. The PAC, which is part of the city’s largest police association, announced in March that it was endorsing those candidates, as well as incumbents Chad West in District 1, Jesse Moreno in District 2, Tennell Atkins in District 8, Mendelsohn in District 12 and Gay Donnell Willis in District 13. The police association PAC endorsed Johnson last October, when he was the only candidate who voiced intentions to run.
“Our endorsements this year are based on personal interviews and extensive research,” Mike Mata, the Dallas Police Association’s president, said in a statement. “As a result, we are confident these qualified leaders will stand with our officers, provide the appropriate funding and tools we need to protect our community, and push back against elected officials who choose to underfund public safety.”
Moreno, Smith, Resendez, Blackmon and Schulz also reported $1,000 each from the Dallas Firefighters Association PAC. The Dallas Black Firefighters Association PAC instead gave $500 each to incumbent Carolyn King Arnold, Smith’s opponent, and Yolanda Faye Williams, one of Resendez’s two challengers.
PACs for The Real Estate Council, Apartment Association of Greater Dallas and Texas Association of Realtors all gave $2,500 each to Moreno, Resendez and Stewart. But the donations went in opposite directions in some races.
In District 6, the apartment association gave Alonzo $1,500, but The Real Estate Council gave $2,500 to the incumbent Narvaez. Schulz in the District 14 race received $1,000 from the apartment association and $2,500 from The Real Estate Council, but the realtors association PAC gave $2,500 to incumbent Paul Ridley. Gentrification and home affordability for longtime residents has been a key election issue in West Dallas’ District 6 and proposed stricter regulations on short-term rentals that could ban them from operating in nearly all residential neighborhoods has been a key issue in the District 14 race, which covers parts of central and East Dallas.
“We feel confident that the candidates we have chosen to endorse will represent the city of Dallas, the region and TREC well,” said Scott Rohrman, chair of The Real Estate Council PAC. The group represents the commercial real estate industry.
Flyers with West, Crow, Justice Thomas
Some PACs have done more than give donations. In District 1, a group called the New American PAC donated $2,500 to challenger Albert Mata and has sent mailers to voters in the North Oak Cliff area in support of Mata and fellow challenger Mariana Griggs.
One of the flyers, which says that it hasn’t been authorized by any of the candidates, notes that West has in the past received campaign donations from Harlan Crow. “Billionaire republicans want to buy up District 1 real estate and Chad West,” says the flyer accompanied with black and white photos of West, Crow and Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas side-by-side.
The mailers list the same address as the law office of Domingo Garcia, the national president of the League of United Latin American Citizens who is a former state representative and former Dallas City Council member. Garcia for years has pushed for District 1, which has among the highest Hispanic populations in the city, to be represented by someone who is Hispanic.
West, who is seeking his third term, is white. Mata and Griggs, who are first-time candidates, are Hispanic. District 1 hasn’t had a representative of Hispanic descent since 2013 and more inclusive representation of residents has been a key issue in the race.
Garcia didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. He has also donated $1,000 to Resendez in District 5 and Bazaldua in District 7 and $200 to Atkins in District 8.
More than $150K in District 6 race
According to campaign finance reports since January, incumbents are largely outraising their challengers and four races have eclipsed $100,000 raised in total donations.
The four-person race in District 6 has seen more than $151,000 in political contributions, mainly going to the incumbent Narvaez (more than $101,000) and Alonzo (more than $44,000).
Almost $141,000 has been raised between District 11 incumbent Schultz (almost $95,000) and challenger Candy Evans (more than $46,000) to represent North Dallas. About the same amount has been raised in the three-person race in District 1, but it’s largely been carried by West (more than $95,000 collected) and Mata (more than $41,000 raised).
The District 14 race rounds out the field with almost $125,000 raised mostly between the incumbent Ridley (almost $72,000) and Schulz (more than $53,000).
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