Lobby gets involved in runoff campaigns

Candidates didn't get the required 50+ percent of the vote to guarantee a win in the March primary are gearing up for round two in the April 11 run-off. Here's a look at the handful of campaigns around the state that filed their 8-day contribution and expenditure reports this week with the state Ethics Commission.

HD 54 – Killeen ISD school board member Jimmie Don Aycock and Marble Falls businessman Dale Hopkins will square off against each other to replace Rep. Suzanna Gratia Hupp (R-Lampasas) who is retiring from office.

What was once a low-dollar, grassroots race is turning into a high-dollar match up between school choice proponents and the education lobby. Republican philanthropist and school choice proponent Dr. Jim Leininger, who spent over $1 million in the March primaries on various candidates, has now poured over $84,000 into Hopkins' run-off race. The money came from the Future of Texas Alliance PAC in which Leininger is the main contributor. Houston homebuilder Bob Perry also kicked in $20,000. Hopkins raised a total of $123,658, with 84 percent of it coming from Leininger and Perry.

Aycock raised over $60,000 during the reporting period and received a total of $9,771 from various education PACs, the largest contributions coming from the Texas State Teachers Association at $3,000 and ACT for Texas Classroom Teachers Association at $3,000.

HD 72 – Two-term Republican incumbent Scott Campbell is facing a stiff challenge from San Angelo businessman Drew Darby. Campbell trailed Darby, 33-40 percent in the March primary.

Campbell's campaign raised over $38,000 compared to Darby's $62,400. Over 83 percent of Campbell's contributions came from PACs, with his largest donation totaling $10,000 from Leininger's PAC.

Darby received nearly 20 percent of his funding from PACs. His main contributors include ACT for Texas Classroom Teachers Association at $5,000, Texas State Teachers Association at $4,000 and the Association of Texas Professional Educators at $1,000.

HD 28 – - In the crowded primary race to replace Rep. Glenn Hegar (R-Katy), Fort Bend County physician John Zerwas and El Campo banker David Melanson emerged the top two vote getters in the district and will face each other in the run-off. Zerwas led the six-way primary race with 25 percent of the vote; Melanson won 16 percent.

Zerwas, who is chief medical officer for Memorial Hermann Healthcare System in Houston and an anesthesiologist by trade, received nearly $60,000 in contributions from political action committees (PACs), with his largest PAC donation totaling $15,000 from TEXPAC, the political arm of the Texas Medical Association. Zerwas also received $15,000 from Perry.

Melanson, on the other hand, received over $19,000 from PACs. The bulk of his PAC money came from the Texas Optometric PAC which gave $15,000. Melanson, who spent 20 years in the banking industry, also received a $1,000 donation from the Texas Bankers Association.

Zerwas outspent his opponent nearly 2 to 1. Melanson loaned his campaign $20,000.

HD 47 – In Austin's House District 47, Republican candidates Bill Welch and Alex Castano, who survived a five-way race in the March primary, raised $18,845 and $86,512 respectively during the reporting period that began Feb. 26 and ended April 1.

Castano received over $6,000 in PAC money with $5,000 of it coming from AT&T. However, Perry kicked in a total of $45,000.

Welch took in over $10,000 from PACs, with his largest PAC donation at $2,500 from TREPAC, the Texas Association of Realtors' political action committee. Although Welch's fundraising totals seem low compared to Castano's, Welch loaned his campaign over $100,000 in the beginning of the election cycle.

In the Democratic race for HD 47, the first place finisher in the March primary, Valinda Bolton raised over $28,500, and runner up Jason Earle raised over $32,000. Both candidates received little or no money from political action committees during the reporting period.

The winners of respective run-offs will face each other in the November General Election with the chance to replace Rep. Terry Keel (R-Austin) who is retiring from his seat to run for a place on the Court of Criminal Appeals.

HD 71 – Candidates vying to replace Rep. Bob Hunter (R-Abilene) include Abilene ISD school board president Susan King and Hunter's former chief of staff Kevin Christian. It had been a relatively low-budget race with few contributions over $1,000. However all that has changed now as PAC money has started to pour in at the last minute.

Christian raised over $134,000 with over half coming from donations from political action committees, including $49,000 from Texans for Lawsuit Reform.

King raised $45,297 overall, with over $22,000 in PAC donations. King, who is a local nurse, received $15,000 from the Texas Medical Association's PAC.

HD 133 – Houston Republicans Mike Schofield and Jim Murphy face each other in the run-off for Rep. Joe Nixon's old seat. Schofield raised over $63,000 during the reporting period, with $35,000 coming from Perry and $10,000 from the RClub. Murphy's campaign contributions total over $59,000. His largest donation was $5,000 from the Texas Association of Realtors.