A political action committee in Texas has long attempted to portray itself as a bipartisan group that talks like a conservative organization, however the PAC’s record reveals a history of backing Texas Democrats.  Texans for Lawsuit Reform is a PAC that has existed since 1994 and states that it works to “elect Texas leaders and lawmakers who understand the importance of maintaining the historic civil justice reforms that are strengthening the Texas economy and ensuring access to health care throughout the state.”  While TLR maintains that it is bipartisan, its campaign finance records show a different story of supporting Democratic candidates and their policies.  Millions Donated to Democrats in Texas  According to the Texas Ethics Commission’s campaign finance records, TLR is the eight-largest donor to Democrats in Texas since 2000, contributing more than $6.3 million to 144 Democratic candidates and committees in the state. Their donations make them the third-largest donor to Democratic candidates for the state legislature.  For instance, TLR has given Democrat state Sen. Carol Alvarado more than $300,000 since 2008, making her the largest recipient from TLR among all Democrats.  Alvarado served on the Houston City Council from 2002 to 2007, before being elected to the Texas House, where she represented District 145 from 2009 to 2018, before moving to the Texas Senate.  In 2021, Alvarado mounted a 15-hour filibuster of a 2021 GOP voting integrity bill, as well as attending a 2018 “Abolish ICE” protest with fellow Democrat state Sen. Sylvia Garcia.  Additionally, TLR contributed $2,500 to Democrat Jasmine Crockett’s 2020 campaign for the Texas House.  The PAC also contributed $2,000 to Democrat state Rep. Jarvis Johnson after he cast the sole vote in the Texas House against HB 2908, the “Police Protection Act” which classified serious attacks against police officers and judges as hate crimes.  In 2022, TLR was the largest donor in the Lone Star State to Democrat Morgan LaMantia’s state Senate campaign, contributing $115,000 to support LaMantia’s campaign against Republican Adam Hinojosa, one of the state’s only competitive state Senate races.   LaMantia won by 659 votes; however, Hinojosa defeated LaMantia in the next race.  Rachel Hooper, the former general counsel for the Republican Party of Texas, told the Daily Signal that the PAC “talks like a conservative group. Its checkbook does not.”  “In the 2022 cycle, TLR put $115,000 into electing democrat Morgan LaMantia in Texas Senate District 27, making it her single largest donor. She beat conservative Republican Adam Hinojosa by 659 votes. Two years later, TLR put $600,000 behind Hinojosa and claimed the flip as its own,” Hooper explained. “TLR spent $824,000 of PAC money trying to beat Ken Paxton in the 2022 Republican primary. Paxton survived. Then came November, and Rochelle Garza. Garza was the lawyer for the teenager at the center of the case that sued the Trump administration for an abortion in federal immigration custody. She ran on abortion. She was one election away from running the office that defends Texas law. TLR found $824,000 to spend against Ken Paxton in the primary.”  ” TLR does not care whether you are conservative. It cares whether you serve its special-interest agenda,” Hooper added.  Supporting Democratic incumbents is not the only issue many have with the PAC, however. TLR has also supported and backed multiple Democrat policies.  TLR Backs Democrat Policies  Dating back to 2011, Lee Parsley, who is now TLR’s president and general counsel, advocated against Texas’ constitutional amendment that would have banned state courts from considering foreign religious or cultural law in their rulings.   In 2017, TLR board members fought the Texas bathroom bill, legislation that sought to require transgender individuals to use bathrooms in public schools and government buildings based on the sex listed on their birth certificate.   Board members Jeff Shellebarger and Marc Watts, then chairman and vice chairmen of the Greater Houston Partnership, signed a letter to Abbott asking him not to sign the bill into law saying that it “risks harming Texas’ reputation and impacting the state’s economic growth.”  In 2021, during the peak of COVID-19, Watts signed an email as chairman of the Greater Houston Partnership’s COVID-19 Task Force that urged local businesses to encourage social distancing, masking, and to considering requiring employees to get vaccinated against COVID-19.   In 2023, TLR signed on to a letter opposing Senate Bill 7, legislation that banned Texas employers from requiring the COVID-19 vaccine.  Additionally, TLR has contributed $375,325 to 35 of 56 Texas House Democrats, 62.5% of whom broke quorum in August 2025 to block a vote on the new congressional map.  TLR Spends Millions to Defeat Paxton  In 2022, the PAC spent more than $3 million backing Eva Guzman, who challenged Paxton for Attorney General.   During Paxton’s impeachment in 2023, it was also alleged that TLR had worked behind the scenes to support the efforts to remove him from office after a message from then TLR-President Dick Trabulsi was sent to Paxton’s deputy-turned-whistleblower, Jeff Mateer.   Before the Senate trial, TLR also urged senators not to acquit Paxton “before the trial even begins and the evidence has been presented.”  Even after Paxton’s failed impeachment, TLR continued to show disdain towards the attorney general by funding judges who ruled against him.   In 2024, TLR gave $15,000 apiece to three incumbent Court of Criminal Appeals justices targeted by a Paxton-aligned PAC for ruling against him.  Despite TLR donating thousands, all three judges lost their primaries after President Donald Trump endorsed their challengers.  Additionally, TLR stood behind Republican Reps. Jill Dutton and Lynn Stucky over Paxton-endorsed challengers Brent Money and Andy Hopper, both of whom beat TLR’s candidates.  After Hopper successfully beat Stucky for the Republican nomination for District 64, Hopper posted: “To Texans for Lawsuit Reform and every dark money interest group in Austin who spent hundreds of thousands lying to our neighbors, District 64 has been returned to the voters.”  Republican State Rep. Brent Money told the Daily Signal that TLR’s consistent feud with Paxton has burned them.  “Texans for Lawsuit Reform once shaped Republican politics in Texas, but over the past few years, they have regularly picked the wrong fights and consistently lost them. Their perplexing feud with Ken Paxton and a series of failed primary endorsements have needlessly burned a lot of well-earned political capital,” Money told the Daily Signal. “With Democrats now closer than they have been in decades to turning Texas blue, every major Republican organization except TLR is heavily engaged, but it seems that TLR remains on the sidelines.”  “I hoped a change in leadership after those losses would produce a change in direction. So far, it has not,” Money added.  A Texas legislator, who asked to remain anonymous, also spoke to the Daily Signal, saying that “TLR’s record speaks louder than its rhetoric.”  “While cultivating a conservative image, TLR has poured millions into Democratic candidates, including lawmakers associated with efforts to abolish ICE, restrict Second Amendment rights and oppose legislation increasing protections for police. It also spent more than $3 million backing Ken Paxton’s 2022 primary opponent, while Paxton and his allies later accused the organization of working behind the scenes during his impeachment, an allegation TLR denies,” the lawmaker said. “Texans should follow the money and decide whether TLR’s political record matches its conservative branding.”  Texans for Lawsuit Reform did not respond to a request for comment by publication.