The casino lobby is escalating its spending blitz ahead of the Texas Republican primaries, with mailers landing in districts across the state as gambling interests push to reshape the legislature.
While some contributions have come directly from the Texas Sands PAC—an arm of the Las Vegas Sands foreign casino empire—much of the recent activity has flowed through the Texas Defense PAC, a multimillion-dollar political committee funded almost entirely by Miriam Adelson, the owner of Las Vegas Sands.
Campaign finance records show Adelson has poured nearly $10 million into the Texas Defense PAC, which has used those funds to finance mail campaigns in contested House and Senate races.
In several House districts, the mailers have been used to protect incumbents or attack challengers.
Those efforts include mail supporting State Rep. Angelia Orr while attacking her challenger, Kathaleen Wall, and backing State Rep. Stan Kitzman while targeting challenger Dennis Geesaman.
In other cases, the casino-backed PAC has gone after incumbents who have opposed gambling expansion in Texas. That includes mail opposing State Rep. Andy Hopper in favor of challenger Lisa McEntire, and mail opposing State Rep. David Lowe while supporting challenger Kyle Morris.
The group has also launched an ad blitz against State Rep. Terri Leo-Wilson, who is being challenged by Nathan Watkins.
Additionally, the group has inserted itself into the open race for House District 94 in Tarrant County, opposing Cheryl Bean. At the same time, the Texas Sands PAC has given money directly to HD 94 candidate Jackie Schlegel.
Casino-backed involvement has drawn sharper resistance in Senate races, where candidates have publicly rejected the PAC’s efforts.
After Texas Defense PAC sent mail supporting State Rep. Trent Ashby in the open race for Senate District 3, Ashby issued a statement distancing himself from the group.
“My position is clear: I oppose casino gambling in Texas,” Ashby said. “My campaign has nothing to do with casino-backed mail or outside groups pushing gambling, and I reject these deceitful campaign tactics attempting to misrepresent my position.”
A similar response came in the neighboring open race for Senate District 4. After Texas Defense PAC sent a positive mailer on behalf of Brett Ligon, Ligon released a statement rejecting the group’s involvement.
“Texas Defense PAC has made an unwelcome intrusion into SD4 in the form of a mailer supportive of my campaign,” Ligon said. “Texas Defense PAC exists to promote casino gambling in Texas—a public policy I reject.”
Meanwhile, casino interests have lost ground in Texas in recent years, with Gov. Greg Abbott recently saying he was “not there yet” on supporting casino expansion.
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