Though he announced his retirement from the Texas Legislature over six years ago, disgraced former House Speaker Joe Straus is still getting involved in Texas politics.
This cycle, however, his campaign donations have been limited to one candidate thus far: State Rep. Glenn Rogers (R–Graford).
Straus, who served as speaker of the Texas House from 2009 to 2019, has continued to dabble in Texas politics ever since.
In 2021, during the consideration of election integrity legislation, Straus came out against the Republican priority bill, claiming, “It’s bad for business and, more importantly, it’s bad for our citizens.” This followed his earlier announcement that he voted for President Joe Biden in the 2020 election.
Famous for his use of Democrat committee members to axe Republican priority legislation, Straus announced his retirement in 2017 after the Republican Caucus passed bylaws to elect a unified Republican candidate for speaker, forcing him to retire or face the loss of his speakership.
Meanwhile, Straus continued his political activism through his Texas Forever Forward PAC, donating mostly to his allies in the House and to moderate Republicans.
While the PAC reported over $150,000 in expenditures during the most recent report—which covers the second half of 2023—Rogers was the only direct recipient of cash from the PAC this cycle in the form of a $2,500 donation.
Rogers was caught last week by Texas Scorecard touting fake endorsements from elected officials who didn’t support his campaign.
Rogers is opposed in the Republican primary election by Mike Olcott, who has the endorsement of Gov. Greg Abbott, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, Attorney General Ken Paxton, and Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller.
As of publishing, Rogers did not respond to a request for comment.
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