In Texas politics, state-level candidates and PACs spent $337.43 million between Jan. 1, 2021, and Feb. 19, 2022. More than $64.59 million or 19.14 percent of all campaign finance expenditures went to the 10 payees at the top of the list.
A payee is an entity or individual who has received money from a campaign account. Candidates and PACs must report campaign expenditures, including payments to vendors, donations to other campaign accounts, and bank transfers, to the Texas Ethics Commission.
Top 10 Texas payees (1/1/2021 – 2/19/2022)
Here are the top 10 recipients of Texas campaign money in the 2022 election cycle, as of the most recent reports.
| Rank | Payee Name | Total Received |
| 1. | Frost Bank | $17,571,337.84 |
| 2. | CrossRoads Media LLC | $8,746,014.03 |
| 3. | Political Communications Advertising | $6,782,745.10 |
| 4. | Murphy Nasica & Associates | $6,683,970.78 |
| 5. | Cross Screen Media | $6,546,414.35 |
| 6. | Department of US Treasury IRS | $4,907,148.25 |
| 7. | Strategic Media Services | $4,150,587.33 |
| 8. | Paychex Inc | $3,183,144.04 |
| 9. | Targeted Victory | $3,106,898.35 |
| 10. | FP1 Strategies LLC | $2,916,529.18 |
Total Expenditures in nine states during the 2022 election cycle
Campaign finance expenditures vary widely among state-level candidates and PACs. A number of factors, including state-specific campaign finance regulations, influence how expenditure activity varies across states. Here is how total campaign finance expenditures in Texas compared to eight other states with data available from Transparency USA for the 2022 election cycle:
Comparison of total expenditures, by state
| Rank | State | Total Expenditures | Reporting Period |
| 1 | Texas | $337,432,351 | 1/1/2022 – 2/19/2022 |
| 2 | Pennsylvania | $319,374,389 | 1/1/2022 – 3/9/2022 |
| 3 | Florida | $302,254,134 | 1/1/2022 – 2/28/2022 |
| 4 | Michigan | $71,971,787 | 1/1/2022 – 4/20/2022 |
| 5 | Arizona | 63,716,617 | 1/1/2022 – 3/31/2022 |
| 6 | Ohio | $59,240,397 | 1/1/2022 – 4/13/2022 |
| 7 | Wisconsin | $34,706,022 | 1/1/2022 – 3/21/2022 |
| 8 | Indiana | $32,159,398 | 1/1/2022 – 4/8/2022 |
| 9 | North Carolina | $22,543,037 | 1/1/2022 – 12/31/2021 |
The data above are based on campaign finance reports that active Texas PACs submitted to the Texas Ethics Commission. Transparency USA publishes campaign finance data following major reporting deadlines. State or federal law may require filers to submit additional reports.
| Report Name | Report Due Date |
| 2022 Jan Semiannual | 1/18/2022 |
| 2022 Pre-Primary (30 Days) | 1/31/2022 |
| 2022 Pre-Primary (8 Days) | 2/22/2022 |
| 2022 Primary Runoff | 5/16/2022 |
| 2022 Jul Semiannual | 7/15/2022 |
| 2022 Pre-General (30 Days) | 10/11/2022 |
| 2022 Pre-General (8 Days) | 10/31/2022 |
| 2022 Semiannual Data | 1/17/2023 |
This article is a joint publication from Ballotpedia and Transparency USA, who are working together to provide campaign finance information for state-level elections. Learn more about our work here.