Mayes Middleton
HOUSTON – The old adage “if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em” apparently applies to trial lawyers who have fruitlessly exhausted millions trying to elect Democrats to Texas state offices.
Come November, state Sen. Mayes Middleton, a Republican, will face off against fellow senator Nathan Johnson in the race to become Texas’ next attorney general.
The latest round of campaign finance reports, which cover May and June, show Middleton holds a substantial fundraising edge, with quite a bit of those contributions coming from trial lawyers.
Middleton, a Galveston Republican and oil-and-gas executive, raised $911,116.75 during May and June, including $300,000 from his own funds. There were also two $100,000 donations, one coming from Texans for Lawsuit Reform and the other Cody Campbell.
Campbell is an oil billionaire who currently serves as the chairman of the Board of Regents for the Texas Tech University System. He is the co-founder of Double Eagle Energy Holdings, an upstream oil and gas company.
The November contest follows Paxton’s decision to forgo a fourth term as attorney general and run instead for the U.S. Senate. Paxton won the Republican Senate runoff in May and is now trying to consolidate Republican support, raise money for television advertising and shift his campaign toward affordability and tax-policy themes as he faces Democrat James Talarico in the general election. Paxton has recently promoted an economic plan calling for new or expanded tax deductions for health care, housing and children, while also seeking help from national Republican donors and party groups.
Middleton raised $11.8 million during the final six months of 2025, with more than 90% of that total coming from his own money, according to campaign records reported earlier this year. He spent about $6 million on mail and advertising during that period and still reported about $5 million in the bank at the time.
That personal spending gave Middleton a major advantage in the Republican primary and allowed him to compete financially without depending exclusively on traditional donor networks. Middleton’s campaign website describes him as a conservative legislator and says he has declined the state pension and health care benefits and donates his legislative salary to local charities.
Johnson
Middleton’s Democratic opponent, fellow state senator Johnson from Dallas, reported raising $363,911.88 during the same period and had more than $290,000 in cash on hand as of June 30.
Middleton’s report illustrates an unusual coalition for a Republican attorney general campaign: support from traditional GOP business interests and tort reform groups alongside donations from lawyers and firms whose work includes personal injury, mass tort and settlement-related litigation.
Two attorneys for the D.C. law firm Cooper Kirk, Charles Cooper and David Thompson, chipped in $10,000 a piece, records show.
Attorney Greg Fibich of Fibich, Leebron, Copeland & Briggs, a Houston law firm that represented Harris County in its opioid lawsuit, donated $5,000.
On May 18, two employees of Sage Settlement Consulting, John Grinnan and Jason Leiker, donated a total of $7,500 to Middleton, records show.
Headquartered in Austin, Sage Settlement specializes in providing customized settlement planning services to injured claimants, mass tort plaintiffs, and plaintiff attorneys across the nation.
One of the larger attorney contributions ($25,000) was made by attorney James Stanton. Other sizable trial lawyer contributions include: a $10,000 donation from Foley & Lardner, a $5,000 donation from Scott West of The West Law Firm in Richmond; a $5,000 donation from Noah Wexler of Arnold & Itkin; and a $2,500 donation from Jennifer Womack.
The Austin law firm Briggle & Polan contributed $5,000 while former attorney and current entrepreneur Darren Brown chipped in $10,000. The Cozen O'Connor PAC in Philadelphia also gave $10,000.
On June 3, Jon Bruning, who lives in Nebraska and is a managing partner of the Bruning Law Group, donated $1,000, records show.
Paxton
The attorney campaign contributions are notable because the attorney general’s office has broad authority over consumer protection suits, multistate litigation, antitrust cases and settlements involving major corporations.
Paxton, the current AG, has used private law firms more and more during his second term despite leading one of the country’s largest state attorney general offices with more than 700 attorneys.
Some of Middleton’s more notable non-laywer contributors include:
June 29, Doug Deason, president of Deason Capital Services, a privately held family office and investment firm based in Dallas, $25,000;
May 21 and June 8, Rex Gore, advisor for Clean Scapes, made two $10,000 donations for a total of $20,000;
May 27, Windi Grimes, a Houston-based philanthropist and descendant of the historic Burnett ranching and oil fortune, $25,000;
May 20, Ross Perot, Jr., $25,000; and
May 19, Donald Poarch of Longmont Capital, a privately held private equity firm in Houston, $25,000.
Other notable individuals and groups who contributed to him include:
June 3, BlueChip Financial, an online direct lender headquartered on the reservation of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians in North Dakota, $2,500;
May 18, state. Sen. Brent Hagenbuch Campaign, $2,500;
May 18, John Condos, Lake Charles, Access Healthcare Management, $5,000;
May 18, Scott Freeman of Freeman Financial services, $10,000;
June 9, General Motors Company PAC, $2,500;
May 22, Robert Goodwin CEO Oldham Goodwin Group, $5,000;
June 17, Timothy Ho Beyond Finance in Chicago, $10,000;
June 24, Woody Hunt chairman of Hunt Companies, $10,000;
May 27, Nicholas Iarossi of Capital City Consulting, a Florida public affairs firm, $2,500;
May 20, Walter Mischer, investor, $10,000;
May 26, Allen Nye, CEO Oncor, $20,000;
June 8, Provider Coalition for Care PAC, $5,000;
June 4, RS LLC in Red Rock, Oklahoma, $5,000;
June 8, TXCRNA PAC, $10,000
May 21, Texas Cornerstone Credit Union League PAC, $15,000;
June 26, The Home Depot Action Committee, $5,000;
June 2, TransCanada USA PAC, $1,000; and
June 25, Valero PAC, $10,000.
Democratic challenger Nathan Johnson collected $363,911.88 during the May and June period and has more than $290,000 cash on hand as of June 30, records show.
While not quite as lucrative, Johnson is still receiving trial lawyer support, including a $20,000 donation made by Aldous Law and a $15,000 contribution coming from attorney Lance Ramsey of Gjerset & Lorenz.
There are also a few notable individuals and groups backing him, including asset manager Daniel, who contributed $50,000, and Evelyn "Deedie" Potter Rose, a prominent Dallas philanthropist who also gave $50,000.
Marguerite Hoffman, an investor, gave $25,000 while Erle Nye of EN Consulting chipped in $20,000. Donald H. Henley, listed as a professional musician in Virginia, has several donations totalling $9,200.
Howard Rachofsky, an internationally renowned collector of contemporary art, gave $5,000 while Wayne Watts, a community supporter in Boerne, contributed $7,500.
Other attorneys contributing to Johnson’s campaign include:
June 5, Samuel Boyd, $500;
June 16, Joseph Bruegger, $1,000;
June 16, Rhonda Cleaves, $1,000;
June 30, John Eichman, $1,000;
June 29, Domingo Garcia, $5,000;
June 1, Lawrence Ginsburg, a partner at Locke Lord, $2,000;
May 29, Frank Herrera, $1,000;
June 30, Tom Leatherbury, $1,000;
June 30, John McDowell, $2,500;
June 12, James Mitchell, $2,500;
June 27, Mark Phariss, $1,500; and
June 30, Timothy Powers, $1,000.
Some of the other more notable individuals and groups who contributed to Johnson include:
June 30, Robert L. Appel, $1,000;
June 29, Jean Beasley, $1,000;
June 30, Blanco County Democratic Party, $250;
June 30, Sue Bornstein, a physician, $2,500;
June 4, Elizabeth Davis, $4,000;
June 16, Democratic Women of Comal County, $1,000;
May 26, Thomas Dunning Lockton Dunning Benefits, $1,500;
June 4, Scott Elphingstone, $4,000;
June 29, Anne Johnson, $1,000;
May 18, Nelson Jones, $5,000;
June 16, KPW PAC, $1,500;
May 29, David Norton $1,000;
May 27, Clyde Rupert, a professional and community volunteer in Plano, $2,000;
June 7, Rodney Schlosser of Asurion, $5,000;
June 16, Debra Shivers, owner of Jones Family Farm, $2,000;
June 29, John Sughrue, real estate Brook Partners, $2,500; and
June 30, Catherine Webb, owner of Orangetheory Fitness, $5,000.
