Empower Texans was a conservative advocacy group in

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

that was active from 2006 to 2020. It was affiliated with Texans for Fiscal Responsibility, which was later spun off into its own organization. Empower Texans was based in

Austin Austin refers to: Common meanings * Austin, Texas, United States, a city * Austin (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Austin (surname), a list of people and fictional characters * Austin Motor Company, a British car manufac ...

with operations in

Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

, and Midland. Empower Texans focused on

fiscal conservatism In American political theory, fiscal conservatism or economic conservatism is a political and economic philosophy regarding fiscal policy and fiscal responsibility with an ideological basis in capitalism, individualism, limited government, ...

by supporting lower taxes and spending restraint. It operated in Republican state-level politics in Texas, targeting candidates whom the group views as insufficiently

conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

in Republican primaries.

History

Empower Texans was formed in 2006 by businessman Tim Dunn. Dunn was the group's primary financial contributor.

Dan and Farris Wilks Daniel Howard "Dan" Wilks (born 1955 or 1956) and Farris Cullen Wilks (born 1951 or 1952), known together as the Wilks Brothers, are American petroleum industry businessmen. Sons of a bricklayer, the brothers established Wilks Masonry in 1995. They ...

were also major donors to Empower Texans. The group was described as Tea Party-aligned. In 2014, Empower Texans CEO Michael Quinn Sullivan was fined by the

Texas Ethics Commission The Texas Ethics Commission was established in 1991 to oversee and provide guidance on various public ethics laws within the state of Texas. The agency's main office is located on the 10th Floor of the Sam Houston State Office Building at 201 Eas ...

after the agency alleged that he had failed to register as a lobbyist starting in 2010. Sullivan said his activities were best described as journalism rather than lobbying. He appealed the fine, but in 2021 was ordered to pay the fines by a district court judge. In a 2025 piece, ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' described the group as a force that helped Texas politics shift to the right (such as helping Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick in his first election campaigns) while acknowledging that their track record is mixed.

Texans for Fiscal Responsibility

Texans for Fiscal Responsibility (TFR) was a project of Empower Texans, but was later spun off into its own organization. The group was founded by Michael Quinn Sullivan. TFR was a

nonprofit A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...

organization and filed as a

501(c)(4) A 501(c) organization is a nonprofit organization in the Law of the United States#Federal law, federal law of the United States according to Internal Revenue Code (26 U.S.C. § 501(c)). Such organizations are exempt from some Taxation in the Un ...

. TFR advocated for low taxes and limited government spending. The group was described as trying to "purge the GOP establishment." ''

Texas Monthly ''Texas Monthly'' (stylized as ''TexasMonthly'') is a monthly American magazine headquartered in Downtown Austin, Texas. Founded in 1973 by Michael R. Levy, ''Texas Monthly'' chronicles life in contemporary Texas, writing on politics, the Natura ...

'' called TFR "one of the most influential advocacy groups in Austin". Through TFR, Empower Texans published an annual Fiscal Responsibility Index (a legislator rating scorecard); and a Taxpayer Pledge, which was signed by lawmakers who promised not to raise taxes. The group handed out "Taxpayer Champion Awards" to legislators who scored well on TFR's Fiscal Responsibility Index. In 2012 and 2013, ''

'' and ''

The Texas Observer ''The Texas Observer'' (also known as the ''Observer'') is an American magazine with a liberal political outlook. The ''Observer'' is published bimonthly by a 501(c)(3)moderate Republicans were not sufficiently conservative.

''Texas Scorecard''

In January 2015, Empower Texans launched a print and online publication project called ''Texas Scorecard''. In 2019, two employees of ''Texas Scorecard'' were granted media credentials to the Texas Senate but denied media credentials to the Texas House. Empower Texans filed a First Amendment lawsuit on the employees' behalf. ''Texas Scorecard'' was spun off into its own nonprofit entity in 2020. Former Empower Texans CEO Michael Quinn Sullivan became the publisher of the publication.

Activities

The group, which opposed Republican

Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives The speaker of the Texas House of Representatives is the speaker (politics), presiding officer of the Texas House of Representatives. The Speaker's main duties are to conduct meetings of the House, appoint committees, and enforce the Rules of the ...

Joe Straus Joseph Richard Straus III (born September 1, 1959) is an American politician who served as the speaker of the Texas House of Representatives from 2009 to 2019. A Republican, he represented District 121, which comprises northeastern Bexar Count ...

, made $1.4 million in donations and in-kind contributions to anti-Straus candidates in the 2016 primary election. In the 2018 Texas Republican primary elections, which were held on March 6, 2018, Empower Texans endorsed 34 candidates. A total of 13 endorsed candidates won, while 17 lost and four advanced to runoff primary elections in May 2018. Two of the group's notable victories were the defeat of state representatives Jason Villalba and Wayne Faircloth. It donated a total of $4.7 million to candidates during the 2018 election cycle. In 2019, empower Texans CEO Michael Quinn Sullivan secretly recorded then Speaker of the House Dennis Bonnen and then chair of the state’s House Republican Caucus Dustin Burrows making negative comments about other legislators, and offering the group press credentials providing floor access in exchange for their working against moderate Republican members. On October 22, 2019, Bonnen announced that he would not seek re-election, paving the way for a new House speaker in the next session of the House. An investigation by the Texas Rangers ultimately concluded that Bonnen did not break any laws in the exchange. In the 2020 election cycle, Empower Texans made endorsements in six state House races. As of June 2020, its political action committees had not yet reported any spending on the election cycle. In June 2020, Empower Texans vice president Cary Cheshire and its general counsel Tony McDonald were recorded making derogatory comments about Texas Governor

Greg Abbott Gregory Wayne Abbott ( ; born November 13, 1957) is an American politician, attorney, and jurist who has served since 2015 as the 48th governor of Texas. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served from 2002 to ...

, including joking about his use of a wheelchair. Cheshire and McDonald were disciplined by the organization over the incident.

References

{{reflist

External links

Texas Scorecard official website
United States political action committees Politics of Texas Conservative organizations in the United States Organizations established in 2006 Non-profit organizations based in Austin, Texas