Billionaire financier George Soros has pumped at least $3 million into the US state of Texas in an effort to boost Democratic Party candidates, according to new analysis in US media.
The report claims the wealthy donor has contributed funds to at least five progressive groups in the state, including an organization known as Texas Majority PAC. The group, run by staffers from former Democratic gubernatorial candidate Beto O’Rourke’s campaign, reportedly amassed almost $2.25 million in donations last year.
Analysis reveals the entirety of the funding so far has originated from Soros. The donor contributed $1.4 million to the group directly and $850,000 from his Democracy PAC II fund.
Although traditionally a conservative-leaning state, Texas has increasingly shifted towards the Democratic Party in recent years. In 2018 O’Rourke mounted a stiff challenge to Republican Ted Cruz, coming within three percentage points of ousting the prominent GOP senator. Exit polling revealed a narrow majority of native-born Texans actually supported O’Rourke, while voters who moved to Texas from other states supported Cruz.
Soros, who is criticized by conservatives in the United States for his liberal advocacy, has spent large sums of money to help install US-aligned political leaders in Eastern Europe.
Wealthy donors frequently pump millions of dollars into political causes aligned with both major parties in the United States, especially after a 2010 Supreme Court decision overturned much of the country’s system of campaign finance regulation. Former US President Jimmy Carter has lamented the role of wealthy donors in modern US politics, recently calling the United States an “oligarchy with unlimited political bribery.”