Incumbent District 81 State Rep. Brooks Landgraf and challenger Casey Gray, both of Odessa, will meet in the Republican Primary on Tuesday.
With no Democrat on the ballot, a primary win will be tantamount to election as Landgraf seeks a fifth two-year term and Gray angles for the upset.
In his Tuesday deadline report to the Texas Ethics Commission for money accepted and spent up to Feb. 19, Landgraf said he’d taken in $296,325 and spent $90,038 while Gray had reported in his last filing Jan. 31 that he had raised $28,351 and spent $14,236; however, the TEC said Gray had missed the 5 p.m. Tuesday deadline, leaving uncertain how much he had raised and spent since Jan. 21.
“The penalty for missing most campaign finance deadlines is $500, but state law makes an exception for the pre-election reports that are due eight days before an election,” TEC General Counsel J.R. Johnson told the Odessa American in a Wednesday email from Austin. “For those reports, the penalty is $500 for the first day late and $100 for each additional day up to a maximum of $10,000.”
Landgraf’s expenditures have included $33,861 to the Franklin Creative Co. of Castle Pines, Colo., $3,513 to Marco Fuentes of Odessa, $1,250 to attorney Kevin Stewart of Austin, $1,375 to Maverick Campaigns of Houston, $23,487 to USAA of San Ant0nio, $16,332 to the USPS Mail Processing Center in Austin, $3,850 to the Ward County Livestock Show in Monahans, $2,750 to the Winkler County Livestock Association in Kermit and $1,769 to Ink Lion Designs of Odessa.
Landgraf’s top contributors are Trevor Ahlberg of Austin with $2,500; Beef Political Action Committee, Amarillo, $2,000; Arturo Benevides Jr., Laredo, $2,500; Charles Butt Public Education PAC, San Antonio, $5,000; Charter Schools Now PAC, Austin, $5,000; ConocoPhillips Spirit PAC, Bartlesville, Okla., $1,250; Dusty Coulston, Monahans, $5,000; Speaker Dade Phelan Campaign. Austin, $10,000; ExelonPAC. Washington, D.C., $2,000; Tilman Fertitta, Houston, $1,500; John Galo, Laredo, $2,500; Ted Hogan, Odessa, $5,000; Pat Hogg, Monahans, $5,000; Oncor Texas State PAC, Dallas, $1,500; Pape-Dawson Engineers PAC, San Antonio, $2,500; Carl Sewell, Odessa, $2,500; Sledge Group, Austin, $2,000; TX Diamondback PAC, Midland, $3,000.
Also, Texas Cornerstone Credit Union League PAC, Dallas, $2,500; Texas Oil and Gas Association Good Government Committee, Austin, $5,000; Texas Restaurant Association PAC, Austin, $2,000; Texas Sands PAC, Austin, $3,000; Texas State Farm Agents PAC, Lakeway, $2,500; Texans for Lawsuit Reform PAC, Austin, $22,500; Associated General Contractors of Texas PAC, Austin, $2,500;
Chris Boutwell, Lubbock, $2,500; Stacey Bryant, Odessa, $10,000; Terry Bryant, Odessa, $5,000; Rex Chitty, Odessa, $2,500; J. Kenneth Ford, Midland, $1,250; John Landgraf, Odessa, $1,500; James Nelson, Odessa, $2,500; Texas Association of Realtors PAC, Austin, $5,000; Texas Trial Lawyers Association PAC, Austin, $2,500; and The Travelers Companies PAC, Hartford, Conn., $2,000;
Gray, in a previous report, reported paying $1,446 to Arrow Printing of Odessa, $125 to Facebook of Palo Alto, Calif., $340 to Finch Media of Midland, $11 to Microsoft of Redmond, Va., and $464 to USPS and $11,850 to Vital Signs, both of Odessa.
Gray’s supporters have included George Cowan of Virginia Beach, Va., with $52; Tony Howdeshell, Tomball, $250; Dan Kinser, Odessa, $26; Daniel Markham, Mount Vernon, Wash., $26; Ismael Ortega, San Antonio, $260; and Julie Stupp, Odessa, $260. Gray reported borrowing $20,000 from himself and also a $10,000 donation from Odessa businessman Duck Saulsbury.
