People-powered, Pritzker-funded
Here is a campaign promise from Texas, issued this week by the Democrat running for governor: “I will continue fighting for a Texas that puts working people over billionaires.”
That was Gina Hinojosa, per The Texas Tribune, calling hers a “people-powered campaign.”
On Tuesday, per The New York Times, the people sent reinforcements. One of them was Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, whom the Times describes as “a billionaire who is one of the nation’s wealthiest elected officials.” He is sending her $1 million.
Working people over billionaires, sponsored by a billionaire.
The check
Here is the haul, per the Times. Pritzker and the Democratic Governors Association are each sending Hinojosa $1 million. Pritzker had already given her $200,000. It is the DGA’s first investment in the state. And Texas law allows unlimited contributions to candidates for state office, so nobody had to get creative.
Pritzker’s pitch: “This is completely winnable, and it would be a sea change in the country if Gina Hinojosa wins the governorship of Texas. There’s every reason to believe that she can and will with the right support.”
“The right support” is a polite way of saying a seven-figure wire.
Hinojosa’s reaction, by text message: “It’s good to be winning.”
Gina Hinojosa speaking at the Texas AFL-CIO COPE convention, January 2024. Credit: RRC1701 via Wikimedia Commons, CC0.
To be fair to her, the small-dollar part is real. Per the Tribune, she took in more than 248,000 contributions from more than 136,000 donors, averaging $53.37. That is people power. But the people were not alone on the list. Her biggest single check was $250,000 from the American Federation of Teachers. Susan Sarofim, widow of billionaire investment manager Fayez Sarofim, gave $200,000. Democratic megadonor Karla Jurvetson gave $100,000.
Why Illinois cares who runs Texas
You might wonder why the governor of Illinois is shopping for a governor of Texas. The Times answers it for you: “Pritzker and Beshear are seen as potential Democratic presidential candidates in 2028.”
That would be Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, who chairs the DGA. A group associated with Beshear also gave Hinojosa $25,000, per the Tribune. The Tribune calls Pritzker “a widely anticipated 2028 presidential contender.”
Pritzker, his aides told the Times, has given more than $38 million to fellow Democratic candidates and groups since the beginning of last year. He has made three political trips to Texas this year. He sent another $300,000 to other Texas Democrats, including $100,000 to the super PAC backing Senate nominee James Talarico.
None of that is illegal. It is just what you would do if you were building a national network one state party at a time. Iowa has diners. Texas has donors.
People like me should pay more
The man writing the checks has a long record of telling you the rich should pay their share.
In 2019, pitching his “fair tax,” Pritzker told reporters, per Chronicle Media: “People like me should pay more and people like you should pay less.”
Now the receipts. Back in 2018, Cook County’s inspector general concluded that more than $330,000 in property tax breaks and refunds Pritzker got on a Gold Coast mansion, in part by removing its toilets, was a “scheme to defraud,” per the Chicago Sun-Times. Filings said the house had “no functioning bathrooms or kitchen.” The watchdog put the savings at $331,432.03. Pritzker said, “We followed the rules,” then, a day after the report surfaced, vowed to pay the money back, per the Sun-Times.
People like me should pay more. Just not on the mansion where the toilets came out.
That same year he put $171,832,734.95 of his own fortune into his campaign for governor, a national self-funding record, per the Sun-Times. And in 2020, he spent $56 million of his personal money promoting the fair tax amendment, per WTTW. Illinois voters rejected it.
We wrote in Review & Repeal Citizens United about how money rewired American elections. Democrats love that speech. They just give it from a stage someone rich paid for.
The blue costume: anti-billionaire, billionaire-backed
Democrats, this one is yours first.
Per AP, the party is “relying instead on anti-Trump sentiment among voters and targeted messaging on issues like corruption.” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer calls the other side’s spending “obscene.”
The other side’s spending is obscene. But you cannot run against money in politics and also beg for a bigger share of it. “Corruption” is a hard message to deliver while your own 2028 hopefuls are auditioning with checkbooks, and the Latino allies pushing the DGA last week were asking for $10 million, per the Times.
The tell is in the language. When the other side writes the checks, it is corruption. When Pritzker writes one, it is “the right support.” Same wire transfer, different press release.
The red costume: $141 million and still nervous
Republicans, do not get comfortable. Your side brought a bigger bank.
Per the Tribune, Gov. Greg Abbott started the year with $105.7 million on hand and has burned through $141.3 million since January. His biggest checks since July 1 included $1 million apiece from Pennsylvania school voucher advocate Jeff Yass, Airbnb co-founder Joe Gebbia, Dallas billionaire Kenneth Fisher, and Florida businessman Jack Dwyer, plus $1.5 million from Amarillo GOP megadonor Alex Fairly through his company and political group. Far-right West Texas megadonor Tim Dunn chipped in $100,000.
The Texas State Capitol in Austin. Abbott has spent $141.3 million this year defending the office inside it. Credit: Daderot via Wikimedia Commons, CC0.
So if an Illinois billionaire buying into Texas offends you, a Pennsylvania billionaire should too. Out-of-state money is only out of state when it is the other guy’s.
And Gebbia is not just a donor. Per WIRED, he leads the National Design Studio inside the Executive Office of the President and is “currently the chief design officer of the US.” An official in the Executive Office of the President, writing a $1 million check to a governor’s campaign. Small government, big donor.
Joe Gebbia, Airbnb co-founder, in 2021. He gave Abbott $1 million this period. Credit: Miller Mobley via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Nationally, per AP, Republicans have $1 billion at their disposal, led by the Trump-aligned MAGA Inc. with nearly $416 million on hand at the end of August. A group aligned with Senate Majority Leader John Thune has spent more than $83 million on Texas advertising in a month, in a state that has not elected a Democratic senator since 1988.
And Illinois billionaire politics was a two-party sport from the start. The Republican he beat in 2018, Bruce Rauner, raised $85.7 million from himself and others, per the Sun-Times, and the self-funding record Pritzker broke belonged to Republican Meg Whitman. The fair tax was fought with nearly $54 million from billionaire Ken Griffin, per WTTW. The billionaire wars in Illinois had a billionaire on every side.
We covered the bipartisan donor love in The pause button has a donor and The swamp takes crypto. The names change. The checkbook does not.
Both costumes
Here is what is true. Abbott is outspending Hinojosa by miles, and money alone has not been winning. Per AP, Musk’s $25 million did not win a Wisconsin Supreme Court seat, and Tom Steyer’s $216 million did not get him out of California’s primary. Hinojosa’s small donors are real, and the polls tightened before the big checks came.
But the blue costume is a candidate who promises to put working people over billionaires while cashing a billionaire’s million. The red costume is a governor who burned through $141 million with help from a voucher billionaire and an official from the president’s own executive office, in a party with $1 billion on hand that is now worried the money came too late.
You do not need a costume for this one. You need to read the donor list before the ad. Election Day is November 3. Check who paid for what you are about to watch.
Receipts
- The New York Times via The Daily Gazette, October 7, 2026. Pritzker’s and the DGA’s $1 million each, his earlier $200,000, his quotes, the $38 million figure, the trips, the 2028 line, the $10 million ask, and “It’s good to be winning.”
- The Texas Tribune, October 6, 2026. Hinojosa’s “working people over billionaires” line, her donor numbers, Abbott’s $105.7 million, $141.3 million, and $1 million donors.
- AP via WRAL, October 7, 2026. The GOP’s $1 billion, MAGA Inc., the Thune-aligned group’s Texas spending, Schumer’s “obscene,” Democrats’ corruption messaging, and the Musk and Steyer examples.
- WIRED, October 7, 2026. Gebbia’s role as chief design officer of the U.S.
- Chronicle Media, March 12, 2019. “People like me should pay more.”
- Chicago Sun-Times, October 1, 2018 and October 2, 2018. The inspector general’s “scheme to defraud” finding, the toilets, $331,432.03, and the repayment vow.
- Chicago Sun-Times, November 7, 2018. The $171.8 million self-funding record, Rauner’s $85.7 million, and Whitman’s old record.
- WTTW, November 4, 2020. Pritzker’s $56 million for the fair tax, Griffin’s nearly $54 million against, and the result.
- Hypocrisy Democracy, Review & Repeal Citizens United, The pause button has a donor, and The swamp takes crypto. Earlier pieces on money in politics.
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Originally published on Substack.