Even with three candidates sitting out the arms race, 10 surviving major-party candidates for five Texas Supreme Court spots raised an average of $1 million per seat. The 10 candidates had raised $4.8 million a week out from Tuesday’s election (three failed primary candidates had previously raised another $1.6 million).
 

Dominated by lawyers active before the court, 19 percent of this money came from just 10 sources, including five defense firms and three plaintiff firms. The other top donors were Texans for Lawsuit Reform and the Texas Medical Asso-ciation.

Wallace Jefferson and Dale Wainwright raised more than $1 million each (see table below); a third Republican, Michael Schneider, could clear this amount by election day. Due to a disclosure loophole, judicial candidates will not report their last week’s campaign-finance activity until around the time that the winners take office next January. The only Democrat to outraise her Republican opponent is Margaret Mirabal, who raised $761,134.

Spending skyrocketed as the election drew near. The 10 candidates spent $1.4 million in the past month—about twice as much as they raised. The expenditures of five candidates greatly exceeded the money they received, with Jim Parsons spending more than three times what he raised last month.

Jefferson, Mirabal and Linda Yanez were the only candidates who reported more than $100,000 in the bank on October 27, the last day covered in the latest disclosure reports. •