Beto O’Rourke gets $2 million donation from Austin couple

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An Austin couple gave $2 million to Beto O’Rourke, making up his largest donations but in his marketing campaign in opposition to cash-flush Gov. Greg Abbott.

Simone and Tench Coxe every wrote O’Rourke’s marketing campaign a $1 million verify earlier this 12 months, Simone Coxe stated in an interview with The Texas Tribune. Both are philanthropists and buyers who’ve lengthy been politically lively, with Tench Coxe supporting each events through the years.

Their donations to O’Rourke and others are set to be disclosed on a marketing campaign finance report due Friday and anticipated to be posted Saturday.

“We believe that state government is really important and we believe in good governance, and we believe good governance requires some checks and balances on the system,” Simone Coxe stated in an interview. “Looking at the way [Texas] is structured in terms of the gerrymandering … the only real opportunity to put a check on the state Legislature is through the statewide race, and we think Beto is an extraordinary candidate.”

The Coxe’s donations are a part of a historic $27.6 million haul that O’Rourke introduced Friday morning. The determine covers late February by way of June, and it bested Abbott’s fundraising for a similar interval, which totaled $24.9 million, in line with his marketing campaign.

Abbott has his personal donors who’ve contributed seven figures at a time, particularly in recent times. They embrace folks like Dallas pipeline billionaire Kelcy Warren, whose $1 million donation to the governor after the 2021 energy grid failure has confirmed particularly controversial. O’Rourke has assailed it as bribery, and Warren has sued O’Rourke for defamation over the assaults.

For O’Rourke, although, the 2 $1 million checks are a lot bigger than any donations he has ever acquired in his political profession. O’Rourke, a former congressman and presidential candidate, has beforehand been sure by federal election guidelines that cap contributions. In truth, a few of O’Rourke’s greatest donations till now have been from the Coxes, who every gave him $50,000 shortly after he introduced his candidacy in November of final 12 months.

Simone and Tench Coxe moved to Austin from Palo Alto, California, in January 2021. Simone Coxe co-founded the general public relations agency Blanc & Otus, the place she served as CEO for 15 years, and she or he extra just lately co-founded CalMatters, the California news nonprofit. Tench Coxe is a former enterprise capitalist.

Simone Coxe has been a prolific political donor in her personal proper, primarily giving to Democrats, together with O’Rourke when he ran for U.S. Senate in 2018. Her husband, nevertheless, has a extra bipartisan giving historical past, particularly previous to the 2016 presidential election. For instance, he gave to Mitt Romney’s 2012 presidential marketing campaign, in addition to the Republican National Committee that 12 months.

“We’re pretty middle of the road,” Simone Coxe stated. “We’re moderates, and I’m more of a liberal moderate than he is probably. But I think that’s how we would both describe ourselves. We need commonsense solutions.”

She stated the couple has been drawn to O’Rourke’s positions on public training, well being care and the economic system. They help abortion rights, however Simone Coxe acknowledged O’Rourke would have a tough time reversing the state’s stringent abortion restrictions with a Republican-led Legislature. Still, she expressed hope that he might be a “moderating influence” on these sorts of points as governor.

This is O’Rourke’s first marketing campaign on the state degree, the place there aren’t any contribution limits. While O’Rourke has lengthy crusaded in opposition to huge cash in politics, he stated when he launched his marketing campaign he would reap the benefits of uncapped donations, saying he didn’t need to “run this campaign with a hand tied behind our backs.”

“I would make a distinction between special-interest large contributions and kind of general-people public interest,” Simone Coxe stated. “We have no agenda other than debate and dialogue.”

“No strings attached,” she added. “Nothing we want out of anything other than good leadership.”

Disclosure: Tench and Simone Otus Coxe have been monetary supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news group that’s funded partially by donations from members, foundations and company sponsors. Financial supporters play no function within the Tribune’s journalism. Find an entire list of them here.

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