A North San Antonio Texas House district is quickly becoming a proxy war for a myriad of disagreements between GOP factions at the state Capitol.
One of those issues — whether the state should spend taxpayer money on private school education — has the power to draw untold amounts of campaign spending in a district incumbent Republican Steve Allison has had little trouble holding since he was first elected in 2018.
Texas’ House District 121 includes North Central San Antonio, some of unincorporated North Bexar County and the municipalities of Alamo Heights, Olmos Park and Terrell Hills. and portions of Timberwood Park.
Allison, a business attorney and former Alamo Heights Independent School District board president, won a crowded primary to take the seat after former House Speaker Joe Straus retired and has championed numerous conservative policy victories in the past two legislative sessions.
Amid growing tension between the state’s Republican-led House and its statewide officials, however, Allison now finds himself in the crosshairs of both Gov. Greg Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton, who are supporting his primary opponent, criminal defense attorney Marc LaHood.
In May, members of the Texas House, including Allison, voted overwhelmingly to impeach Paxton over allegations bribery and abuse of office, but Paxton’s allies in the Senate voted to acquit him four months later.
“I went through a miserable summer… [but] this gave us a chance to give the people of Texas the chance to see how corrupt the Texas House is,” Paxton said at a Tuesday night fundraiser for LaHood at The Angry Elephant, a bar on the far North Side. The event was one of a handful of campaign stops Paxton has made in the past week aimed at attacking House Republicans who supported his impeachment.
In addition to that vote, Allison also made personal enemies with the attorney general last year over disagreements about a 2021 law that lowered the penalty for voter fraud from a felony to a misdemeanor. When conservatives complained about the change last spring, Allison said he changed the language in the House version of the bill at Paxton’s request, while Paxton responded on social media calling that account “false.”
“He snuck in a piece of legislation that lowered the penalty from a felony for cheating an election, for voter fraud, to a misdemeanor. And when he got caught, you know who he blamed? Me. He told everybody I told him to do it,” Paxton said Tuesday.
It’s unclear how much sparring with Paxton will hurt the well-funded Allison.
Much of Paxton’s war chest has gone toward covering his own legal fees over the past six months. The conservative Defend Texas Liberty PAC that contributed to LaHood’s unsuccessful Bexar County district attorney campaign in 2022 has also gone quiet recently in the wake of leadership woes.
Campaign finance reports covering July 1 through Dec. 31 show Allison raised about $220,000, spent $166,000 and reported $55,000 on hand. In that same span, LaHood raised $58,000, spent $27,000 and reported $75,000 on hand.
Among Allison’s top contributors was state House Speaker Dade Phelan, who gave him roughly $30,000 in campaign cash and in-kind polling, and the Associated Republicans of Texas, which contributed about $15,000 worth of in-kind advertising and campaign help.
But both Allison and LaHood have deep-pocketed supporters who are highly interested in the debate over whether the state should allow taxpayer money to fund private school educations.
In November, Allison was one of 21 Republicans who joined Democrats in shutting down a school voucher plan desired by Abbott, who plans to campaign for LaHood at the Barn Door on Feb. 9. Abbott raised $19 million in the past six months, including $6 million from a single pro-voucher billionaire in Pennsylvania, and has vowed to oust Republican holdouts like Allison.
LaHood, who picked up U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz’s endorsement this week, also received $25,000 from the Family Empowerment Coalition PAC, which backs candidates who support school vouchers.
“School choice is the final battleground where us as parents say, ‘We are the ones that are in control of our children,'” LaHood said Tuesday.
Coming to Allison’s defense is a pro-public education group aligned with H-E-B chairman and billionaire philanthropist Charles Butt. The Charles Butt Public Education Political Action Committee has already given Allison $20,000 and reported about $11 million on hand as of Dec. 31.
Though that issue is drawing money into the race, Allison campaign consultant Craig Murphy said Republican primary voters are focused on other priorities.
“Allison has been with Abbott on every issue, whether it be tax cuts, border spending. There’s just one issue where they differ,” Murphy said. “There’s not a poll that exists where the top issue is vouchers. It’s not even in the top 10.”
A third Republican, Michael Champion, a U.S. Army veteran and physician assistant, is also running in the March 5 primary.
