I read this story about the latest dude in politics with more money than sense and I just shake my head.
In mid-September, Alex Fairly accepted an invitation to spend the day with one of the state’s richest and most powerful political megadonors.
He jumped in his private plane and flew down to meet Tim Dunn, a West Texas oil billionaire, at his political headquarters located outside of Fort Worth.
For five hours, Dunn and his advisers walked Fairly through the network of consulting, fundraising and campaign operations they have long used to boost Texas’ most conservative candidates, target those who they deem too centrist and incrementally push the Legislature toward their hardline views.
The two men talked about political philosophy and strategy. They discussed the Bible at length. Fairly was impressed, he said, if not surprised by the sheer magnitude of Dunn’s “political machine.”
“I think most people underestimate how substantial and how many pieces there are that fit together and how coordinated they are,” Fairly said in an interview with The Texas Tribune.
Dunn ended the tour with an ask: Would Fairly be willing to partner with him?
It was a stunning sign of how suddenly Fairly had emerged as a new power broker in Texas politics. Three years ago, few outside Amarillo had heard the name Alex Fairly. Now, the Panhandle businessman was being offered the chance to team up with one of the most feared and influential conservative figures at the Capitol.
Over the past year, Fairly had also poured millions into attempts to unseat GOP lawmakers deemed not conservative enough and install new hardliners. He sought to influence the race for House speaker and rolled out a $20 million political action committee that pledged to “expand a true Republican majority” in the House.
He had chosen a side in the raging civil war between establishment Republicans and far-right conservatives — and it was the same side as Dunn. Seemingly out of nowhere, he had become the state’s 10th largest single contributor for all 2024 legislative races, even when stacked against giving from PACs, according to an analysis by the Tribune.
But after mulling it over, Fairly turned down Dunn’s offer. It wasn’t the right time, he said.
And a few months later, Fairly began to question whether it would ever be the right time. Ahead of the 2025 legislative session — where his daughter Caroline would be serving her first term — Fairly dove deeper into the dramatic House leadership election, aiding efforts to push out old guard Republican leadership whom he believed were making deals with Democrats at the expense of conservative progress.
But the more he dug, the more he didn’t like what he saw: dishonest political ads, bigoted character assassinations and pressure campaigns threatening lawmakers over their votes. Fairly eventually realized much of what he thought he knew about Texas Republican politics was wrong.
He said he’d been misled by people in Dunn’s orbit to believe House Speaker Dustin Burrows was a secret liberal. Those misconceptions informed his efforts to try to block the Lubbock Republican from winning the gavel.
“I thought it was all true,” he said. “I didn’t know Burrows one bit. I just was kind of following along that he was the next bad guy. And it wasn’t until, frankly, other things happened after that that I started just asking my own questions, getting my own answers.”
As Fairly’s perspective shifted, he said he felt a moral obligation to correct course — and to try to get others, like Dunn, to change their behavior, too.
His political awakening could have seismic implications for Texas politics. Just last year, he seemed positioned as a second Dunn-like figure who could add pressure and funding to the effort to push the Legislature further right. Even now, he still supports many of those same candidates and concepts in principle. But he has come to condemn many of the methods used to achieve those goals by Dunn and his allies. Dunn did not respond to a request for an interview or written questions.
“When we spend time attacking each other and undermining each other in public and berating people’s character — particularly if it has a slant that isn’t completely honest and truthful — I think we are just eating each other,” Fairly said. “At some point you began to do more harm than you’re doing good.”
It’s a long story, so read the rest. And keep any hope you might have that he’ll Find The Light somehow and become an actual force for good – he’s still a rich conservative guy whose daughter is a new Republican State Rep, he’s just one with something a bit more akin to a conscience than the true nihilists – to a minimum. At best, maybe he’ll support conservative candidates who want to get stuff done instead of burning it all down, which is a double-edged sword to say the least. I don’t have any good ideas about what could be done in the short to medium term about the increasing number of billionaire overlords. If we can win enough power, there are things we can do. It’s that first step that’s the hard part.
I recently was able to attend an event where Ken Scudder spoke. He is the new Chair of the Texas Democratic Party, and I was very favorably impressed by what he said. He made it clear that he represents the Democratic wing of the Democratic Party. He pointed out that we Democrats have a moment to meet, and that if we can win Texas then the GOP will have big problems winning the White House again. The problem that the Texas Democratic Party has is how to rebuild trust and their finances at the same time. After hearing him speak I have committed to sending them money once again, and I hope you will do so too. They cannot get done what must be done without a better financial footing. To that end, if you know any millionaires or billionaires who aren’t MAGA nuts I will ask you to ask them to consider sending some cash to the TDP. Given the track record of the previous Chair I know it is a big ask, but Ken Scudder is not that guy, and he deserves your support.
The Dems ain’t gonna win Texas in my (or probably Kuff’s) lifetime.
Democrats may or may not win Texas, but you can’t expect us to just roll over and play dead either. We Democrats are the real supporters of freedom, and eventually many of the new (and old) residents of Texas will come to see that.