US House Speaker Paul Ryan recently announced that he raised $17 million in the first three months of this year. What he didn’t mention was that twenty percent of that money came from one state: Texas. The Texas Tribune notesthat the money will go toward the re-election for Ryan’s fellow GOP incumbents in the House.
The GOP currently holds its largest house majority in generations. But that hefty majority could be in jeopardy if Donald Trump secures the Republican nomination. A divisive figure with strong negative polling numbers, Trump is widely believed to be a weak general-election candidate.
As funds comes into Texas campaigns, much of that money is flowing into the general “pot” to help incumbents in battleground states. That’s because few seats in Texas are seen as up for grabs, so that money is being sent where it can do the most good. Ryan is more popular than his predecessor, John Boehner, and that’s helping the cause as well.
