Texas GOP Senate Candidate Ken Paxton Took More Than Half A Million Dollars In Alcohol Industry Donations While Opposing Cannabis Reform

Texas’s attorney general—who is also the Republican nominee in a hard-fought race for a U.S. Senate seat in November—has accepted more than $500,000 in political donations from the alcohol industry while using the power of his office to crack down on cannabis, according to a review of campaign finance records.

As attorney general, Ken Paxton has filed lawsuits seeking to overturn voter-approved local marijuana decriminalization policies in cities across Texas.

His office has also defended hemp restrictions in court against lawsuits from the industry. That includes a recently enacted ban on certain hemp-derived THC products, including those containing delta-8 and delta-10 THC. Now classified as Schedule I drugs under state law, possession is treated as a felony, carrying a punishment of up to two years in prison and fines of up to $10,000.

Paxton’s Democratic opponent for the Senate seat, James Talarico, supports marijuana reform and has suggested that Paxton has taken anti-cannabis actions in order to aid his political donors in the alcohol industry.

“It doesn’t make any sense until you follow the money and realize that it is big beer and big tobacco that are funding the politicians, like Ken Paxton, who turned around and banned these safe THC products in order to enrich the big beer and a big tobacco lobby,” Talarico said in August.

While Talarico’s suggestion that Paxton’s actions were undertaken to support any specific business can’t be verified, campaign finance records reviewed by Marijuana Moment show that alcohol industry interests have generously funded his political campaigns.

Since 2014, alcohol industry political action committees and industry executives have contributed at least $509,806 to Paxton’s efforts to be elected to state and federal offices.

Paxton’s state races have been fueled by at least $98,500 in checks from the Beer Alliance of Texas PAC, for example.

During the same period, the Wholesale Beer Distributors of Texas PAC chipped in at least $52,500 to Paxton’s state races, and the Texas Beverage Alliance of the Texas Package Stores Association contributed another at least $17,000, while the National Beer Wholesalers Association PAC donated at least $10,000.

Most recently, in June of this year, the Wine & Spirits Wholesalers of America PAC made a $5,000 contribution to Ken Paxton for Senate.

While the analysis is not comprehensive and may not include every alcohol industry-related donation to Paxton, it also shows that individual executives from alcohol companies have collectively donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to his campaigns.

Barry Andrews of Andrews Distributing Company, for example, has given Paxton’s campaigns at least $129,500 since 2014, while John Nau of Silver Eagle Distributors has contributed at least $76,568.

See a list of alcohol industry-linked donations to Paxton’s campaigns below:

One $10,000 contribution from the Wholesale Beer Distributors Of Texas PAC to Paxton in December 2021 came less than two weeks after the attorney general’s office filed an appeal of a court’s permanent injunction on state hemp product restrictions to the Texas Supreme Court.

Wholesale Beer Distributors of Texas has reportedly backed a campaign called Safer Texas Alliance that pushed lawmakers to enact restrictions on hemp THC products. The effort included a series of video ads, including one calling out what was described as a “predatory synthetic THC industry” that allegedly targets kids.

In June 2019, Paxton’s campaign took a combined $20,o00 from Wholesale Beer Distributors of Texas PAC and Barry Andrews of Andrews Distributing. Just weeks later, he joined other Republican officials in sending a letter urging prosecutors to keep pursuing marijuana cases even in light of complications that followed the legalization of hemp.

Talarico, Paxton’s Democratic opponent for the Senate race, said in an interview with The Breakfast Club that keeping marijuana illegal while also moving to restrict hemp THC products is an “insane” form of “corruption.”

“Think about what industries are most worried about THC products being readily available: Big Beer, Big Tobacco, right? And so they were the ones pushing this THC ban because it hurts their bottom line,” he said. “And a lot of research shows that THC—cannabis—these products are safer and less addictive than than beer or tobacco.”

“And so to me, this is a prime example of what corruption looks like when you’ve got big industries buying politicians and pushing bills that harm people, but benefit them financially,” Talarico said.

Marijuana Moment reached out to Paxton’s campaign for comment but did not receive a response.

The Texas Democratic Party recently called out Paxton for refusing to answer a question about cannabis policy after he was recently shown in a video posted to X being asked what his thoughts are on the “state’s THC ban.”

“I don’t know the details of it, but let’s talk later,” he replied before quickly stepping away.

Democrats pounced on Paxton’s inability to answer the cannabis question, saying in a press release that he appeared to be “in a panic” when being pressed about the “incredibly unpopular” THC ban before proceeding to “run away” from the questioner.

“Ken Paxton is a coward who runs from questions because he has no answers for his wildly unpopular positions,” Texas Democratic Party Spokesperson Ryan Martin said. “Paxton knows Texans hate this THC ban he has pushed onto people with his nanny-state agenda.”

Talarico, meanwhile, isn’t the only Texas Democrat running this cycle who has attempted to link his Republican opponent’s support for cannabis restrictions to campaign contributions from sellers of other, legal drugs.

A recent press release from the campaign of Vikki Goodwin, the Democratic nominee for Texas lieutenant governor, calls out “pharmaceutical and alcohol industry donations” to support incumbent Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R), who has championed legislation to recriminalize many hemp products.

Goodwin recently held a “Legalize It” rally in Houston and endorsed a local measure on that city’s November ballot to make misdemeanor marijuana possession the “lowest possible enforcement priority” and ban no-knock warrants.

A press release from Goodwin’s team cited a poll from last year showing that a strong bipartisan majority of Texans support legalizing or decriminalizing marijuana.

Last month, Goodwin separately claimed that Patrick pushed to ban hemp THC products in order to benefit alcohol companies, which happen to be among his substantial campaign contributors.

“We’ve seen the lieutenant governor take hundreds of thousands of dollars from the alcohol industry, and that’s what drove the policy around the ban on THC,” she said. “I am in favor of treating THC like alcohol. A part of my healthcare plan is taxing THC like we do alcohol and cigarettes and use that for healthcare.”

Similarly, the Bexar County Democratic Party said in a recent post on Facebook that hemp represents a “multi-billion dollar industry with over 14K small business owners and more than 50K employees.”

“And the Texas Republicans just wiped them out,” it said. “Why? Could it be because Dan Patrick received $275K in donations from beer distributors and alcohol PACs?”

While the bill that Patrick, who oversees the state Senate, favored was ultimately vetoed by Gov. Greg Abbott (R), the governor then issued an executive order on the issue and regulators have since enacted significant restrictions on derivatives from the crop.

A judge last month declined hemp companies’ request to impose a temporary restraining order on the THC crackdown while the overall litigation is considered.

The Texas Democratic Party has also noted that podcaster Joe Rogan, who lives in and operates a comedy club in Austin, has suggested that taking anti-cannabis actions is a political risk for Republicans.

“They’ve done the THC thing,” he said. “Here’s what Texas doesn’t understand. You will fuck this place up and you will turn the whole thing blue.”

“Kids will turn on you if you tell them they can’t smoke weed,” Rogan said. “They know weed’s not killing anybody.”

Image element courtesy of Gage Skidmore.

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