Daily Signal Pulls the Mask Off TLR
A new investigation from The Daily Signal looks beyond TLR’s traditional lawsuit-reform message and examines a much broader political record—a record that is the driving force of what we do at RATLR, which includes TLR’s millions of dollars to Democrats, opposition to legislation championed by Texas conservatives, involvement in contentious Republican primaries, and support for political figures on the opposite side of some of the biggest fights in Texas politics.
The report raises a basic question RATLR has been asking Texas Republicans: Does TLR’s political record match the image it has cultivated?
According to one Texas legislator quoted by The Daily Signal:
“TLR’s record speaks louder than its rhetoric.”
The details documented in the article explain why that question is increasingly being asked.
More Than $6.3 Million to Democrats
RATLR has talked extensively about the millions of dollars TLR has given to Democrats, which is just the tip of the TLR iceberg.
According to Texas Ethics Commission records reviewed by The Daily Signal, Texans for Lawsuit Reform has contributed more than $6.3 million to 144 Democratic candidates and committees since 2000.
The report says that makes TLR the eighth-largest donor to Democrats in Texas during that period and the third-largest donor to Democratic candidates for the Texas Legislature.
Some of those contributions went to Democratic lawmakers who have been involved in high-profile fights with Texas Republicans.
TLR has given state Sen. Carol Alvarado more than $300,000 since 2008, according to the report. Alvarado is infamous for conducting a 15-hour filibuster against Republican-backed election integrity legislation and participated in a 2018 protest where demonstrators called for abolishing ICE.
TLR also contributed to Former State House Rep. Jasmine Crockett’s 2020 Texas House campaign.
And the organization gave money to Democrat Jarvis Johnson after he cast the sole Texas House vote against HB 2908, legislation that increased penalties for serious attacks against police officers and judges.
But perhaps one of the clearest examples came in Senate District 27.
TLR Helped a Democrat Win a Competitive State Senate Race
In 2022, Democrat Morgan LaMantia faced Republican Adam Hinojosa in the only competitive Texas Senate race.
TLR contributed $115,000 to LaMantia, making TLR her largest donor.
LaMantia won the election by just 659 votes.
Former Republican Party of Texas general counsel Rachel Hooper summarized her criticism of TLR this way:
“It talks like a conservative group. Its checkbook does not.”
But campaign contributions are only part of what The Daily Signal uncovered.
Opposition to the Texas Bathroom Bill
In 2017, Texas Republicans were fighting over legislation that would have required restrooms in public schools and government buildings to correspond with biological sex as listed on a person’s birth certificate.
Two members of TLR’s board—Jeff Shellebarger and Marc Watts—were also serving as chairman and vice chairman of the Greater Houston Partnership.
They signed a letter urging Gov. Greg Abbott not to sign the legislation, arguing that it risked damaging Texas’ reputation and economic growth.
TLR Opposed Texas’ Ban on COVID Vaccine Mandates
The COVID era provides another example.
In 2021, Marc Watts a TLR board member, again acting through the Greater Houston Partnership, signed a communication encouraging Houston-area businesses to promote masking and social distancing and to consider requiring employees to receive COVID-19 vaccinations.
Then, in 2023, the Daily Signal claims TLR itself joined a coalition opposing Senate Bill 7.
SB 7 prohibited private employers in Texas from requiring employees and contractors to receive a COVID-19 vaccine.
For Texas conservatives who spent years fighting vaccine mandates and arguing that Texans should not have to choose between their jobs and a COVID vaccination, TLR’s opposition to SB 7 is an important part of its record.
TLR’s President Previously Opposed a Ban on Sharia Law
The Daily Signal report reaches even further back.
In 2011, Lee Parsley—now TLR’s president and general counsel—argued against a proposed Texas constitutional amendment designed to prevent Texas courts from applying foreign religious or cultural law in ways inconsistent with constitutional protections.
Again, the significance is not simply one position on one bill.
It is the pattern documented throughout the Daily Signal report: on a number of issues outside traditional tort reform, those associated with TLR have taken positions that have placed them on the opposite side of prominent Texas conservative initiatives.
More Than $3 Million Against Ken Paxton
Of course TLR likes to talk about all the money they have given to Republicans. But that isn’t a get out of jail free card.
In the 2022 Republican primary for attorney general, TLR spent more than $3 million supporting Eva Guzman, who challenged incumbent Attorney General Ken Paxton.
Eva Guzman failed to make the runoff, and Paxton survived the primary.
During Paxton’s 2023 impeachment, Paxton and his allies accused TLR of working behind the scenes to support his removal.
Before the Senate impeachment trial, TLR publicly argued that senators should not acquit Paxton before hearing the evidence.
After Paxton was acquitted, TLR continued supporting Republican candidates opposed by Paxton and his allies.
TLR Versus Conservative Primary Challengers
In 2024, TLR contributed to three incumbent judges on the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals who were being challenged after rulings that drew criticism from Paxton and conservative activists.
All three incumbents lost their Republican primaries after President Donald Trump endorsed their challengers.
TLR also supported Republican House incumbents Jill Dutton and Lynn Stucky against challengers Brent Money and Andy Hopper.
Money and Hopper both won.
Rep. Brent Money told The Daily Signal that TLR had spent years “picking the wrong fights” and had burned political capital through its battles with Paxton and unsuccessful primary endorsements.
This Is Bigger Than Millions to Democrats
The headline number is eye-catching:
$6.3 million to Democrats.
But focusing only on that number misses much of what makes the Daily Signal investigation significant.
The report documents a much broader record:
- TLR contributed to Democrats such as Carol Alvarado, Jasmine Crockett, and Morgan LaMantia.
- TLR was the largest donor to a Democrat running against a Republican in a competitive State Senate race.
- TLR board members opposed legislation concerning women’s privacy.
- A TLR board member encouraged businesses to consider employee COVID vaccination requirements.
- TLR itself opposed Texas legislation prohibiting employer COVID vaccine mandates.
- Its current President previously opposed a constitutional amendment banning Sharia Law in Texas courts.
- TLR spent millions opposing Ken Paxton in a Republican primary.
- TLR backed Republican incumbents against candidates supported by Paxton and Trump.
Any one of those decisions can be debated individually. TLR has described itself as bipartisan and has long argued that its political involvement is driven principally by its civil-justice and economic agenda rather than partisan loyalty.
But taken together, The Daily Signal presents Texans with a much fuller picture of TLR than its lawsuit-reform branding alone provides.
For Republicans evaluating the organizations that seek influence within their party and Legislature, that broader record is worth examining.