TX-SD03: Texas Senate candidate (R) says "no strings attached" to $2 million donation from businessman
LUFKIN — In what appears to be one of the largest donations in a Texas legislative primary race this election cycle, a first-time candidate running for state Senate received nearly $2 million from a conservative East Texas businessman with a background in technology hardware.
James Moyer, a Sabine County resident, has almost single-handedly funded Rhonda Ward’s campaign for the state Senate seat that represents East Texas cities such as Nacogdoches, Orange, and Palestine.
The seat was long held by Sen. Robert Nichols, a Jacksonville Republican who announced his retirement last June. State Rep. Trent Ashby, a Lufkin Republican who worked closely with Nichols in Austin and who is Nichols’ preferred successor, announced his intentions to run for the seat on the same day.
Moyer’s donations through the end of 2025 transformed Ward, a novice politician with middling financial support, into a candidate with enough buying power to compete against a seasoned lawmaker.
https://www.texastribune.org/2026/02/20/rhonda-ward-trent-ashby-east-texas-senate-election/