Outside PACs push more than $100,000 into El Paso mayoral election

EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) -- There's no law or ordinance that limits how much donors can give to a municipal campaign in El Paso. And in 2024, our area is seeing political action committees, or PACs, investing their resources in the Borderland - even though they're based hundreds of miles away.

As ABC-7 has reported, the race for El Paso mayor is tipping the scales at more than $1 million dollars raised and spent so far in 2024. At this time four years ago, mayoral candidates had spent about half as much.

That's due in no small part to the fundraising and spending of some PACs on behalf of - and in opposition to - two campaigns in particular this year.

A set of mailed campaign fliers were sent out last week by the Protect and Serve Texas PAC supporting El Paso businessman Renard Johnson and attacking Dist. 1 City Rep. Brian Kennedy.

ABC-7's research confirmed the PAC is not affiliated with local police or sheriff's unions. It's an Austin-based PAC that advocates policies that support law enforcement.

Their mailer is part of a nearly $150,000 spend in the last month, according to campaign finance reports. UTEP associate professor and chair of the Department of Communications Dr. Richard Pineda says PACs are not unheard of in El Paso races in general. But they are usually single-purpose, such as bonds or ballot measures - and spend a fraction of what's being seen this year.

"But this is an escalation in that area in terms of the amount of money, you know, being contributed to the mayoral race from these PACs. I think it's interesting. I mean, we're certainly seeing the movement of how PACs operate, very differently, contemporarily across all American politics. But the reason it's significant in these local and regional races is because it brings in an outside influence."