Senate Primary Donations Shows Texas Real Estate Split

28 February 2026

Texas real estate heavyweights have been chipping in for what’s become the most expensive U.S. Senate primary in U.S. history.

Candidates have spent more than $110 million in the race to unseat Republican incumbent Sen. John Cornyn; of that, more than half a million is from the state’s industry titans.

While a handful of real estate folks have donated to Democratic candidate James Talarico who’s running against U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett — including Trammell Crow’s grandson George Billingsley — the biggest names (and biggest spenders) have directed their efforts to the Republican race.

In the choice between Cornyn, an establishment Republican, and his main challenger Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a self-proclaimed “MAGA warrior,” Texas real estate is split.

Lucy Billingsley, daughter of developer Trammell Crow, donated $32,000 to Cornyn’s cause; Hillwood Development Chairman Ross Perot Jr. gave him $3,500 last March. In the Paxton camp, friends and developers Mehrdad Moayedi and Rex Glendenning have supported the Attorney General with several donations of $7,000 apiece.

The heated race has gotten personal. Cornyn’s latest attack ad accuses “Crooked” Ken Paxton of cheating on his wife with a married mother of seven, citing adultery accusations from his estranged wife Angela Paxton, a State Senator who filed for divorce in 2025 on “biblical grounds.” The allegations surfaced during his 2023 impeachment trial.

Paxton’s daughter Mattie Hayworth had to step in; she wrote an opinion piece for Texas Scorecard, a conservative news site, and appeared in an ad to defend her father.

“A lot of people may call him General Paxton, Ken Paxton, but our kids call him pop-pop,” she said.

Meanwhile, President Trump has so far been uncharacteristically quiet: “I like all of them, all three,” he said in February.

The third GOP hopeful is Houston Congressman Wesley Hunt, currently a distant third in polling and fundraising. The primary election is March 3.

Dallas weighs $1B City Hall reno

The results are in: a long-awaited report from the Dallas Economic Development Corporation pegs the cost to restore the I.M. Pei-designed Dallas City Hall at over $1 billion — a big jump from the estimation provided by City Manager Kim Bizor Tolbert in November. Her office put repair costs between $152 million and $345 million. The new number provided ammunition to advocates of ditching the building altogether. After all, some say it’d be the perfect site for a new mixed-use arena-anchored district for the Dallas Mavericks.

Dallas firm offloads New Jersey warehouse for ICE use

Dalfen Industrial seems unfazed by the increased scrutiny on industrial operators for their real estate transactions with ICE. The firm, in a joint venture with Goldman Sachs, sold a 470,000-square-foot building at 1879 Route 46 in Roxbury, New Jersey to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to be used as a migrant detention center. The New York Times reported the Roxbury site could add roughly 1,500 beds to New Jersey’s immigration detention system. In Dallas, the public pressure was enough for California-based Majestic Realty to change course amid reports that it was selling a Hutchins warehouse to the feds for a detention center. Majestic canceled the deal.

Keller Williams loses another team to Real Brokerage

It’s the second time this year that a Keller Williams team from Texas has jumped ship to join Miami-based Real Brokerage. The Garcia Group, based in the Woodlands, joined Real after three years at Keller Williams. The five-agent team started by Haley Garcia said in a release that it annually completes about $200 million in sales. The first defector was the Houston Properties Team. Real poached the 17-member team founded by Paige and Bob Martin in January.