Denton Races’ latest financial reports show more contributions from developers

Denton City Council candidates filed their final campaign reports for the 2024 municipal election last week, revealing thousands of dollars in donations from developers, contributions to support each other and a push to place more development-friendly candidates on the council.

Two candidates — Jill Jester and Brandon Chase McGee, both of whom won the election — filed their July 26 reports late. Two other candidates ignored filing their reports altogether. The state requires candidates to file financial reports periodically during their campaign: in January if they are in office, then 30 days and eight days before the May election, and then in July.

“I’m sorry I missed this and it was definitely unintentional!” Jester wrote in a July 30 email to the Denton Record-Chronicle.

In addition to showing the need to complete the “primary occupation/job title” and “employer” sections for their contributors, the campaign reports also highlight how much money goes to support municipal races.

Total campaign contributions to the seven candidates running for mayor and two at-large seats were just over $258,000, while total expenditures reached $240,870.

Denton does not have an ordinance limiting campaign contributions, as Austin has had for nearly 30 years.

In Austin, no mayoral or city council candidate, nor his or her campaign committee, may accept campaign contributions of more than $300 per contributor per election from any person except the candidate himself or herself and small-donor political committees. Limits contributions to $30,000 per election and $20,000 in a runoff election from sources other than persons eligible to vote in a ZIP code that is wholly or partially within Austin city limits.

In 1997, a majority of Austin voters (72%) approved a charter amendment to limit individual and political action committee contributions to $100, while limiting contributions from non-Austin candidates to $15,000 each “to show developers and other special interests that the city is not for sale,” according to the Austin Chronicle.

In 2006, Austin voters approved an update to the rules to keep pace with inflation. They have made several updates since then, Austin city spokesman David Ochsner said Thursday.

“The most compelling reason voters should support him, I think, is that this is the biggest opportunity, maybe the last for a couple of years, to do something pretty drastic about campaign finance, big money in politics,” Linda Curtis, a member of Austinites for a Little Less Corruption, told the Chronicle in 1997.

Below is a breakdown of Denton’s 2024 municipal election campaign reports and the individuals and PACs that contributed to the races:

Mayor

Mayor Gerard Hudspeth is no stranger to accepting contributions from developers, and his third and final term was no different.

For the 2024 campaign, Hudspeth reported a total of $67,890 in political contributions and $30,313 in political expenditures.

Hudspeth received $14,750 from various political action committees, including the Texas Realtors PAC, the Apartment Association of Greater Dallas and the Dallas Builders Association’s HOMEPAC.

As previously reported, Hudspeth received $4,000 from several executives at Hillwood, a Dallas development firm planning a 6,000-home project in an area where two master-planned communities could yield 15,000 homes. It is expected to bring $860 million to the city over the life of the project. The Hillwood development was approved as a tax district in April 2020 by a majority of the council that included Hudspeth, a council member at the time.

This election cycle, Hudspeth’s largest contributions (more than $1,500) were $2,500 from Kent Key of Key Custom Homes; $2,000 from Dallas developer Henry Billingsley; and $3,000 from Kirk Wilson of T. Wilson Associates, a consulting service for developers, builders and landowners.

Wilson was recently working on a multi-family zoning change for a rural residential project near Corbin Road. It was postponed indefinitely last week, according to an email sent Friday by city staff.

“As far as Hillwood is concerned, it is a large corporation, and I would ask that they NOT arbitrarily assume and link an individual donor to a corporation just to fit a narrative (they are NOT a union or an organized organization),” Hudspeth told the Record-Chronicle last week.

“Individuals are that and can support whoever they want without it becoming something it is not.”

The Denton County Republican Lincoln Cabinet PAC donated $500 to Hudspeth’s campaign, according to financial reports.

In his final campaign report, Hudspeth reported that he had total political contributions totaling $39,035 as of the last day of the reporting period.

Hudspeth’s opponent, Stephen Dillenberg, did not file a campaign report for the 2024 municipal election.

A third mayoral candidate, Lucas Wedgeworth, filed only reports for 30 days and eight days before the election, showing no contributions or expenditures.

Place 6

With the resignation of board member Chris Watts, the race for the Place 6 seat featured two newcomers: Jester, a real estate attorney, and Lilyan Prado Carrillo, a professional speaker and facilitator and former bilingual specialist in Denton ISD.

Jester recorded a total of $52,366 in political contributions and $95,193 in political expenditures. He took out $84,000 in loans to finance his campaign, according to financial reports.

“The amount I spent was quite a bit, but it was close to what I had been told to spend to prepare for a general election race in Denton,” Jester said in an email Thursday. “In my first race, I relied on the advice and opinions of others on how to run a successful campaign.”

In its latest report, Jester showed no sustained political contributions.

This election season, some of the largest contributions Jester received included $2,500 from Scott Brown of Scott Brown Properties and $2,000 from One-Way Street Investments.

The largest donation from an individual was $10,000. It was from his mother, who has lived in Denton since the 1960s, Jester said.

Like Garland and Hudspeth, Jester also received $1,500 from the Greater Dallas Apartment Association PAC, as well as $2,500 from the Greater Denton/Wise County Association of Realtors PAC.

“I had a Zoom call with AAGCD members and answered every question honestly, including that apartments are an important part of Denton’s housing inventory along with other property types, as long as they are in the appropriate apartment footprints,” Jester wrote in the email.

“I will return any donation before allowing any person or group to try to pressure me in a council vote.”

Prado Carrillo reported $23,655 in total political contributions and $26,331 in expenses.

No political contributions were found in his latest report.

For the 2024 campaign season, Prado Carrillo did not accept money from non-local developers, but did receive $7,000 from a New York-based PAC called Leadership for Educational Equity, a network of more than 5,000 educators dedicated to ending educational inequity.

Place 5

In the closest race of the 2024 municipal election, incumbent Brandon Chase McGee, who won by fewer than 100 votes, faced Erica Garland, who was determined to unseat him with the help of two council members.

Then-Councilmembers Watts and Hudspeth spent $4,564 and $9,514, respectively, on Garland’s campaign, according to financial reports.

The Denton County Republican Lincoln Cabinet PAC contributed $6,000.

For the 2024 campaign season, Garland reported a total of $78,476 in political contributions and $56,510 in expenditures. The total political contributions listed in his late July report was $6,926, leaving $15,040 in unaccounted contributions.

In an email sent Thursday afternoon, Garland told the Record-Chronicle that there was a date error on her final campaign report. She plans to file a correction, as other council candidates have done during this election season, including her opponent. She said she had estimated she had raised only between $30,000 and $40,000.

Garland reported receiving $45,021 for the reporting period from April 3 to May 4, according to the July 23 report.

“The reporting period is incorrect and should only reflect contributions and expenditures within that reporting period, not totals for all campaign reporting periods as stated in the final report,” Garland wrote in the email.

As for big contributions this campaign season, Garland reported $5,000 from Kent Key of Key Custom Homes, $2,000 from Eric Schmitz of Schmitz Realty Group, $2,350 from Brad Andrus of Axis Realty Group and $4,000 total from Greg Johnson, a former board member and founder of SVN Verus Commercial, and his spouse.

Non-local developers included Paul Evans of the Dallas Builders Association and Henry Billinglsey of Billinglsey Co., each contributing $2,000.

Both the Texas Realtors PAC and the Apartment Association of Greater Dallas donated $8,000 in total.

McGee did not report receiving money from PACs, but did show contributions from fellow council members Brian Beck ($297), Paul Meltzer ($495) and Vicki Byrd ($99).

This campaign season, McGee said he accepted the developers’ money because local campaigns are expensive. Outside of his council duties, he is a truck driver, a blue-collar career that pays well but not enough to fund a campaign, he said.

McGee’s largest contributions came from non-local developers, including $5,000 from Old Prosper Partners LLC; $5,000 total from Terrance and Jon Jobe of Alluvium Development; and $4,860 from those associated with T. Wilson Associates, according to the Jan. 16 financial report.

In total, McGee raised $35,816 in campaign contributions and spent $32,523. According to the July 30 financial report, McGee was withholding $662, indicating that $2,631 was missing.

In an email sent Saturday, McGee offered to share his bank statements, writing: “I’m guessing this could be an accounting error. I’m going to have my accountant look into it.”