Texas is once again the epicenter of real estate political spending, with new federal filings showing the National Association of Realtors’ Political Action Committee is directing more candidate contributions and independent spending to the state than anywhere else ahead of the 2026 cycle.
The filing, filed with the Federal Election Commission in mid-March 2026 and covering activities from early 2025 to late February 2026, includes spending details from the Realtors Political Action Committee and separate reports on independent spending. These outline spending across candidate contributions, political advertising, party committee funding, and fund transfers within NAR’s extensive political network.
Inman has reached out to the National Association of Realtors for comment and will update this article if they respond.
Texas leads in candidate funding, but at modest levels
The filing covers activity from early 2025 to late February 2026, and shows more than 2,000 transactions totaling approximately $10 million in expenditures. But only a small portion of that total went directly to federal candidates.
Instead, the data reveals a hierarchical political spending approach that includes candidate contributions, party committee support, transfers between PACs, and internal organizational spending.
Of the total, approximately $1.27 million was directed to election committees associated with individual candidates. Within that subset, Texas received the most funding, with approximately $147,000 in contributions, more than any other state in the dataset. California and North Carolina followed with $126,000 and $76,000, respectively.
Among the largest individual recipients were Republican Mark Harris (North Carolina, $13,000), Republican Matthew Van Epps (Tennessee, $10,000) and Democrat Joe Courtney (Connecticut, $6,000). A long list of candidates received $5,000 donations, including Texas Republicans Roger Williams, Randy Webber and Dan Crenshaw, and Democrat Henry Cuellar.
NAR is responsible for both sides and its own network
In addition to candidates, the NAR directed significant funds to national party committees on both sides of the aisle.
The Republican National Committee received about $210,000, and the National Republican Congressional Committee, National Republican Senatorial Committee, Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, and Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee each received about $150,000. Groups affiliated with the Democratic National Committee received about $210,000 in total donations.
The filings also show widespread activity within the real estate agent political network itself, with money flowing to state-level real estate agent PACs. RPACs in Maryland, South Carolina, and Indiana were among the largest recipients.
Advertising costs linked to NAR are accumulating in Texas as well.
Independent spending is money that is not given directly to a campaign but is used for advertising and messaging about a candidate. In this spending, NAR-backed dollars also went primarily to Texas, according to the filing.
Texas candidates alone spent more than $360,000 in independent spending, highlighting the state’s importance to the housing policy debate. In this dataset, Texas accounted for the largest share of independent spending.
The bulk of that spending, about $288,000, went to John Cornyn, the senior senator from Texas. This level of concentration is notable among major industry collaboration efforts. All of the identified expenditures were directed toward supporting Mr. Cornyn, and none were directed toward him.
For example, NAR’s PAC is connected to approximately $216,000 in digital ad spending supporting Cornyn on February 11, 2026, with Bridge Impact LLC of Bethesda, Maryland, listed as the recipient. Another expenditure of approximately $71,100 for online video production was paid to Mies Media Group in Washington, DC.
Mr. Cornyn has long been a central figure in Washington, D.C., on issues related to tax policy and financial regulation, areas in which real estate organizations have historically invested heavily in advocacy. He is currently in the spotlight in the Republican primary runoff against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.
Low stakes, big swings in House elections
While Senate races account for most of the total independent spending, the filings also show smaller, targeted NAR-backed advertising and related spending across several Texas House races, including those for Tony Gonzalez (R), Dan Crenshaw (R), Julie Johnson (D), and Henry Cuellar (D).
The spending is aimed at both Republicans and Democrats, reflecting a strategy consistent with how real estate groups have historically engaged with lawmakers on both sides of the aisle on housing policy.
According to federal filings, NAR’s PAC directed advertising dollars to support both Gonzalez and Crenshaw, with Gonzalez receiving about $40,000 and Crenshaw receiving just over $13,000. Spending in this dataset did not go against either candidate.
NAR’s PAC spent about $10,500 supporting Mr. Johnson and just over $10,000 supporting Mr. Cuéllar, but there were no expenditures in this data set against either candidate. This underscores the group’s bipartisan approach to supporting legislators in alignment with their policy priorities.
In both cases, the spending coincided with competitive primaries across Texas congressional districts. Gonzalez admitted to having an affair with a staffer, withdrew from the Republican primary runoff and ended his re-election bid. Crenshaw was defeated in the Republican primary by hardline Texas congressman Steve Toth.
Julie Johnson will face former Congressman Colin Allred in the Democratic primary runoff after neither candidate secured a majority in the first round.
In Texas’ 28th Congressional District, Mr. Cuéllar easily fended off his primary challenger and secured renomination to the South Texas border seat he has represented for many years. Mr. Cuellar’s political standing has been shaped by high-profile legal issues. He was indicted during the Biden administration on charges that he and his wife took about $600,000 in bribes from an Azerbaijan-linked energy company and a Mexican bank. He was later granted an unconditional pardon by President Trump.
Money is flowing to Texas, but the ground is shifting.
The concentration of NAR-supported spending in Texas likely reflects the state’s increasing role in housing policy discussions, including tax incentives, housing supply, and access to mortgage loans. As population growth shifts economic and political influence to the Sunbelt, Texas lawmakers play a key role in shaping these debates.
For real estate professionals, the implications extend beyond campaign finance. NAR’s political spending has long focused on policies that directly impact agents, brokers, and homeowners. The stakes heading into the 2026 midterm elections may be higher than usual, as many of these issues face new scrutiny following the association’s recent committee-related legal challenges.
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