It’s Texas. When folks here talk about the billionaires controlling the state, they ate mainly talking about our pair of Christian nationalist West Texas billionaires, Tim Dunn and Farris Wilks. There are others mucking about with state politics, but Wilks & Dunn are the heavy hitters by far.

Y’All-itics - "We're gonna go so far to the right that we're wrong."

“[Y’All-itics] The first part of the question is, what kind of changes would you like to see inside the GOP today?

[Texas Rep. Glenn Rogers (R)] Well, there needs to be more recognition of who's in control. And how they're controlling our party. I read something last week, a survey that showed that only 20% of Republicans have ever heard of Tim Dunn or Farris Wilks. So there's a lot of lack of information about who's really in control.“

ProPublica - A Pair of Billionaire Preachers Built the Most Powerful Political Machine in Texas. That’s Just the Start.

“They control Republican politics in the state.”

Texas Monthly - The Power Issue: Tim Dunn Is Pushing the Republican Party Into the Arms of God (December 2018)

“It was then that [Tim Dunn] formed Empower Texans, giving his director Sullivan a clear directive: ‘I don’t want you to get a seat at the table. I want you to get rid of the table.’”

Texas Observer - Hard-Right Megadonors Tim Dunn and Farris Wilks Pump Millions into GOP Primary

“For more than a decade, the two West Texas oil and gas moguls have used their fortunes to finance an ideological crusade to oust the torchbearers of the party establishment and install champions of their far-right, theocratic agenda.”

Texas Monthly - The Billionaire Bully Who Wants to Turn Texas Into a Christian Theocracy (4 min intro video | Article)

“The state’s most powerful figure, Tim Dunn, isn’t an elected official. But behind the scenes, the West Texas oilman is lavishly financing what he regards as a holy war against public education, renewable energy, and non-Christians.”

“Dunn is up-front about his desire to use politics to pave the way for a ‘New Earth,’ in which Jesus Christ and his believers will live together.”

“According to Straus insiders, Dunn told him that only Christians should hold leadership positions.”

Texas Rep. James Talarico - "Two billionaires are trying to take over our Texas State Government" (1:00)

“This is bigger than party. This is bigger than partisanship. Texas is too big and too great to be sold to the highest bidder. We cannot allow two billionaires to transform our beloved state into a theocracy.

We have to stop them.”

Texas Monthly - This Democrat Is Back in the Texas Lege After 40 Years. He Can’t Believe How Bad Things Are.

“You’ve got now megabillionaires in this state. We always had wealthy people, but nothing like these guys, all of whom have think tanks and foundations and lobbyists, and they’re all over the place and they’re keeping scorecards on the Republicans, which really—what’s the right word?—intimidates the Republicans from voting freely in the interests of their districts—and they will admit that off the record—because they don’t want to be targeted by these guys. I’m talking about [Midland oilman Tim] Dunn, these Wilks brothers, all those guys. We never had anything like that in those days.“

Mineral Wells Area News - Glenn Rogers Pens Response to Election Loss

“History will prove that our current state government is the most corrupt ever and is ‘bought’ by a few radical dominionist billionaires seeking to destroy public education, privatize our public schools and create a Theocracy that is both un-American and un-Texan.

May God Save Texas!”