Super PACs connected to President Donald Trump, Elon Musk and the artificial intelligence developer Anthropic are pumping money into Alex Mealer’s race for Texas’ ninth congressional seat, the Houston district Republicans redrew last year to help boost their U.S. House numbers.
Over the past two weeks, Defending our Values, which is part of a political network supported by Anthropic, spent just over $258,000 on digital ads supporting Mealer, while the Trump-aligned No Going Back super PAC spent more than $543,000 on a combination of text messaging, mail and advertising, according to filings with the Federal Election Commission. Musk’s America PAC also spent more than $110,000 in the race during that time.
A poll by the University of Houston released released this month showed Mealer, an Army veteran and former oil and gas investment banker, with only a six-percentage-point lead over Democrat Leticia Gutierrez. Mealer has been heavily favored to win the district, which was long held by U.S. Rep. Al Green before the redistricting, which pulled in GOP voters from eastern Harris County and Liberty County. The Cook Political Report still has the race rated as “likely” Republican.
Mealer’s and Gutierrez’s campaigns did not immediately respond to a request for comment. On her campaign website, Gutierrez criticizes Mealer for taking money from “national special interests” and “a super PAC backed by companies building data centers all over Texas.”
“They know she will prioritize their profits over hardworking families in our community,” the website reads.
Just a week from Election Day, polling and early voting data suggest Republicans could face a tougher-than-normal night, as some voters appear to be souring on Trump. In Texas, seats in South and West Texas once considered sure bets for the GOP are now being forecast as competitive.