Political ads · 2026 · TX

Texas House District 23 2026: the ads, and who's paying for them

Katy Padilla Stout won · 52.1% to 44.0% · Called by AP on Nov 4

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Brandon Herrera (Republican) and Katy Padilla Stout (Democrat) are the nominees for Texas's 23rd congressional district in the November 3, 2026 general election. By their latest FEC reports, Brandon Herrera's campaign had raised $3.1 million (through October 14, 2026) and Katy Padilla Stout's campaign $1.1 million (through October 14, 2026). Outside groups have reported $2.0 million for Brandon Herrera and $4.5 million against; $437,000 for Katy Padilla Stout and $1.5 million against.

Brandon Herrera (REP), Katy Padilla Stout (DEM). 6 others filed with the FEC; any ads they ran are below. 0 ads analyzed, 0 with at least one technique in the copy. Newest first. The paid-for-by line is the advertiser's own filing.

Voting in Austin? 10 local ballot measures → The ballot wording read for rhetorical techniques, and who is paying for and against each.

How to vote in Texas

From Texas's official election office. Each line links to the official page it came from.

Registration	Register by Mon, Oct 5 (30th day before Election Day, moved to the next business day. Mailed applications must be postmarked by the deadline. New registrations are on paper; online is only for updating an existing record.) (passed)Source: votetexas.gov ↗
Early voting in person	Mon, Oct 19 to Fri, Oct 30 (passed)Source: sos.state.tx.us ↗
By mail	Mail voting needs a reason the state accepts (Only these voters qualify: away from the county, sick or disabled, expecting to give birth within 3 weeks of Election Day, 65 or older, or confined in jail or involuntary civil commitment); request a ballot by Fri, Oct 23 (Must be received by this date; a postmark does not count); return it by Tue, Nov 3 (Received by 7 pm on Election Day, or postmarked by 7 pm on Election Day and received by 5 pm on Nov 4) (passed)Source: sos.state.tx.us ↗Source: votetexas.gov ↗
Election Day	Tue, Nov 3. Polls: 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. (passed)Source: votetexas.gov ↗
ID at the polls	One of 7 acceptable photo IDs. A voter who cannot reasonably get one may sign a Reasonable Impediment Declaration and show supporting ID instead.Source: votetexas.gov ↗

Check your registration and polling place ↗ Texas's official election site ↗

Checked October 6, 2026. Rules can change; confirm with the official site before you go.

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Money in this race

From FEC filings for 2025–26. Outside spending is money a group spends on its own about a candidate — TV and online ads, mail, canvassing. It is not a donation to the campaign, and the candidate does not control it. Supporting means it was spent to help that candidate win; Opposing means it was spent to defeat them, usually on attack ads. Groups report it within 24 or 48 hours as the election nears. Raised is the campaign's own fundraising, as of its latest quarterly report. Largest donors come from each outside spender's own FEC receipts, with each donor's share of its itemized receipts; donors under $100,000 are not named. People are shown with the employer and occupation they reported. A donor that is itself a political committee is shown with its own largest donors. Companies and nonprofits don't report their funders to the FEC, so the trail ends there, and the page says so.

Brandon Herrera (REP)

Raised: $3.1M through 2026-10-14 individuals $140K · PACs $131K · candidate's own money, incl. loans $520K · from the candidate's other committees $2.3M · cash on hand $319K
Outside spending: $4.5M opposing Herrera · $2.0M supporting Herrera · latest reported 2026-11-02
Largest outside spenders: HMP — $1.8M opposing Herrera Largest donors: HOUSE MAJORITY FORWARD $93.7M (39%) (an organization: its own funders aren't reported to the FEC); Reid G Hoffman $8.5M (4%), Greylock Partners, Partner; ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY FUND $5.0M (2%) (an organization: its own funders aren't reported to the FEC); Fred Eychaner $5.0M (2%), Retired; UNITED ASSOCIATION POLITICAL ISSUES FUND $4.8M (2%) (an organization: its own funders aren't reported to the FEC) READY FOR THE FIGHT — $1.3M opposing Herrera FREEDOM CAUCUS FUND — $940K supporting Herrera Largest donors: Michael T Rydin $8.8M (76%), Retired, Retired; HOUSE FREEDOM ACTION $350K (3%); KOMADA, ANNA $253K (2%); Steven Cowles $205K (2%), Retired, Retired; Steven W Corbett $200K (2%) INVEST IN TOMORROW COALITION PAC — $875K opposing Herrera Largest donors: Chris Larsen $6.0M (87%), Ripple Inc., Executive Chairman; Mark Mccall $200K (3%), Lime Rock NEW Energy, Managing Director; TRAJECTORY ENERGY HOLDINGS, LLC $100K (1%) (an organization: its own funders aren't reported to the FEC); SUMMIT RIDGE ENERGY LLC $100K (1%) (an organization: its own funders aren't reported to the FEC) NO GOING BACK PAC INC. — $843K supporting Herrera and 15 more

Bundled through PACs: $43K through 1 PAC · FEC bulk data of 2026-11-01 FREEDOM CAUCUS FUND — $43K from 23 gifts

17 PACs gave directly — alphabetical; the legal limit is $5,000 per election

BUCKEYE LIBERTY PAC $5,000
DEFEND FREEDOM PAC $2,000
ELECTING MAJORITY MAKING EFFECTIVE REPUBLICANS PAC $10K
EMMER FOR CONGRESS $4,000
ERIC BURLSON FOR CONGRESS $2,000
EVERY REPUBLICAN IS CRUCIAL (ERICPAC) $3,500
FIRST IN FREEDOM PAC $5,000
FREEDOM CAUCUS FUND $5,000
FREEDOM FIRST PAC $1,000
JIM JORDAN FOR CONGRESS $2,000
MARY MILLER FOR CONGRESS $1,000
NATHANIEL MORAN FOR CONGRESS $2,000
NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR GUN RIGHTS INC PAC $3,000
RAPTOR PAC $5,000
SCALISE FOR CONGRESS $2,000
TEXAS VALUES PAC $5,000
THE EYE OF THE TIGER PAC $5,000

All filings at the FEC ↗

Katy Padilla Stout (DEM)

Raised: $1.1M through 2026-10-14 individuals $1.0M · PACs $68K · candidate's own money, incl. loans $9,792 · from the candidate's other committees $19K · cash on hand $144K
Outside spending: $1.5M opposing Stout · $437K supporting Stout · latest reported 2026-11-02
Largest outside spenders: NO GOING BACK PAC INC. — $962K opposing Stout SOMOS PAC — $310K supporting Stout Largest donors: ELEVATE AMERICA $3.0M (52%) (an organization: its own funders aren't reported to the FEC); ADVOCACY ACTION FUND INC. $2.0M (35%) (an organization: its own funders aren't reported to the FEC); FORWARD ACTION FUND $468K (8%) (an organization: its own funders aren't reported to the FEC); WELLNESS ADVOCACY FUND $250K (4%) (an organization: its own funders aren't reported to the FEC) FREEDOM CAUCUS FUND — $301K opposing Stout Largest donors: Michael T Rydin $8.8M (76%), Retired, Retired; HOUSE FREEDOM ACTION $350K (3%); KOMADA, ANNA $253K (2%); Steven Cowles $205K (2%), Retired, Retired; Steven W Corbett $200K (2%) AMERICA PAC — $209K opposing Stout Largest donors: Elon Musk $50.3M (100%), Space Exploration Technologies Corp., CEO TEXAS ORGANIZING PROJECT POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE — $64K supporting Stout Largest donors: Steven C Phillips $340K (31%), Self-Employed, Attorney; Karla Jurvetson $320K (29%), Self-Employed, Physician and 9 more

Bundled through PACs: $16K through 2 PACs · FEC bulk data of 2026-11-01 EMILYS LIST — $11K from 21 gifts FAIR SHOT PAC — $4,500 from 2 gifts

8 PACs gave directly — alphabetical; the legal limit is $5,000 per election

BROTHERHOOD OF LOCOMOTIVE ENGINEERS AND TRAINMENT PAC $2,500
CHC BOLD PAC $5,000
EMILYS LIST $5,000
FAIR SHOT PAC $5,000
FIGHTING FOR SOUTH TEXAS PAC $1,000
GET OUT THE VOTE PAC $1,000
GIFFORDS PAC $1,000
MIDWEST REGION LABORERS POLITICAL LEAGUE $2,500

All filings at the FEC ↗

No campaign ads analyzed for this race yet.

What this page is

An ad is on this page because its own "Paid for by" line is a campaign in this race; or it comes from a national Senate group and ran mostly in TX; or it ran mostly in TX and names a candidate — unless its sponsor is a campaign for some other office. Ads from outside groups appear alongside the campaigns' own.
Campaigns run one text as many separate ads. Identical text from the same sponsor is one card here, marked with its number of variants.
A technique is a specific rhetorical move in the wording, found by our model and explained in one line. It is not a claim that the ad is false.
Claims are checked when a reader asks: press "Check this ad's claims" on a card. Running a check and seeing its verdicts are part of Semblen Pro, because each check costs money to run; anyone can see which claims an ad makes. The ten ads with the most money behind them in each race are checked ahead of time.
Claim verdicts say what the cited sources say. A verdict that an ad is wrong or misleading is shown only when it cites an established fact-checker or an institutional record — Congress, a federal agency, a court — and its confidence is not low; a weaker one is not shown at all. Each verdict shows what it rests on and how confident it is. If we got one wrong, press Disagree: a verdict that readers dispute and no one defends comes down.
Video ads come from the campaigns' own YouTube channels; the transcript is analyzed. Meta ads are analyzed on their text; their video and images are not, yet.