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AUSTIN Texas Republicans arent devouring their own as much as they used to, but in a Tarrant County House fight and two other GOP contests in legislative districts that reach the fringes of Dallas-Fort Worth, there are big philosophical splits.

And big moneys sloshing.

The past months expenditures in a Hurst-Euless-Bedford Republican House primary surpassed a quarter-million dollars. That was small potatoes, though, according to campaign finance reports published Tuesday on the Texas Ethics Commissions website.

In a GOP fight for the open House seat in District 60, which stretches from Granbury nearly to Abilene, the two biggest spenders including the son-in-law of fracking billionaire Farris Wilks burnt more than a half-million dollars between Jan. 24 and Sunday.

Make it nearly $850,000 for the three Republican contenders in District 59, which rambles from Glen Rose to Brady in West Texas.

Led by self-funded, staunchly conservative Stephenville businessman Cody Johnson, the two other primary candidates are center-right incumbent GOP Rep. J.D. Sheffield of Gatesville and Stephenville lawyer Shelby Slawson.

For GOP, a mostly calm cycle

With second-term Republican Gov. Greg Abbott playing a larger role, and GOP leaders still chastened by the Democrats dozen-seat gain in the House in 2018, the 2020 primary lacks the all-out brawling that characterized the height of Republican rule in Austin.

Its gone out of vogue to challenge Republicans in primaries in a significant way, said University of Houston political scientist Brandon Rottinghaus. That said, there are points here where youve got some significant money from the conservative interests.

Most of the decisive action in this years crucial battle for the Texas House wont come until the fall. The 2020 election will determine whether Republicans get to maximize their gains from next years redrawing of political maps for the third consecutive decade.

Seizure of a House majority by Democrats especially would impair a GOP bid to wring more Republican seats in the U.S. House out of the states next congressional map. That has national implications, and partisan groups from outside Texas are prepping for the November contests in Texas.

In the run-up to Tuesdays primary, Gov. Greg Abbott also is flexing his political muscles in House races. He and some long-standing, GOP-leaning political action committees intervened after Speaker Dennis Bonnen became ensnared in a scandal last year that forced him to announce he will leave the chamber after 14 terms.

This years Republican House primaries have been relatively quiet, especially after tea party-style insurgents spent nearly a decade trying to topple moderate conservative Joe Straus, the former speaker of the House. He stepped down after the 2018 elections.

Freedom Caucus toeholds

Two open-seat GOP contests, though, are spirited, high-dollar affairs. One is for outgoing, staunchly conservative Bedford Rep. Jonathan Sticklands seat in District 92; the other is a battle to replace retiring Granbury Rep. Mike Lang in District 60.

Jeff Cason, who is Sticklands choice to succeed him, spent $120,000, while former Bedford Mayor Jim Griffin spent $113,000. Associated Republicans of Texas, which in recent cycles often has not flinched from backing incumbents under fire from the tea party, gave Griffin nearly $115,000 $90,000 in TV ads and mail pieces, and $25,000 in cash. Taylor Gillig of Arlington, the third Republican in the race, spent about $10,000 in the period.

In the race to succeed Lang who was, like Stickland, a charter member of the Texas Freedom Caucus that strongly criticized Straus for being too moderate Cisco oilman Wilks gave $150,000 to Jon Francis, his son-in-law. Francis is the favorite of the party-purifying group Empower Texans, which says Republican centrists have sold out true conservatives.

In the period, Francis spent more than $372,000, while Graford veterinarian Glenn Rogers spent almost $158,000. Former Gov. Rick Perry is supporting Rogers. Two other GOP hopefuls, Kellye SoRelle and Christopher Perricone, are running shoestring campaigns.

Trying to topple an incumbent

Even bigger sums are being poured into staunch conservatives latest challenge to Sheffield, who was a Straus ally and represents District 59. Over the period, Sheffield raised about $200,000 and spent nearly a quarter-million.

That paled against the tide of money unleashed by Johnson, his biggest-spending opponent. Owner of a country music venue, Johnson has put more than $1.1 million into his campaign. Between Jan. 24 and Sunday, he spent $501,000. Slawson, the third Republican in the race, emptied her coffers, shelling out $110,000.

The 92% recipient

Tuesdays money reports showed that in District 106 in Denton County, conservative activist and donor Darlene Pendery of Flower Mound is largely bankrolling freshman Frisco GOP Rep. Jared Pattersons challenger Harold J. Trombley.

Pendery has given Trombley $127,500 or 92% of the more than $138,000 hes raised throughout his campaign.

Patterson, whos raised more than $350,000 for his reelection, outspent Trombley during the latest period, $109,000 to $73,000. Patterson is also flusher, with almost $153,000 of cash as of Sunday, compared with Trombleys balance of about $20,500.

Abbott steps in

After the scandal over a secretly recorded Capitol conversation with an Empower Texans leader brought down Bonnen, Abbott has sought to defend House members of his party, a role the chambers speakers usually play, according to Rottinghaus.

Greg Abbott has circled the wagons and has made it known he will be the one wholl do the culling in these primaries, he said. He is the pack leader, and the message is, everyone else can step aside.

During the reporting period, Abbott shelled out about $250,000 to help 10 Republican House candidates in contested primaries, mostly for digital ads.

Patterson received $32,000 of help from the governor. Retired Navy fighter pilot Jake Ellzey of Midlothian, whos in a three-way GOP race for the Ellis County-Henderson County seat of retiring Waxahachie Rep. John Wray, got nearly $43,000.

And Lewisville school board member Kronda Thimesch, Abbott's favorite in a two-way primary for the right to try to unseat Carrollton Democratic Rep. Michelle Beckley, received almost $20,000 from Abbott. Carrollton-Farmers Branch school board president Nancy Cline is the other Republican contending in Denton Countys District 65.

In a 15-second ad Abbott began running on Facebook on Feb. 18, the GOP governor sits beside Thimesch and says hes proud to endorse her.

Generally, though not in every instance, tracking Abbotts efforts was Associated Republicans of Texas, the group founded by the late Sen. John Tower more than 40 years ago. It gave GOP House hopefuls almost $225,000 in the period. Texans for Lawsuit Reform, a group that successfully undercut trial lawyers political clout, gave House hopefuls of both parties just over $322,000.

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Millions being spent in remaining Texas House GOP primary battles between tea partiers and moderates - The Dallas Morning News