CenterPoint’s two political action committees (PACs) contributed $2 million to Texas PACs and politicians between 2021 and 2026, with Republican candidates and PACs associated with Republican priorities receiving the lion’s share of funds, according to a review of political contribution filings by the Energy and Policy Institute.

The bulk of the political donations, totaling $1.35 million, went to three Republican PACs: Associated Republicans of Texas, #PROJECTREDTX and the Judicial Fairness PAC.  Two of the PACs focus on judicial political campaigns and support Republican candidates in the traditionally blue-leaning local elections of Texas communities near the Mexican border, which is outside of CenterPoint’s service territory. 

In contrast, Centerpoint’s PACs contributed only $127,848 to left-leaning PACS, most of which focus on minority caucuses in the state legislature, such as the Texas Legislative Black Caucus and the Mexican American Legislative Caucus. 

The disparity in donations to political parties appears again in CenterPoint’s PAC’s contributions to Republican and Democratic candidates. Republican candidates received a combined total of  $583,107 from CenterPoint’s political PACs while Democratic candidates clocked about $144,000. 

The donations come as utilities nationwide report record profits. CenterPoint Energy recorded $1.05 billion in profits in 2025, a 3% increase from 2024. Meanwhile, CenterPoint Energy CEO Jason P. Wells saw his total compensation rise 30% from $9,231,166 in 2024 to $12,092,341 in 2025. In 2024, CenterPoint Energy received approval to recover costs related to repairs from the Houston derecho, with the total repair costs equalling $450 million recovered in 15 years, adding $1 per month to the customer bills. In 2025, the Public Utilities Commission of Texas (PUCT) approved CenterPoint Energy’s $2.9 billion Systemwide Resilience Plan (SRP), which increases customer bills by $1 a year for the next three years. First-of-its-kind federal data showed that in 2024, Texas led the nation in most electric utility disconnections. The data does not break down disconnections on a utility-by-utility basis. Texas does not require its utilities to file disconnection data. 

The years 2023 and 2025 saw the biggest spikes in political spending from CenterPoint’s PACs in the five-year timeframe reviewed by EPI. In 2023, CenterPoint’s PAC’s political spending peaked at $878,136, driven largely by a surge in Republican-oriented political contributions, with the average donation equaling $14,883.  In 2021, the average contribution was only $2,422. The year 2023 was the first legislative session after the 2021 Winter Storm Uri, which saw a package of bills passed aimed at reforming the power grid. The Texas Legislature convenes every two years for 140 days.

2025 saw the second highest spike in political spending, also during the 89th Legislative Session and a year after Hurricane Beryl ripped through Houston, leaving 2.6 million Texans in the dark and without air conditioning for days during summer heat, triggering heavy legislative scrutiny on CenterPoint Energy’s actions during and after the hurricane. Centerpoint Energy PACs spent $764,349, driven mostly by a $500,000 donation to a Republican judicial PAC. 

Texas law prohibits corporations and labor organizations from directly contributing to political campaigns, but does allow corporations and those organizations to form political PACs that contribute instead. Employees can contribute part of their paycheck into these corporate PACs. Texas utilities are also prohibited from recovering any lobbying expenses or political and charitable contributions through cost-of-service rates. There are no contribution limits under Texas state law, unless it is a donation to a judge, judicial candidate, or specific-purpose political committee supporting or opposing a judge or judicial candidate. Local government restrictions could govern contribution spending as well. 

Three big PACs

The Republican Party holds a trifecta in the Texas executive branch and state Legislature. The three PACs with the most CenterPoint Energy PACs contribute to further Republican political goals. 

CenterPoint’s PACs contributed $2,500 to the Associated Republicans of Texas PAC in 2021, $500,000 in 2023, and $100,000 in 2025. 

The Associated Republicans of Texas PAC formed in 1974, according to its website, when Democrats held the majority of the executive and legislative branches. The PAC’s board of directors includes John L. Nau III, former CEO of Silver Eagle Distributors (Anheuser-Busch) who co-chairs the PAC with Sam Vinson, CEO of Digital Impact Outdoor. 

CenterPoint Energy PACs made a one-time distribution of $250,000 in 2023 to #PROJECTREDTX, a general purpose PAC trying to flip traditional Democrat strongholds in South Texas to Republican. The organizer, Wayne Hamilton, worked on the campaigns of  former Governor Rick Perry and current Governor Greg Abbott.  In 2024, a former Project Red TX employee, Cat Parks, told the Notus, the political non-profit newsroom, that the goal was to target potential Latino candidates in order to make inroads with the community for the Republican party.

“We had criteria that we were looking for. Our first choice was a Hispanic female. Our second choice was a Hispanic male, looking at surnames. The third choice was anyone willing to put their name on the ballot.”

The final hefty donation of $500,000 went to the Judicial Fairness PAC in 2025, which targets statewide judicial elections in order to place Republicans on the bench. The Texas Standard reported that Texas billionaires have poured money into the PAC. While the PAC advocates for Republican judges who are “hard on crime,” Cal Jillson, a political science professor at Southern Methodist University told the Texas Standard that it is likely its big donors are aiming for a business-friendly judiciary system in the state.

“Petty crime is not what they’re thinking about,” Jillson told the news outlet. “What they’re thinking about is a judiciary that will work with the Texas Legislature not to drive additional costs from regulation and legislation into their businesses so that more money drops straight to the bottom line.”

CenterPoint Energy PACs also donated a smaller amount, a combined total of $16,000, from 2021 to 2024 to a powerful Republican group affiliated with the Judicial Fairness PAC, Texans for Lawsuit Reform, which advocates for tort reform in the state Legislature in order to make it harder to sue businesses. The Houston Chronicle reported the group as the top spender so far in the 2026 state and legislative election battles. Other big contributors to the group in the past include Tesla and SpaceX founder and former head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) Elon Musk, who donated $1 million in 2024. Musk also donated $2 million in 2024 to the Judicial Fairness PAC. 

Other Republican or Republican-leaning PACs and political parties that received CenterPoint Energy PAC donations include:

• Texas Republican Party: $30,000
• Texas Republican Legislative Caucus: $25,000
• Senate Republican Caucus: $15,205.08
• Houston Regional Business Coalition: $32,000

When reached for comment on their political contributions to the three PACs, CenterPoint Energy sent back a statement.

“Like many organizations and companies across the country, CenterPoint Energy is proud to support a bi-partisan group of leaders who share our goal of building a more reliable, more resilient, and more affordable energy future for the nearly 2.9 million electric customers and nearly 2 million natural gas customers we are privileged to serve in Texas.”

Democratic-Leaning PACs

Between January 2021 and May 2026, CenterPoint Energy PACs donated a total of $271,848 to Democratic PACs, and candidates, according to an analysis of campaign finance data. Democratic or Democratic-leaning PACs received $127,849 from CenterPoint Energy PACs while Democratic candidates received $144,000. The majority of CenterPoint’s Democratic or Democratic-leaning PAC giving focused on minority Legislative Caucuses, with a much smaller amount going directly to the Harris County Democratic Party, which encompasses most of CenterPoint’s service territory.

CenterPoint PACs contributed a combined total of $45,350 to the Mexican American Legislative Caucus and $31,880 to the Texas Legislative Black Caucus. The Democratic or left-leaning PACs and political parties that received CenterPoint Energy PAC donations include:

• Legislative Study Group Caucus: $22,355.01 
• Texas Democratic Party: $15,000
• Texas Senate Democratic Caucus: $10,263.47
• Harris County Democratic Party: $2,500
• Climate / environment caucus: $500

Texas state candidates races

Republican candidates dominate CenterPoint Energy PAC’s political contributions, with Governor Greg Abbot receiving the highest combined total of $26,152.9. Other top notable Republican recipients include former Speaker of the House, Matthew “Dade” Phelan at $25,636.26 and Texas Railroad Commissioner Christi Craddick (R ) at $22,355. Representative Charles Schwertner (R), who sponsored SB 3 during the aftermath of the 2021 Winter Storm Uri to require power plants, pipelines and other utility infrastructure to winterize, received a combined total of $20,000. 

Another top recipient in the Legislature was Republican Senator Phil King, who received a combined total of $18,500 from CenterPoint’s PACs. King serves as Vice Chairman of the Business & Commerce Committee, which oversees electric utility policies. In 2024, the Texas Monthly reported that the utility Oncor paid King’s businesses $31 million while he wrote four bills benefiting the Texas transmission and distribution utility. Another notable recipient is Republican candidate from Tarrant County Leigh Wambsganss, who ran in the 2025 special election to replace Republican Senator Kelly Hancock in Senate District 9. 

Tarrant County is seen as a bellwether for conservative politics nationwide, and Wambsganss is a long-time local political operator well-versed in the culture wars over public libraries and school boards who received much of her funding from far right billionaire activists Tim Dunn and the Wilkes brothers, according to the Guardian. She lost to local union leader Taylor Rehmet. CenterPoint Energy PACs contributed $10,000 to her campaign in 2025, whereas Hancock, whom she ran to replace, received only a combined total of $7,500 from 2021 to 2024 from the utility. Rehmet and Wambsganss will face off again in the November 2026 general elections.

Meanwhile top Democratic recipients include Representative Ana Hernandez, who is the Vice Chair of the House Committee of State Affairs and Senator Judith Zaffrini, who is the Vice Chair of the Senate Committee on Natural Resources and sits on the Business & Commerce Committee. Hernandez and Zaffrini received a combined total of  $12,000 and $10,000 respectively from CenterPoint Energy PACs. 

The Houston Chronicle in 2024 reported that Schertner, King and Zaffrini were among several state lawmakers who visited or spent campaign funds on trips to CenterPoint’s private fishing retreat location, known as the Pond.