Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has centered his campaign for the U.S. Senate around a fierce warning that Chinese interests are infiltrating the state’s land market, but new findings suggest his own coffers have been bolstered by individuals tied to those very investments. A review of campaign finance records by Hearst Newspapers reveals that Paxton accepted roughly 40,000 dollars from donors associated with firms that facilitate the kind of Chinese real estate ventures he frequently denounces in public appearances and expensive television advertisements.
The contributions are largely linked to Wan Bridge, a U.S. based real estate developer that actively recruits foreign investors for housing projects in Dallas, Houston, and Austin. Co founder Ting Qiao contributed nearly 30,000 dollars to Paxton and his affiliated political action committees, while another co founder and chief operations officer, Danting Li, provided over 10,000 dollars. Both executives previously held high ranking positions at Modern Land, a Chinese development firm known to house a branch of the Chinese Communist Party. Additionally, John Chiang, an executive at a partner firm that contracts with Wan Bridge and other entities connected to the Chinese government, contributed 3,000 dollars this cycle after supporting Paxton in previous races.
This financial trail stands in stark contrast to the aggressive rhetoric fueling Paxton’s bid for office. His Lone Star Liberty PAC recently spent millions on advertising campaigns accusing his Democratic opponent, James Talarico, of being pro China and facilitating the sale of Texas soil to communist interests. In these ads and on the campaign trail, Paxton has positioned himself as a bulwark against foreign threats, citing his history of suing companies aligned with Beijing to protect Texan landowners from overseas influence.
When questioned about the contradiction between his fundraising and his platform, a spokesperson for Paxton declined to address the specific donations directly. Instead, the campaign doubled down on its attacks against Talarico, asserting that the attorney general has spent over a decade fighting the Chinese Communist Party’s reach in Texas. While the amount raised from these specific sources represents only a fraction of Paxton’s total war chest, critics argue it undermines his central narrative regarding national security and foreign ownership within the state.