An El Paso grassroots organization opposed to Meta’s data center has spent almost $30,000 on mailers for three City Council races, without disclosing who is paying for the messages.
About half the money spent by Amanecer People’s Project went to mailers criticizing El Paso city Rep. Alejandra Chávez, who is seeking reelection to her District 1 seat, and supporting one of her opponents, Matthew Kozik. The election materials were paid for through Amanecer’s fiscal agent, Ground Game Texas, a nonprofit group that supports progressive candidates and causes across the state.
Ground Game Texas is based in Manchaca, a small Austin suburb. Chávez said she has concerns that the efforts attacking her are paid for by people from outside El Paso “meddling in our local election.”
“We don’t really know who’s funding this and what their motivation is, and I think that worries me the most,” Chávez said.
Ana Fuentes, Amanecer’s executive director, said the mailers for the City Council races were paid for by El Paso donors.
“Our funds have come from small dollar donations from over 500 El Pasoans who are concerned about Meta’s impact and want to see change in El Paso,” Fuentes said.
Amanecer does grassroots organizing around environmental and community issues, including neighborhood schools. It has opposed the data center being built by Meta Platforms in Northeast El Paso.
In 2023, Amanecer’s predecessor, Sunrise El Paso, proposed a “climate charter” that would have mandated a number of policies for the city government to mitigate the impacts of climate change. The proposal, known as Proposition K on the ballot for City Charter amendments, also directed the city government to explore municipal ownership of El Paso Electric.
Proposition K was overwhelmingly defeated in the May 2023 election after opponents spent more than $500,000 opposing the measure. Sunrise El Paso and Amanecer spent about $30,000 in support of Proposition K.
Ground Game Texas, the fiscal area for Amanecer, is what is known as a 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization. Unlike other nonprofit organizations, what are commonly called “C4” organizations can engage in political activity so long as elections are not the primary activity.
In Texas, such organizations have to disclose their expenditures in election races with either the Texas Ethics Commission or local governments, but are not required to disclose donors so long as election work doesn’t make up more than 49% of their total expenditures.
Because they’re not required to disclose the funding sources for their electioneering efforts, such groups are often referred to as “dark-money” organizations.
This week, Ground Game Texas disclosed with the Ethics Commission that it had spent $65,000 on local elections in multiple Texas communities between Sept. 25 and Oct. 24. It is the only election spending they’ve reported this year.
Ground Game Texas’ total expenditures for this year won’t be publicly available until late 2027 or early 2028 in a tax document known as a 990.
But its previous 990 filings indicate that its election expenditures this year would fall well below the 49% threshold that allows the nonprofit to withhold donor names from campaign finance reports. The most recent 990s show Ground Game Texas had $1 million in total expenditures in 2024 and $1.3 million in 2023.
The initial Ground Game Texas campaign expenditure report this year didn’t specify how much money was spent on individual races as required by state law.
After El Paso Matters questioned the discrepancy, Ground Game Texas filed an amended report that showed Amanecer had spent $15,478 to oppose Chávez and support Kozik in City Council District 1, $9,827 to support Jesse Moreno in District 6, and $4,568 to support incumbent city Rep. Chris Canales in District 8.
Another 501(c)(4) called Sun City Coalition has spent more than $127,000 on mailers in four City Council races, an unprecedented effort in El Paso municipal elections that dwarfs Amanecer’s spending.
Sun City Coalition is essentially on the opposite side of Amanecer when it comes to candidates. It has ties to supporters of the Meta data center, and hasn’t disclosed its donors, citing its nonprofit status.
About $41,000 of the group’s spending has been in support of Chávez, more than twice what Amanecer spent opposing her. It spent $37,000 on mailers attacking Canales, about eight times the spending of Amanecer to support him.
Chávez criticized both Amanecer and Sun City Coalition for their election involvement. She said Amanecer’s mailer made it seem like she was responsible for increases in electric and natural gas rates when she and other members of City Council opposed the rate requests.
“I voted to intervene in every single one of them, but the misinformation almost makes it seem like I’m the final decision maker that approved whatever utility rate was finally approved, and that’s not the way it goes,” she said.
Electric rates are set by the Public Utility Commission of Texas, and natural gas rates are set by the Texas Railroad Commission.
Fuentes, the executive director of Amanecer, said “we stand firmly behind our mailers.”
Chávez said she hasn’t received any feedback from constituents on the Amanecer attacks.
“I think people are really, really tired of negative rhetoric and slander and people trying to discredit other politicians,” she said.
Chávez also condemned the efforts by Sun City Coalition, even though they are supporting her.
“I want to disassociate myself from them because I have no idea where that’s coming from or who’s funding it. And honestly, some of the information there is also incorrect,” she said.
Canales, who has criticized Sun City Coalition for its lack of transparency, said “all political contributions should have to be publicly disclosed, regardless of who or what they support. People or organizations spending money to influence politics should be held to exactly the same standards of transparent reporting and accountability that candidates are.”
But he said there are important differences between Amanecer and Sun City Coalition.
“There’s a clear difference between grassroots organizations like Ground Game Texas or Amanecer People’s Project — who are long-established, don’t try to hide their leadership, and fundraise publicly — and entities like Sun City Coalition that form overnight, spend a bunch of dark money out of state, and then typically disappear,” Canales said.
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