Defend Texas Liberty PAC names new president after leader met with Nick Fuentes

Oct. 17, 2023

"Defend Texas Liberty PAC names new president after leader met with white supremacist Nick Fuentes" was first published by The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans — and engages with them — about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.

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Former Rep. Jonathan Stickland’s name has been removed from the website of Defend Texas Liberty, a political action committee and major donor to top Texas Republicans, where he served as president.

Defend Texas Liberty's website now lists Luke Macias, who previously served as the group's director, as its president. Neither Macias nor Stickland could be reached for comment Tuesday evening.

[Influential Texas activist Jonathan Stickland hosted white supremacist Nick Fuentes at office near Fort Worth]

The change to Defend Texas Liberty’s website follows more than a week of outrage after The Texas Tribune reported that Nick Fuentes, an avowed white supremacist and Adolf Hitler admirer, had spent nearly 7 hours at the offices of a consulting firm, Pale Horse Strategies, that is also owned by Stickland.

Defend Texas Liberty is a major donor to Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, Attorney General Ken Paxton as well as other influential Republicans. The group is funded almost entirely by two West Texas oil tycoons, Tim Dunn and Farris Wilks, and was a key defender of Paxton during his impeachment trial this summer. Defend Texas Liberty gave $3 million in loans and donations to Patrick months before he presided over Paxton’s acquittal on all impeachment trials in front of the Texas Senate.

[Here’s who gets money from Defend Texas Liberty, the PAC whose leader met with white supremacist Nick Fuentes]

This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at https://www.texastribune.org/2023/10/17/jonathan-stickland-defend-texas-liberty-nick-fuentes/.

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