Local Insights Data as of Feb 14, 2026 · Texas Ethics Commission + Harris County Clerk
Investigation

Follow the Money to See Who Really Runs Houston

An interactive map of Commissioner Rodney Ellis's political contributions and campaign fund investments — from the Texas Ethics Commission's own records.

The Man
Rodney Ellis has held elected office in Texas for over three decades
From the Texas Senate (1990-2016) to Harris County Commissioners Court (2017-present), Ellis has been one of the most durable power brokers in Houston politics. But his influence extends far beyond his own office. It flows through money.
The Money
$1,746,550
disbursed to 339 recipients across 730 transactions
Personal contributions. Campaign fund expenditures. Loans to candidates. PAC donations. All of it flows through publicly filed records at the Texas Ethics Commission and the Harris County Clerk — if you know where to look.
The Reach
His money doesn't stop at the county line — it crosses state lines
Mayoral races in Atlanta, St. Louis, and Baton Rouge. Congressional campaigns in California and Maryland. A donation to Kamala Harris in 2019. A contribution to Yusef Salaam's New York City Council race. Ellis operates a national political network from a county office in Houston.
The Question
Every dollar below is real, every record is public
This is not an accusation. These contributions are legal and disclosed as required by Texas law. But transparency without accessibility is meaningless. The data was buried across thousands of scanned pages in county filings and a 960MB state database. We extracted it, connected it, and made it searchable — so you can decide what it means.

Key Findings

Four patterns that emerged from 26 years of financial records

Top Recipient
$555,250
Texas Organizing Project
11 transactions across personal contributions, campaign funds, and PAC donations. TOP is a progressive organizing group active in Harris County elections — and Ellis's single largest financial relationship.
Campaign Loans
$200,000
Hidalgo + Briones
$100K campaign loan to Lina Hidalgo (Harris County Judge) and $100K to Lesley Briones (Commissioner Pct 4). Both sit on the same Commissioners Court that controls a $5B+ county budget.
National Reach
10 States
Coast to Coast
From a county office in Houston: mayoral races in Atlanta, St. Louis, and Baton Rouge. Congressional campaigns in California, Nevada, and Maryland. A presidential campaign. City council in New York. Even a donation to Brazil.
Power Concentration
47%
To Organizations, Not Candidates
Nearly half of all spending goes to civic and political organizations — not individual campaigns. PACs, party committees, the NAACP, and the Texas Organizing Project receive more than all candidates combined.

The Network

Every node is a recipient of Ellis's money. Node size = total received. Color = recipient type. Drag to explore. Hover for detail.

PAC
Organization
Campaign
Party
Other
Ellis Political Contribution Network

Where the Money Goes

Geographic reach of Ellis's political spending. Each dot is a recipient — sized by total amount received. Most money stays in Houston, but the network stretches coast to coast.

Amount Received
Under $5K
$5K - $25K
$25K - $100K
$100K+

Money Over Time

Annual disbursements from Ellis's personal contributions and campaign fund, 2000-2026. Spikes align with major election cycles.

Annual Political Spending Timeline

By Recipient Type

Breakdown by recipient type — PACs, civic organizations, campaigns, political parties.

All Recipients

Every recipient of Ellis's personal contributions and campaign fund disbursements. Search by name, type, or office.

# ▼ Recipient ▼ Type ▼ Office / Role Txns ▼ Years ▼ Total ▼

Campaign Fund Investments

Ellis's campaign fund has been used to purchase stocks, mutual funds, and ETFs. Under Texas law, campaign funds can be invested — these transactions are publicly disclosed.

Portfolio Summary

Top Holdings

Stock / Fund Txns Total Invested

Harris County Filings

Ellis has filed 35 campaign finance reports with the Harris County Clerk totaling 4,226 pages (2016-2026). All 24 reports have been OCR-extracted, revealing 122 political expenditures totaling $714K — including $100K loans to Lina Hidalgo and Lesley Briones, $50K to Jolanda Jones, $20K to Darrell Jordan, $11K to Beto O'Rourke, $11K to Sheila Jackson Lee, and dozens more.

Remaining Data Gaps:
  • Harris County filings 2016-2019 OCR'd but some expenditure pages may have been missed due to OCR quality. 2020 supplemental reports (3 filings) still processing.
  • Houston City Secretary filings not included.
  • TEC electronic filings cover July 2000 onward. Earlier paper filings are excluded.
  • OCR quality on scanned PDFs is ~90% — some amounts or names may be misread.

Methodology & Sources

Data sources:

  • Texas Ethics Commission — Bulk CSV Database of all electronically filed campaign finance reports since July 2000. Downloaded Feb 14, 2026. Contributor records filtered for "Rodney Ellis" as contributor name. Personal contributions identified.
  • Texas Ethics Commission — Expenditure reports for Filer ID 00019940 (Ellis, Rodney G.). Political/civic disbursements extracted from campaign fund expenditure records. Stock investment transactions separated into portfolio section.
  • Harris County Clerk, Elections Department — Campaign finance report filings by Rodney Ellis at the county level (2016-2026). All 24 reports (2016-2026, 4,226 pages) downloaded and OCR-extracted using Tesseract. 122 political expenditures ($714K) identified and integrated, including $100K campaign loans to Lina Hidalgo and Lesley Briones, $11K to Sheila Jackson Lee (4 transactions), and donations reaching Atlanta, St. Louis, Baton Rouge, Los Angeles, New York City, and beyond.

Organization consolidation: Name variants for the same entity are merged (e.g., "Texas Organizing Project PAC" + "Texas Organizing Project Education Fund" + "TOP Political Action Committee" = one consolidated entry).

What this shows: All publicly disclosed financial relationships between Commissioner Rodney Ellis and recipients of his personal contributions and campaign fund disbursements. This dashboard presents factual financial relationships from public records. Contributions are legal and disclosed as required by Texas law.

What this does not show: Contributions do not imply coordination, control, or wrongdoing. Voting alignment and quid pro quo are not measured here. This is a transparency tool, not an accusation.

Limitations: Cash contributions under $50 may not appear in electronic filings. Paper-filed reports before 2000 are not included. All 24 Harris County reports (2016-2026) fully processed via OCR. Some recipients may appear under multiple name variations not yet consolidated.