Major right-wing funders bankroll the GOP gerrymandering guru responsible for engineering new Texas maps to lock up MAGA control of the U.S. House of Representatives, an examination of tax filings by the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) shows.
On Sunday, dozens of State House Democrats left Texas in order to prevent the passage of the new gerrymandered map designed to make sure Republicans win another five congressional seats in the 2026 midterms and can hold on to their slim majority in the chamber. President Trump has pressured GOP state representatives in the Lonestar State to take the unusual step of redrawing Texas’ congressional map midway between the standard U.S. Census-driven timeframe of every 10 years as part of a wider effort to prevent Democrats from retaking the House in 2026.
The day before Democratic lawmakers fled the state, the controversial new district map passed in committee along party lines, 12 to 6. Although the redistricting bill was sponsored by Representative Todd Hunter (R–32), it was Senator Phil King (R–10) who told the Dallas News that Adam Kincaid drew the new congressional map. On July 30, Texas Senate Democrats attempted to subpoena the conservative mapmaker to testify about his role, but Senate Republicans blocked the effort.
Kincaid also led the Republicans’ overhaul of the state’s congressional district map just four years ago, in 2021. He is both executive director of the National Republican Redistricting Trust (NRRT), the GOP’s leading redistricting organization, and president of three right-wing gerrymandering groups: Fair Lines America (FLA), American Redistricting Project (ARP, formerly Fair Lines America Foundation), and Fair Lines Action. All four of Kincaid’s groups work to advance voting district maps throughout the country that benefit the Republican Party. Although the mapmaker is from Virginia, he is not new to working in Texas. In April 2019, FLA and NRRT hosted an event in the posh Hunters Creek Village just outside of Houston on “the threats and opportunities redistricting presents,” CMD reported.
In 2018, former NRRT senior adviser Guy Harrison told Politico that Kincaid “is a chief authority on redistricting within our party, and he has the experience and expertise to meet the Democrat litigation juggernaut head on.”
Both Hunter and King know Kincaid well through the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), where he has led multiple panels and trainings on gerrymandering. At ALEC’s 2019 States and Nation Policy Summit, King — a longtime ALEC board member — and Kincaid taught ALEC lawmakers how to “de-mystify” gerrymandering for the public, CMD reported.
Who Funds Kincaid’s Gerrymandering Operation?
None of Kincaid’s groups — including the trust — are required to disclose their donors, so the source of much of their revenue remains hidden.
However, through an analysis of hundreds of IRS filings, CMD has been able to identify the sources of $21.5 million in funding to Kincaid’s groups between 2017 and 2024.
The only identifiable contribution to NRRT is $1 million in 2017 from the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, one of the largest and most influential lobbying organizations in the U.S.
CMD is able to account for $5.6 million (2020–23) in donations from five groups to FLA, which represents 93% of its total revenue over those four years. FLA’s top contributor is the American Action Network (AAN), which funneled $4.2 million (2020–23) into its operation. The Republican-aligned group calls itself an “action tank” and runs issue advocacy campaigns to promote Republican priorities in Congress, including a $5-million campaign launched in July to spin passage of Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill Act as “the largest tax cut to working families ever” and a promise kept to “strengthen our border to keep our communities safe.”
AAN’s president is Chris Winkelman, who also serves as president of its sister organization, the Congressional Leadership Fund, which is primarily responsible for fundraising to elect Republicans to Congress. Winkelman was executive director of the National Republican Congressional Committee for the 2024 election cycle.
Christian right activist Leonard Leo’s Concord Fund is the second largest known donor to FLA, giving $1.3 million (2020–22).
CMD also identified donations of $150,000 (2020, 2022) from Ending Spending; $28,000 (2020) from the Republican Governors Public Policy Committee; and $1,000 (2020) from the Nespola Charitable Foundation (2022).
CMD identified 17 contributors to ARP that collectively funneled $14.9 million to Kincaid’s group between 2018 and 2024. ARP disclosed $14.7 million (2018–23) in revenue, but its 2024 IRS filing is not publicly available. In 2020, CMD filed a complaint with the IRS after the group underreported its revenue for 2018.
The top four largest sources of cash donations to ARP are DonorsTrust ($5.7 million); Donor Advised Charitable Giving ($3.1 million); Schwab Charitable Fund ($2 million); and National Philanthropic Trust ($1.8 million). These organizations are all donor advised funds, utilized by individuals or groups wanting to hide their contributions.
The two largest identifiable donors to ARP are the John William Pope Foundation and the Bradley Foundation. Pope has given $1 million (2018–23) and Bradley has added $650,000 (2019–21, 2023–24). Both of these foundations are led by ARP’s treasurer and GOP megadonor Art Pope.
Pope founded and chairs the John William Pope Foundation and served as chairman of the Bradley Foundation between 2017 and 2022. He still holds a seat on Bradley’s board.
CMD first reported Pope’s role in leading funding for the 2021 GOP gerrymander operation across the country and also demonstrated his integral role in supporting the party’s national gerrymandering efforts in 2011.
Fair Lines Action’s 2023 IRS filing isn’t publicly available. In 2022, the group filed a 990-N signaling it raised less than $50,000 that year. CMD was only able to identify a single contribution of $15,000 (2020) from New York Apartment Association to this Kincaid group.
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