Trial lawyers, once a force for Democrats, reclaim political clout in Texas GOP’s MAGA wing

When Armin Mizani won the GOP primary for a north Texas House district in March, warning bells went off in certain Republican circles.

It’s not his political ideology. Mizani is a die-hard conservative who, as mayor of Keller, proudly partnered with federal immigration officials, denounced Sharia law, and slashed property taxes.

It’s his profession: Mizani is a personal injury lawyer, a career path once so closely intertwined with Democratic politics that both were pushed to the sidelines when Republicans gained control in Texas in the early 2000s.

But now, a quarter century later, some trial lawyers are reclaiming their political relevance by aligning with Republicans. The Texas Trial Lawyers Association, once the de facto war chest of the Texas Democratic Party, sponsored the state GOP convention. Wealthy personal injury lawyers are throwing cash behind conservative candidates, including Attorney General Ken Paxton’s Senate bid.

And trial lawyers themselves are running as Republicans on their record representing “average Texans against powerful insurance companies,” as Mizani said at a candidate forum. “America First Republicans care more about how policy impacts everyday Texans than about corporate profits and special interests,” he added.

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Hidden from view of the average Texas voter, this realignment is the result of a complete upheaval of the power base within the Texas GOP. The traditional, business-first Republicans who rose to power by sharply restricting personal injury suits have been supplanted by a MAGA wing that scorns “corporate welfare,” crusades against Big Tech, and is open to the idea that Texas’ legal system has gotten too friendly to big business over the little guy.

Last legislative session, Texans for Lawsuit Reform, the longtime capitol kingmaker responsible for creating Texas’ business-friendly legal environment, saw its efforts to further restrict lawsuits fail for the first time in decades. And now they’re watching, aghast, as Republicans up and down the ballot rake in cash from trial lawyers.

“For decades, TLR would blame every problem on trial lawyers in Texas,” said Adam Loewy, a personal injury lawyer and social media political commentator who has recently begun donating heavily to GOP candidates. “The Republican grassroots, they don’t believe that shit anymore. And that’s very different from 25 years ago.”

“Own goals”

In the 1970s and 80s, Texas was the “Wild West of lawsuits,” where plaintiffs’ lawyers routinely won massive judgments on behalf of injured clients. The companies who were forced to pay up saw this as a runaway system of jackpot justice. And they loathed the wealthy, flamboyant trial lawyers who bankrolled the Democratic politicians running the state.

Things came to a head in 1987, after legendary Texas trial lawyer Joe Jamail won the largest civil verdict in U.S. history — $10.5 billion against Texaco. The “King of Torts,” as Jamail was known, then bragged in front of the 60 Minutes cameras about his donations to the Texas Supreme Court, in a segment that exposed Texas’ brand of civil justice to the masses.

“That was an own goal,” said Guy Choate, a San Angelo attorney who led the Texas Trial Lawyers Association in 2005. “The GOP really attached onto that and was able to win a bunch of Supreme Court seats out of it.”

Amid the public outrage, a new group entered the scene — Texans for Lawsuit Reform, promising to put guardrails on the state’s overrun civil justice system.

“They came in with a big bang, because they gave unprecedented amounts of money to Republican candidates, which previously hadn’t been done,” said Bill Miller, a lobbyist and political consultant who worked with TLR in the early days. “They played big, and they found a lot of success.”

After TLR’s millions helped Republicans capture the Texas House in 2003, legislators returned the favor. They enacted the nation’s most sweeping tort reform policy, sharply limiting medical malpractice payouts and reining in what they saw as frivolous lawsuits against corporations. GOP lawmakers cut taxes and regulations and passed more laws reinforcing Texas’ business-friendly legal environment, helping usher in the boundless economic growth the party promoted as the “Texas Miracle.” TLR became the clearinghouse for tens of millions of dollars in political donations from business leaders eager to support aligned candidates.

Trial lawyers, meanwhile, were in the political wilderness, painted as craven scammers who exploited the legal system to line their own pockets. When now-Gov. Greg Abbott ran for attorney general in 2002, he hammered his Democratic opponent, Kirk Watson, for being a “plaintiff personal injury trial lawyer.”