Sen. Joe Manchin (D–W. Va) the chair of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee will travel to Texas on Friday to attend a fundraiser hosted by several wealthy GOP donors.
“We invite you to join us for a special evening supporting our friend, US Senator Joe Manchin,” the invitation’s cover letter obtained by The Texas Tribune reads. The letter went on to call Manchin “a longtime friend since his days as Governor of West Virginia.”
Among the hosts for the event are oil billionaires like Jeff Hildebrand, who cofounded the energy company Hilcorp and Richard Kinder, cofounder of Kinder Morgan, an energy infrastructure company. The former Houston Mayor and Democratic party 2010 nominee for governor, Bill White is also on the host committee for the event, according to the Texas Tribune.
The group traditionally donates to Republicans including Donald Trump, the Republican Party of Texas, the Republican National Committee, Gov. Greg Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and House Speaker Dade Phelan.
They sometimes make donations to moderate Democrats or those on committees overseeing the energy sector including U.S. Rep. Lizzie Pannill Fletcher (D-TX-7th District) who serves on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, former U.S. Sens. Max Baucus of Montana and Mary Landrieu of Louisiana and former U.S. Rep. Dan Lipinksi, of Illinois, the Tribune noted.
Organizers for the event encouraged the more than 150 guests expected to attend to donate $5,800 to Manchin’s reelection campaign and $5,000 to his leadership PAC.
“We basically are just getting some people together to show our support,” Darren Blanton, a Republican donor who planned to attend the event told the Tribune. “It’s just people that respect and support him.”
This comes as Texas House Democrats left the state earlier this week to stymie a Republican-backed restrictive voting bill that limits access to the vote. The Texas reps are in D.C. meeting with Democrats, encouraging them to reform the filibuster to pass voting rights legislation.
Manchin is one of two Democratic senators, along with Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, who have proven to be obstacles to passing voting rights legislation through the U.S. Senate due to their opposition to eliminating or changing the filibuster, which requires 60 senators to support a bill for it to become law.
