BRYAN, Texas (KBTX) – Brazos County voters head to the polls Tuesday in what may be the most expensive county-level primary election in local history, and the money tells a story of stark contrasts. That excludes breakneck spending by federal candidates for U.S. Senate and U.S. House, and state-level candidates for Governor, Lt. Governor, Attorney General and more. A half-dozen contentious county-level races may help set an overall spending record by candidates seeking to hold county office.
But not all offices, or even seats on the same court, are created equal. Nowhere is that gap more visible than in the race for Commissioners Court Precinct 2, where candidates have collectively raised and spent more than $250,000. Meanwhile, candidates in the Precinct 4 Democratic primary have spent little more than their filing fees.
County Judge Race
Both Kyle Kacal and Mike Southerland are familiar faces in Brazos Valley politics. Southerland spent more than a decade on Bryan’s City Council before attempting a run for mayor. Kacal served as a state representative before being appointed interim county judge last year, when longtime Judge Duane Peters took medical leave.
Kacal’s filings read like those of a political veteran. His campaign account was seeded with more than $7,500 transferred from his old state representative fund. Donors include State Sen. Charles Schwertner’s campaign, Bryan Mayor Bobby Gutierrez, and the now-defunct campaign of John Harvey Slocum, who lost the 2024 race for the statehouse seat Kacal vacated. Kacal’s nearly 50 donors accounted for just under $40,000 of fundraising.
Kacal’s largest spending was with New York-based FiDi Media, an ad firm that has long been popular with Republican candidates, as well as a catering bill for nearly $4,000 from Bryan-based Readfield Meats and Deli.
Southerland has outspent Kacal, with more than $27,500 in total expenditures during the campaign. Those expenses included more than $20,000 in advertising on KBTX and Bryan Broadcasting, more than $2,500 on text messaging services, and nearly $1,500 on custom challenge coins.
Southerland’s campaign is self-financed – relying solely on personal loans totaling nearly $28,000 as of February 23.
County Commissioner 2 Race
By far, the county’s most expensive election during this cycle is for a seat that has often served as a political hot potato since the death of Sammy Catalena in 2020. The county’s now-failed East Loop project intensified that tension last year. Current Commissioner Chuck Konderla chose not to seek a second term, and now three Republicans are competing for his seat, which pays $100,318.66 annually.
No Brazos County candidate has raised, or spent, more this election cycle than banker Jordan Januse, who has campaigned on his deep roots in Brazos County.
Januse’s expenses total more than $140,000, and include more than $60,000 to New York-based FiDi Media for advertising, nearly $22,000 in local political consulting from Farrell Gjesdal Strategy Group, and more than $11,000 in polling expenses to a Dallas-based research firm. In late January, Januse and his wife loaned the campaign an additional $50,000 with no maturity date, leaving the campaign with more than $21,000 in cash on hand as of Feb. 21.
Kyle Greenwood’s Brazos Roofs and Ranches/No East Loop committee made a splash at Brazos County’s Commissioners Court in 2025. Now a candidate, Greenwood has raised just under $80,000 in campaign contributions and advanced his campaign a $50,000 personal loan with a January 2027 maturity date. College Station resident Allison Henry, previously an outspoken online critic of the East Loop Project, leads donors to Greenwood’s campaign with a total of $16,185 in contributions this cycle.
Greenwood’s donations, however, require significant scrutiny for a person seeking an elected office responsible for administering budgets and following state law. As detailed in an 80-page campaign finance filing on Jan. 15, Greenwood reports taking donations from businesses, rather than individuals, which appears to violate the Texas Election Code. Circle X Land and Cattle, All Star Pest Control, Chem Dry Brazos County, Cornerstone Honeybees, JPeace Designs, Jumping World Bryan, On the Bit Farm, Pebble Creek Country Club, and Texas Truck Riggins are all listed as donating funds or in-kind services to Greenwood’s campaign. Texas Election Code prohibits many types of corporations from making direct political contributions and offers penalties for campaigns that accept improper donations.
Hours after KBTX reached out to Greenwood’s campaign for comment about the discrepancies, Greenwood updated his filings and issued a statement addressing two of those donations. In it, he said he “recently became aware of two in-kind contributions” that should not have been accepted under Texas campaign finance rules, and that the businesses were reimbursed in full. Greenwood said all transactions have been “properly filed and submitted on a correction/amendment affidavit.”
“I take full responsibility for this oversight and am committed to transparency, accountability, and full compliance,” Greenwood said. “I remain focused on running a campaign grounded in integrity and respect for the people of this community.”
Greenwood’s statement addressed two of the nine businesses listed in his original filing. Greenwood’s campaign held that the remaining seven were legal under the Texas Election Code.
Both the Texas Ethics Commission and the Brazos County District Attorney have standing policies not to comment on the existence or status of investigations, including those involving political candidates. When asked about any potential investigation in this case, the District Attorney’s office clarified that they would only be involved after law enforcement completed an investigation and submitted it for review.
Eight days out from the election, Greenwood reported his total cash on hand at $78,436.80, about $1,000 less than the campaign’s total fundraising to-date. Total campaign expenditures are just under $50,000, led by more than $10,000 to College Station’s Impact Group Marketing and nearly $8,000 to Bryan Broadcasting for advertising.
Former congressional staffer Jeff Murski ran the smallest campaign for the Precinct 2 seat, reporting raising just $14,883.25 as of Feb. 21, with $14,715.19 in expenses. The campaign’s Feb. 21 filing suggests contributions are overdrawn by $935.21. Murski’s largest cash outlays covered website development and advertising with Bryan Broadcasting and Facebook/Meta.
County Commissioner 4 GOP Race
Long a seat occupied by Democrats, two Republicans hope for the chance to unseat incumbent Wanda Watson in November’s general election. Peter Michelena and Andre Malone have both run minimal campaigns compared to their counterparts in Precinct 2.
Stranger still, both candidates filed campaign finance paperwork ending their campaign ahead of Election Day. Malone certified the end of his campaign contributions and expenses on his Jan. 15 report. Malone’s sole expense prior to that point was $1,370 from his personal funds paid to the Brazos County Republican Party: his filing fee, a Republican Party dinner ticket, and a precinct map.
Michelena filed this paperwork on both his Jan. 15 and Feb. 2 reports, before seemingly reopening his campaign without a treasurer, and in a possible violation of election law, in a report filed Feb. 23. Michelena collected five cash donations totaling $1,350, which covered mailers, political signs, and an ad buy with Bryan Broadcasting. Again, Michelena filed Form C/OH-FR a third time on Feb. 23, signaling the end to his collecting or spending money.
Missing a campaign finance filing is a serious offense punishable by a fine, but those often go uncollected by the state.
Just after KBTX reached out to Michelena’s campaign on Tuesday, he responded, saying he “found a mistake where I signed the incorrect box on one page.”
“I immediately contacted the Texas Ethics Commission and Brazos County Elections Administrator Trudy Hancock regarding this issue and how to correct it,” Michelena said. “I have since refiled the attached paperwork designating myself as the treasurer for my campaign. According to the Texas Ethics Commission and Trudy Hancock this corrects the problem.”
County Commissioner 4 DEM Race
Incumbent Wanda Watson and former Bryan Councilman Prentiss Madison are seeking a rematch to their 2022 showdown for the Precinct 4 County Commissioner chair, but their campaign finance filings don’t show much interest in the race. Neither has a mandatory 8-day out reporting available on BrazosVotes.org, and several other standard filings appear to be missing.
The incumbent Watson has filed just one campaign finance report during this term, dated for the Jan. 15 deadline, but listed as a report for July – December 2025. In it, Watson details contributions of nearly $1,600 and expenses of $1,279. A $1,000 loan from the candidate is also on the campaign’s books.
Watson’s sole 2025 expenses? A checking account fee and the Democratic Party’s filing fee for March’s election.
Challenger Prentiss Madison tells a similar story across two campaign finance filings: a Jan. 15 report and another filed 30 days before the election. Neither shows any political contributions, and the sole expense is the filing fee for the election.
District Clerk
Budget records show Brazos County’s District Clerk will earn $108,442.54 this fiscal year. It’s a position Gabriel Garcia has held since 2018, and a job he has consistently loaned himself money to retain.
Garcia’s most recent campaign finance filings, which detail his expenses up to 8 days out from the election, show his campaign has $90,900 in outstanding loans, all of which have been funded by Garcia since his 2018 campaign. Garcia’s most recent documented loans to the campaign, issued at the end of January and beginning of February, total $6,200 and mature at the end of 2027. Between them, they covered the cost of a February checking account fee to First Financial Bank and a $6,120 invoice for advertising invoice from Bryan Broadcasting.
Since early 2025, Garcia has loaned his campaign just shy of $13,000 to cover expenses. Garcia holds just over $332 in campaign funds, though he has received no campaign donations since before January 15, 2025.
Garcia faces two challengers, though the winner in this race may claim November’s election outright, as a Democrat has not stepped into the race for District Clerk. Brazos County bailiff Wayland Van Nest and longtime Texas A&M employee Rudy Schultz both hope to spoil Garcia’s return to office next year.
Schultz has, largely, self-funded his campaign, though at no point were those contributions treated as loans. Instead, all but $900 of $31,700 in campaign contributions raised by Schultz came from his own checking account. Through February 21, Schultz says his campaign has spent $31,414, including roughly $10,000 for signage, and more than $12,000 for advertising with KBTX, Bryan Broadcasting, and a mail marketing company based in Angleton, Texas.
Wayland Van Nest appointed his campaign treasurer, Bryan police Lieutenant and former Sheriff candidate Jason James, back in April 2025, and filed activity as early as last July. In that time, he collected $32,082.50 in campaign donations and offered his campaign a $4,000 personal loan with no maturity date.
Among the donors to Van Nest are many prominent Brazos County Republicans, including former Brazos County Sheriff Chris Kirk, current County Judge candidate and former State Rep. Kyle Kacal, and 10th Court of Appeals Judge Steve Smith. Many prominent Brazos County attorneys also appear among Van Nest’s list of donors. Major campaign expenses include more than $7,000 in signage from C.C. Creations, $13,500 to campaign strategy consulting from College Station-based Farrell Gjesdal Strategy Group (notes say this fee included ad buys and voter data), more than $8,000 in advertising with Bryan Broadcasting and more than $10,000 on direct mail advertising.
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