Katy ISD trustees Rebecca Fox and Dawn Champagne won their races Saturday against two PAC-backed challengers in the district's school board elections.

Fox and Champagne serve in Position 6 and Position 7 on the board, respectively. Fox collected 57 percent of the votes tallied to Donovan Campbell’s 43 percent. Champagne finished with 56 percent to David Olson’s 44 percent.

Fox was first elected to the board in 2004 and served until 2019, then was elected again in 2021. Champagne assumed her position on the board in 2021.

Fox and Champagne faced a somewhat bumpy road  in their races, facing criticism rom conservatives for voting against a policy that requires teachers to out students or notify their parents when students asked to go by different pronouns.

Several community members said campaign mailers and misinformation were circulating throughout the campaign that referred to Champagne and Fox as liberals.

School board races are non-partisan and historically generate lower turnout. However, due to the growing number of school districts seeing political action committees getting involved in these elections, more community members are paying attention and coming out to cast their votes.

The presence of PACS in Katy ISD elections started roughly two years ago, when then-board candidate Victor Perez, who currently serves as board president, was endorsed by several conservative groups.

This trend continued the following year when the Harris County Republican Party endorsed trustees Mary Ellen Cuzela, Morgan Calhoun, and Amy Thieme. Texans for Educational Freedom, a conservative political action committee, also sent out flyers accusing their opponents of being far left.

Reports indicated that Campbell and Olson were backed by several political action committees, including the 1776 Project PAC, a New York-based conservative pro-voucher, anti-LGBTQ+ group that is against what it calls indoctrination in the classroom and for parental rights in public schools.


However, Campbell and Olson denied involvement with the PAC despite both candidates' names on the list of endorsements on the group’s website. Olson said he was not working with or raising money in conjunction with the group. He noted that as a candidate, he has no say in who supports his campaign.

Campbell echoed Olson’s claim, saying he was also not actively working with any PAC. Yet he added that he received money — $5,000 — from With Honor PAC, a veteran-run, veteran-founded political action committee. Last year, he donated $5,000 to the same PAC. He currently serves on the group's advisory board.

Campbell and Olson's campaigns received endorsements from the True Texas Project PAC, a part of the Defend Texas Liberty Network — a group mostly financially supported by oil billionaire Tim Dunn. American Principles Project PAC and conservative talk show host Michel Berry also backed Campbell. Berry targeted and spread misinformation about the race on Campbell's behalf.

Fox and Champagne received support from eight former Katy ISD trustees, who wrote an endorsement letter encouraging voters to reelect the two board members and condemning their opponents’ camps infusion of politics into what was supposed to be a non-partisan race.