The person behind the name
Chris Gober’s public career has run through courtrooms and party headquarters rather than elected office: one of three lawyers on the Supreme Court brief for Senator Ted Cruz’s campaign, counsel to Elon Musk’s America PAC in 2024, and counsel in two rounds of Texas congressional redistricting, for 22 Republican legislators in 2021 and, on the Republican National Committee’s contract, for the Republican congressional delegation in 2025, he won the March 3, 2026 primary for the open Tenth District seat with 38,541 votes, 51.2 percent, and faces Democrat Caitlin Rourk on November 3, 2026. [20][26][7][14][13][2][38]
By his campaign biography, Gober is a seventh-generation Texan born and raised in Throckmorton and Graham, a member of Texas A&M’s Class of 2001, and a husband and father raising two daughters in Austin. The biography gives no birth year, and none is asserted here. [1]
Education and professional preparation
The biography his former firm published records a Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School and a Bachelor of Business Administration from Texas A&M University, with bar admissions in Texas and the District of Columbia and before the Supreme Court of the United States, the Fourth and Fifth Circuits, the federal district court for the District of Columbia and the four federal district courts of Texas. Degree years, admission dates and State Bar of Texas records were not part of this review; the admissions are the firm’s statements. [27]
Washington, then Austin
The same biography lists service as Counsel in the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Policy, where it says he worked on national security issues and the confirmations of Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito, as Deputy Counsel to the Republican National Committee and as General Counsel to the National Republican Senatorial Committee, responsible for the committee’s legal operations; it gives no dates and does not say in what order he held the posts. The Senate’s record dates the two confirmation votes to September 29, 2005 and January 31, 2006. The biography also says that before founding Gober Hilgers and its successor, The Gober Group, he headed the political-law section of an international law firm it does not name. The campaign biography compresses this into work on “national security and border security issues at the Justice Department before serving as a top lawyer for the Republican Party.” [27][36][1]
The nomination
Representative Michael McCaul announced on September 14, 2025, in his eleventh term, that he would not seek reelection. Gober entered a ten-candidate Republican primary, received President Trump’s endorsement on December 18, 2025, and on March 3, 2026 took 38,541 of 75,204 votes, 51.2 percent, enough to avoid a runoff. On November 3, 2026 he faces Democrat Caitlin Rourk, a former Army officer who most recently worked at Dell Technologies; she describes herself as “an Army veteran, problem solver in the private and public sector, and mom,” told KBTX that frustration with Congress drove her to run, and won her primary with 60.8 percent. [11][10][17][2][3][7][31][32][38]
A note on the firm names. Court dockets from 2014 list Gober Hilgers PLLC and The Gober Group PLLC; the Supreme Court brief of 2021 lists The Gober Group; The Texas Tribune reported in February 2026 that he now runs a firm called Lex Politica, founded after his America PAC work, and Fox News Digital described him as its chief executive in July 2025; the Lex Politica website carries no attorney biographies. The campaign’s figures for the business, $10,000 of starting savings, more than 50 employees in 17 states and three Aggie 100 listings, are the campaign’s own; the firm’s former home page claimed three consecutive Inc. 5000 listings; none of these was measured here. [23][20][7][35][29][28][1]
Life & public service
From a Texas A&M classroom to the Supreme Court’s docket and a redistricting courtroom in El Paso, the documented milestones show how his record was built.
Bush campaigns, Justice Department and party counsel
By the firm biography, a political operative on the 2000 and 2004 Bush campaigns and Counsel in the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Policy during the Roberts and Alito confirmations, which the Senate voted on September 29, 2005 and January 31, 2006; the biography also lists Deputy Counsel to the Republican National Committee and General Counsel to the National Republican Senatorial Committee, without dates. [27][36]
General Counsel, Republican Party of Texas
Appointed in 2017 and served two years, volunteering more than $150,000 in legal services, by the firm’s account. [27]
Freedom Path, round one, ends on standing
The Fifth Circuit vacated the district court’s judgment on January 16, 2019, holding that the group lacked standing to bring a facial challenge. [21]
The nomination
Won the March 3 primary outright with 38,541 votes, 51.2 percent, in a ten-candidate field. [2]
Accomplishments, in the record
Supreme Court, Fifth Circuit, district-court and Texas appellate records, a federal trial transcript, the Federal Election Commission’s enforcement file and the Secretary of State’s canvass establish the following work. Outcomes are described at the level those records support, with shared credit where the matter was another lawyer’s to argue.
On the brief in FEC v. Ted Cruz for Senate
The brief for appellees filed December 15, 2021 in Federal Election Commission v. Ted Cruz for Senate, No. 21-12, carries three names on its cover: Chris Gober of The Gober Group PLLC in Austin, and Charles J. Cooper, counsel of record, and John D. Ohlendorf of Cooper & Kirk in Washington. The question was whether the $250,000 limit on using post-election contributions to repay a candidate’s loans to his own campaign violates the First Amendment. Cooper argued the case on January 19, 2022; on May 16, 2022 the Court affirmed the district court’s judgment for Cruz, Chief Justice Roberts writing for six justices, Justice Kagan dissenting with Justices Breyer and Sotomayor. [20][19]
The campaign’s summary, that he “Successfully struck down an unconstitutional provision of the Federal Election Campaign Act,” describes the outcome of a case in which he was one of three lawyers on the brief and not the one who argued it. The docket lists Cooper alone as counsel of record; the brief is the document that places Gober in the case. [1][19][20]
Freedom Path v. IRS, eleven years in
Freedom Path, Inc., a nonprofit advocacy organization, applied for tax exemption under section 501(c)(4) in March 2011 and received a proposed denial in September 2013 that applied the eleven-factor facts-and-circumstances test of Revenue Ruling 2004-6. When the group sued in April 2014, ProPublica reported that Gober had formed it in January 2011 and sat on its board with two Republican consultants, that it was launched by backers of Senator Orrin Hatch and that the pharmaceutical trade association PhRMA had given it $1 million of the almost $1.58 million it raised in 2011 and 2012. The suit, filed in the Northern District of Texas on April 28, 2014, lists Christopher K. Gober among the attorneys on its docket, with Gober Hilgers PLLC and The Gober Group PLLC among the firms. The district court denied its facial challenge in 2017; on January 16, 2019 the Fifth Circuit vacated that judgment for lack of jurisdiction, concluding that “the plaintiff does not have standing to bring this facial challenge.” The appeals court also recorded that agreement had been reached on the group’s other claims, and the firm biography separately describes a settlement from the federal government for a conservative nonprofit whose confidential taxpayer information the IRS leaked, without naming the client; the terms were not part of this review. [34][23][21][27]
A second suit, filed in the District of Columbia on May 20, 2020 with Gober again on the docket’s attorney list, produced a ruling on September 30, 2025; Fox News Digital reported that Gober argued for Freedom Path at the hearing that July and quoted him: “We applied for tax-exempt status back in 2011.” Judge Jia M. Cobb held that the Treasury regulation and revenue ruling the IRS applied “transgress the heightened vagueness standard applicable to civil regulations, including tax-exemption regulations, that affect speech covered by the First Amendment,” granted Freedom Path’s motion for summary judgment in part and denied the government’s in full. She did not grant the exemption: finding that an appropriations rider prevented the IRS from writing a replacement standard, she wrote that “this Court is left with no option but to decide the question of Freedom Path’s exempt status itself” and asked both sides for renewed motions. The campaign’s account, a “landmark federal case that struck down the unconstitutional IRS regulation used by Lois Lerner to silence conservative groups,” describes an as-applied vagueness holding in a case that remained open on the review date. [23][35][22][1]
The suit against Ben Shapiro
The father of the Irving student arrested in 2015 for bringing a homemade clock to school sued Ben Shapiro, the Center for Security Policy, Jim Hanson and other defendants for defamation in the 162nd District Court of Dallas County. The trial court dismissed the claims against Shapiro, Hanson and the Center; on July 11, 2018 the Fifth Court of Appeals at Dallas affirmed, Justice Evans writing, and on October 19, 2018 the Texas Supreme Court denied review. The appellate case file lists Chris K. Gober and Kurt Schlichter as Shapiro’s counsel. [25][24]
Counsel in two rounds of map-drawing
ProPublica reported in October 2023, from the record of the federal challenge to Texas’s 2021 maps, that 22 Republican members of the Legislature retained Gober for the congressional map and that he in turn paid the National Republican Redistricting Trust $5,000 to secure the services of its executive director, Adam Kincaid, who by Gober’s deposition “had the mouse” on the map-drawing computer. Gober told ProPublica: “That arrangement — and our assertion of attorney-client privilege — is not any different than the other circumstances where our firm hires subcontractors.” [14]
In the 2025 mid-decade redistricting, Kincaid testified at the injunction hearing in El Paso on October 20, 2025 that the RNC had retained him starting in May, that he did not speak with members of the congressional delegation directly, that Gober, on contract from the RNC to represent the Texas Republican congressional delegation, was his intermediary for their requests, and that he had no attorney-client relationship with Gober personally but did through the RNC. He said Gober had played a much more central role in 2021, when he received far more direct direction from him, and that in 2025 Gober gave him requests rather than directions, which he expected to try to accommodate; asked how the two roles differed, he said he was unsure how far an answer would go into Gober’s own privilege issues. [13]
Governor Abbott signed the map on August 29, 2025; a divided three-judge court enjoined it on November 18, 2025, and on December 4, 2025 the Supreme Court stayed that order, over a dissent by Justice Kagan joined by Justices Sotomayor and Jackson, finding that Texas was likely to succeed on appeal and that “The District Court improperly inserted itself into an active primary campaign, causing much confusion and upsetting the delicate federal-state balance in elections.” The campaign lists “Secured Five New Republican Seats” among his results. The map was the Legislature’s act and the five seats are its design; whether they are won is a question for November 3, 2026. [8][12][1][38]
Director and chief lawyer of Elon Musk’s super PAC
The campaign says that in 2024 he “led Elon Musk’s America PAC as its director and chief lawyer, deploying nearly $300 million to help ensure President Trump defeated Kamala Harris and returned to the White House,” and The Texas Tribune has described his role the same way. The Federal Election Commission’s summary for America PAC, a super PAC, shows $263,494,649 in receipts and $261,272,000 in disbursements from April 1 through December 31, 2024, rounded to the dollar; the $300 million figure is the campaign’s own. The record that places him in the role is a courtroom: on November 4, 2024, in the Philadelphia district attorney’s suit to stop the PAC’s $1 million daily awards to petition signers, PhillyVoice reported that “Chris Gober, one of Musk’s attorneys, testified that the winners on Monday and Tuesday are from Arizona and Michigan,” and that Musk’s lawyers told the court the recipients had not been chosen at random but selected as paid spokespeople. Judge Angelo Foglietta let the awards continue. [1][7][37][26]
Counsel before the Federal Election Commission
The commission’s file in Matter Under Review 7745, a complaint against Casey Askar for Congress, a congressional campaign committee, lists Chris K. Gober as respondent’s counsel. The commission found reason to believe the committee had failed to file complete and accurate reports about a bank line of credit, voted 6–0 to reject a signed conciliation agreement, and closed the file with an admonishment letter to the committee; the file’s disposition table records the matter as dismissed as to each respondent. The firm biography claims dozens of such enforcement matters; this is the one retrieved for this review. [30][27]
The primary, as canvassed
The Secretary of State’s results for the March 3, 2026 Republican primary in the Tenth District, with all 254 counties reporting, record 38,541 votes for Gober, 51.2 percent of 75,204; Ben Bius followed with 10,507 (14.0 percent), Rob Altman 5,660, Jessica Karlsruher 5,352, Scott MacLeod 5,051, Jeremy Story 3,401, Kara King 2,147, Jenny Garcia Sharon 1,790, Robert Brown 1,778 and Brandon Hawbaker 977. No Tenth District race appears in the May 26 runoff. In the Democratic primary Caitlin Rourk received 32,716 votes, 60.8 percent of 53,793, against Dawn Marshall and Bernie Reyna. [2][3]
What the endorsements and the money say
President Trump endorsed him on Truth Social on December 18, 2025; Club for Growth PAC followed on December 23, its president David McIntosh calling him “a proven conservative and seventh generation Texan who has engaged in the biggest legal fights in the Lone Star State over the past 20 years, including Texas’ latest redistricting efforts.” The Texas Tribune reported that Speaker Mike Johnson, Governor Greg Abbott and Senator Cruz endorsed him the same month, and that American Mission, an arm of the AI-industry super PAC network Leading the Future, spent about $747,000 on his behalf through late February, “nearly half of all ad spending on the candidate’s behalf during the primary.” Through June 30, 2026 the commission’s summary for his committee, Chris Gober for Texas, shows $2,559,185 in receipts, of which $1,625,000 came as loans from the candidate, $875,000 in repayments to him, $750,000 in debts and $119,627 on hand, rounded to the dollar; Rourk’s shows $363,959 raised and $92,140 on hand. Endorsements establish support and spending establishes means; neither evaluates the record above. [17][16][7][18][4][5][6]
Family & community
The campaign biography describes him as “a devoted husband and father raising two daughters in Austin”; it does not name his wife, and this profile does not. [1]
His firm biography lists volunteer work as a Court Appointed Special Advocate for abused and neglected children, board service with A Hand Up, a charity for women and children in need and people with disabilities, two stints on the board of the Entrepreneurs’ Organization’s Austin chapter, election to the Republican National Lawyers Association’s Board of Governors in December 2020 and a seat as a trustee of Texas A&M University’s political action committee. These are the firm’s statements and were not independently verified. [27]
The campaign biography says he was raised on “the timeless conservative values of Christian faith, family, and hard work”; it names no church or denomination, and this profile makes no claim beyond that sentence. [1]
Mission & priorities
“I’m running for Congress because President Trump needs allies who know how to beat the Left and won’t back down.” {1}
The following summarizes the agenda on Gober’s campaign website and his remarks at a February 1, 2026 candidate forum in Livingston reported by The Texas Tribune. These are proposed priorities, not completed accomplishments. [1][7]
01Stop the weaponization of government
“Stop the weaponization of government by radical Democrats against conservatives, President Trump, and America First patriots.” The documented work behind the theme is the Freedom Path litigation against the IRS, above; the campaign’s further claim that he “Defended President Trump’s allies targeted by Fani Willis and Jack Smith” names no client or case and was not verified. [1][23]
02Crush the cartels and secure the border
“Crush the cartels by helping President Trump secure our border and empowering Texas law enforcement to halt the invasion of drugs, violence, and gangs into our community.” At the Livingston forum he said, “We’re going to secure the borders, we are going to fight fraud, waste and abuse and this reckless spending that is bankrupting our country.” No vote or bill exists to measure the promise against. [1][7]
03Grow Texas’s economy and beat China
“He’ll boost investment in cutting-edge defense and technology and position Austin and the Brazos Valley as America’s center for innovation—ensuring we outcompete China and strengthen our technology infrastructure and national security.” The Tribune reported that the ad run for him by the AI-industry super PAC American Mission referred to his support for technology investment to “defeat China” without mentioning artificial intelligence. [1][18]
04Rural Texas and affordability
“Chris will fight to cut burdensome regulations, expand small business opportunities, make essentials more affordable, and strengthen rural healthcare so families don’t have to drive hours for treatment.” No specific bill, program or cost is named. [1]
05Election integrity
“Defend election integrity by stopping Democrats’ unconstitutional attempts to rig our elections and deny the will of the American people.” The record in this field is his practice: the Cruz brief, the redistricting representation and the FEC matter documented above. [1][20][13][30]
06Safeguard the Constitution
07Artificial intelligence, with rural guardrails
The site says he “will fight for policies that protect American innovation from China’s economic espionage and champion smart investments in American AI infrastructure that protect rural Texans from projects that drive up electricity rates and drain local water supplies,” adding, “While we must win the global AI race, it is critical that we preserve our rural character and invest in infrastructure that benefits—not burdens—our local communities.” The Tribune counted him among at least seven Texas congressional candidates supported by AI-linked super PACs, with American Mission’s spending on his behalf the largest of any. [1][18]
08Standing with President Trump
The site presents him as “The Only TRUMP-ENDORSED Republican Candidate for Texas’s 10th Congressional District,” and on the day of the endorsement he wrote, “HUGE endorsement from President Trump! Thank you President Donald J. Trump for your support – I will not let you down sir.” Rice University’s Mark Jones told the Tribune, “A Trump endorsement in these types of races is worth its weight in gold.” [1][17][7]
How to assess a proposal. A campaign plan states an intention. Enactment, implementation costs, replacement revenue, and measured results are separate questions. These priorities should be read alongside the legislative and voting history above.
The fuller record
A useful profile includes policy tradeoffs, the limits of a claim, and responses to material criticism.
The $1 million giveaways and a selection that was not random
Elon Musk had described America PAC’s $1 million awards to petition signers as random; at the November 4, 2024 hearing in Philadelphia, PhillyVoice reported, Musk’s lawyers said the recipients were chosen to be paid spokespeople, and Gober testified about the next winners’ home states. The judge let the program run through Election Day, which the campaign records as having “Prevailed in cases brought by the Wisconsin Attorney General and Philadelphia District Attorney over their support for political candidates and the Constitution.” A primary rival, Robert Brown, called him the “$300 million man” at the Livingston forum and criticized the testimony; the Tribune reported that Gober did not respond to its request for comment. The Wisconsin case appears in the Wisconsin Supreme Court’s file as Kaul v. Musk, No. 2025AP647-OA, with Musk and America PAC as respondents; the notice list on the court’s March 30, 2025 order names Wisconsin counsel and does not include Gober, and his part in that case rests on the campaign’s and his firm’s statements. [26][1][7][33][29]
The district he now seeks, and his part in redrawing it
The Tenth District that Gober is running in was redrawn in the 2025 process in which, by the mapmaker’s testimony, he relayed the congressional delegation’s requests; the new lines added residents of Travis County and reached farther into East Texas, The Texas Tribune reported, and lowered President Trump’s 2024 share of the district from 61.6 to 60.5 percent by the Texas Legislative Council’s data. Democracy Docket, an outlet affiliated with a law firm representing some of the plaintiffs, reported that Gober did not answer its questions about the extent of his involvement in the district’s lines; the Tribune likewise received no response to its request for comment. ProPublica reported in 2023 that Gober asserted attorney-client privilege over his 2021 arrangement with the mapmaker, and Kincaid’s 2025 testimony on how Gober’s role had changed was hedged by what he called Gober’s privilege issues. The transcript, posted by Democracy Docket, is the court’s own record and is cited here for what Kincaid said. The campaign lists the redistricting among his accomplishments. [13][7][11][15][14][1]
What “struck down” means in the IRS case
The campaign calls Freedom Path “a landmark federal case that struck down the unconstitutional IRS regulation used by Lois Lerner to silence conservative groups.” The record shows a facial challenge lost in the district court in 2017 and vacated on standing in 2019, then a second suit in which, on September 30, 2025, the court held the regulation and revenue ruling unconstitutionally vague as applied to Freedom Path while leaving the group’s exemption undecided and asking for renewed motions. That is a substantial holding, and a partial one; the case was pending on the review date. [21][22][1]
Self-funding and outside money
Of the $2,559,185 the FEC’s summary shows his committee raising through June 30, 2026, rounded to the dollar, $1,625,000 came as loans from the candidate; the committee had repaid him $875,000 and reported $750,000 in debts. The Tribune reported before the primary that he had raised more than four times as much as any rival, and later that American Mission’s spending of about $747,000 through late February was the most it spent on any Texas congressional candidate. The campaign’s stated position pairs support for AI investment with protection for rural electricity rates and water supplies; both the position and the industry spending are in the record above. [4][7][18]
Campaign superlatives this review did not measure
The site calls his firm “the nation’s top conservative law practice” and says his businesses employ more than 50 people across 17 states; the firm biography says he represents more Republican senators than any other lawyer or firm; the site says he represented the state party in a 2017 federal suit filed by the Texas Democratic Party, and credits him with helping establish the America First Policy Institute. None of these was verified by a document in this review, and they stand as the campaign’s and the firm’s claims. [1][27]
A different kind of Republican from McCaul
McCaul, who chaired the Homeland Security and Foreign Affairs committees, told the Tribune on leaving that he would keep arguing for American engagement abroad; the University of Texas at San Antonio’s Jon Taylor told the paper that “Gober would be much more of a doctrinaire MAGA Republican, and in particular, someone who will be heavily involved in pushing for AI tech.” The redrawn district gave President Trump 60.5 percent of its 2024 vote by the Texas Legislative Council’s data, and Gober’s own words at the Livingston forum were, “When I go to Washington, D.C., we’re going to take on the institution.” [9][7][11]
Questions & answers
Who is Chris Gober?
Chris Gober’s public career has run through courtrooms and party headquarters rather than elected office: one of three lawyers on the Supreme Court brief for Senator Ted Cruz’s campaign, counsel to Elon Musk’s America PAC in 2024, and counsel in two rounds of Texas congressional redistricting, for 22 Republican legislators in 2021 and, on the Republican National Committee’s contract, for the Republican congressional delegation in 2025, he won the March 3, 2026 primary for the open Tenth District seat with 38,541 votes, 51.2 percent, and faces Democrat Caitlin Rourk on November 3, 2026. [20][26][7][14][13][2][38] By his campaign biography, Gober is a seventh-generation Texan born and raised in Throckmorton and Graham, a member of Texas A&M’s Class of 2001, and a husband and father raising two daughters in Austin. The biography gives no birth year, and none is asserted here. [1]
What office is Chris Gober running for in 2026?
Who is Chris Gober running against?
Chris Gober’s public career has run through courtrooms and party headquarters rather than elected office: one of three lawyers on the Supreme Court brief for Senator Ted Cruz’s campaign, counsel to Elon Musk’s America PAC in 2024, and counsel in two rounds of Texas congressional redistricting, for 22 Republican legislators in 2021 and, on the Republican National Committee’s contract, for the Republican congressional delegation in 2025, he won the March 3, 2026 primary for the open Tenth District seat with 38,541 votes, 51.2 percent, and faces Democrat Caitlin Rourk on November 3, 2026. [20][26][7][14][13][2][38]
What are Chris Gober's stated priorities?
The following summarizes the agenda on Gober’s campaign website and his remarks at a February 1, 2026 candidate forum in Livingston reported by The Texas Tribune. These are proposed priorities, not completed accomplishments. [1][7] The campaign lists: Stop the weaponization of government; Crush the cartels and secure the border; Grow Texas’s economy and beat China; Rural Texas and affordability; Election integrity; Safeguard the Constitution; Artificial intelligence, with rural guardrails; Standing with President Trump.
What does the public record show?
Supreme Court, Fifth Circuit, district-court and Texas appellate records, a federal trial transcript, the Federal Election Commission’s enforcement file and the Secretary of State’s canvass establish the following work. Outcomes are described at the level those records support, with shared credit where the matter was another lawyer’s to argue. The brief for appellees filed December 15, 2021 in Federal Election Commission v. Ted Cruz for Senate, No. 21-12, carries three names on its cover: Chris Gober of The Gober Group PLLC in Austin, and Charles J. Cooper, counsel of record, and John D. Ohlendorf of Cooper & Kirk in Washington. The question was whether the $250,000 limit on using post-election contributions to repay a candidate’s loans to his own campaign violates the First Amendment. Cooper argued the case on January 19, 2022; on May 16, 2022 the Court affirmed the district court’s judgment for Cruz, Chief Justice Roberts writing for six justices, Justice Kagan dissenting with Justices Breyer and Sotomayor. [20][19]
How was this profile researched?
Reviewed September 17, 2026, with an independent fact-check completed September 18, 2026. This is a documented overview of publicly available biography, professional record and stated priorities for a candidate who has not held elective office; there is no voting record to read. Court records were read from the Supreme Court’s docket and filings, the Fifth Circuit’s and the District of Columbia district court’s published opinions, the Texas Fifth Court of Appeals’ case file, a Wisconsin Supreme Court order and a trial transcript in the Texas redistricting case; the transcript was read from a copy posted by Democracy Docket, an outlet affiliated with a law firm representing some plaintiffs in that case, and its font-encoded text is paraphrased rather than quoted. The former firm’s biography was read from an Internet Archive capture because the firm’s domain served an invalid certificate. The State Bar of Texas directory, degree years, personal financial disclosures, the 2021 deposition, the Wisconsin court record beyond the order cited, and the commission’s itemized receipts were not part of this review; campaign-finance totals are the commission’s summary figures as displayed on its candidate and committee pages, rounded to the nearest dollar in the text and given to the cent in the source notes. Ballotpedia, OpenSecrets, The Associated Press and Truth Social refused automated requests. Numerical claims retain their original meaning and attribution; campaign and firm figures are identified as such. The source list provides direct links so readers can check the underlying material. Filings and campaign pages may change after this review.
Sources & methodology
Court records anchor the profile: the Supreme Court’s docket and the appellees’ brief in the Cruz case, the Fifth Circuit’s and the District of Columbia district court’s opinions in Freedom Path, the Texas appellate case file in the Shapiro suit, the redistricting trial transcript and the Supreme Court’s stay order, a Wisconsin Supreme Court order, the Federal Election Commission’s enforcement file and candidate and committee pages, and the Texas Secretary of State’s results and calendar. Campaign and firm material supplies the candidate’s own biography and claims; original reporting supplies responses and scrutiny; an advocacy endorsement is labeled as such.
- 01Chris Gober for Texas — campaign website (Meet Chris Gober; Key Issues; Record of Results)Chris Gober for Texas · undated; read September 17, 2026
The campaign biography (seventh-generation Texan, Throckmorton and Graham, Aggie Class of 2001, two daughters, Austin, Christian faith), the Justice Department and party-lawyer description, the America PAC and $300 million claims, the business figures, the eight issue statements and the Record of Results list; footer: Paid for by Chris Gober for Texas; linked X, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube accounts.Campaign or advocacy material - 022026 Republican Primary Election — U.S. Representative District 10 (official results)Texas Secretary of State (election results site) · March 3, 2026; results last updated April 14, 2026
Gober 38,541 (51.25 percent) of 75,204; Bius 10,507; Altman 5,660; Karlsruher 5,352; MacLeod 5,051; Story 3,401; King 2,147; Garcia Sharon 1,790; Brown 1,778; Hawbaker 977; 254 of 254 counties. Select the 2026 Republican Primary Election on the linked page; figures read through the site’s data service (election 53813). The May 26 runoff (election 58315) lists no District 10 race.Government record - 032026 Democratic Primary Election — U.S. Representative District 10 (official results)Texas Secretary of State (election results site) · March 3, 2026; results last updated March 24, 2026
Rourk 32,716 (60.82 percent) of 53,793; Marshall 12,184; Reyna 8,893. Select the 2026 Democratic Primary Election on the linked page; figures read through the site’s data service (election 53814).Government record - 04GOBER, CHRIS — candidate overview, 2025–2026Federal Election Commission · through June 30, 2026 reports
Candidate H6TX10221, House, Texas District 10, Republican; the financial summary displayed on the page for October 1, 2025 to June 30, 2026: $2,559,184.84 in total receipts, including $1,625,000.00 in loans from the candidate; $875,000.00 in candidate loan repayments; $750,000.00 in debts owed by the committee; $119,626.92 cash on hand. The text rounds these to the dollar.Government record - 05CHRIS GOBER FOR TEXAS — committee overviewFederal Election Commission · 2025–2026 cycle
Principal campaign committee C00922062 for candidate H6TX10221.Government record - 06ROURK, CAITLIN MCCLAY — candidate overview, 2025–2026Federal Election Commission · through June 30, 2026 reports
Candidate H6TX31102, Democrat; $363,958.97 in total receipts and $92,140.35 cash on hand as of June 30, 2026 as displayed on the page, rounded to the dollar in the text.Government record - 07Former Elon Musk lawyer leads crowded District 10 GOP raceThe Texas Tribune (Olivia Borgula) · February 12, 2026
The primary field; Lex Politica and the New York Times remark; the February 1 Livingston forum quotes; Robert Brown’s criticism; the December endorsements from Trump, Johnson, Abbott and Cruz; the AI super PAC ad; the district’s 13 counties, Brazos County share and Trump share; Rourk’s background; Gober did not respond to a request for comment.Independent reporting - 08Gov. Greg Abbott signs new Texas GOP congressional mapThe Texas Tribune (Eleanor Klibanoff, Carla Astudillo) · August 29, 2025
The map signed August 29, 2025, designed to create five new GOP districts; lawsuits already filed; the three-judge panel’s October hearing.Independent reporting - 09Rep. Michael McCaul, foreign policy hawk in an increasingly isolationist GOP, recounts 20 years in CongressThe Texas Tribune (Gabby Birenbaum) · September 19, 2025
McCaul’s retirement announcement the previous Sunday, his committee chairmanships and his stated intention to keep advocating American engagement abroad.Independent reporting - 10McCaul Announces He Will Not Seek Another TermOffice of Congressman Michael McCaul (press release) · September 15, 2025
The incumbent’s own statement that he will not run for another term and will serve out the 119th Congress.Government record - 11Republican Rep. Michael McCaul won’t seek reelection after 11 termsABC News (Nicholas Kerr) · September 14, 2025
The announcement on This Week on Sunday, September 14, 2025; Texas Legislative Council data giving Trump 60.5 percent of the redrawn district against 61.6 percent under the previous map.Independent reporting - 12Abbott v. League of United Latin American Citizens, No. 25A608 — order on application for staySupreme Court of the United States · December 4, 2025
Stay of the November 18, 2025 injunction in No. 3:21-cv-259 (W.D. Tex.); Texas likely to succeed; the primary-campaign sentence quoted verbatim; Justice Alito concurring with Justices Thomas and Gorsuch.Government record - 13LULAC v. Abbott, No. 3:21-cv-00259 (W.D. Tex.), Document 1303 — transcript of the injunction hearing, day 6 of 9, afternoon session (testimony of Adam Kincaid)United States District Court for the Western District of Texas, El Paso Division (copy posted by Democracy Docket) · October 20, 2025
Kincaid: retained by the RNC starting in May; no direct contact with delegation members; Chris Gober, on contract from the RNC to represent the delegation, the intermediary for their requests; no attorney-client relationship with Gober personally, but one through the RNC; retained by Gober in the first round; Gober’s much more central role and more direct direction in 2021; requests rather than directions in 2025; his hesitation over Gober’s privilege issues (transcript pages 14–15 and 38–41). The PDF’s text layer is font-encoded; passages are paraphrased, not quoted.Government record - 14How the GOP Uses Privilege to Keep Redistricting Work SecretProPublica (Marilyn W. Thompson) · October 18, 2023
22 Republican legislators hired Gober, former general counsel of the state party, for the 2021 congressional map; his $5,000 payment to the National Republican Redistricting Trust; Kincaid had the mouse, per Gober’s deposition; Gober’s statement on subcontractors and privilege, quoted verbatim.Independent reporting - 15GOP lawyer who headed Texas redistricting wins congressional primaryDemocracy Docket (Jen Rice) · March 6, 2026
Read for the outlet’s statement that Gober did not answer its questions about the extent of his involvement in the district’s lines. Its quotation of Kincaid does not appear in the afternoon-session transcript cited above and is not used; its population-retention figure comes from a plaintiffs’ pleading and is not used. The outlet is affiliated with the Elias Law Group, which represents some plaintiffs in the redistricting case; used with that caveat.Independent reporting - 16Club for Growth PAC Endorses Chris Gober in TX-10 RaceClub for Growth PAC (press release) · December 23, 2025
The endorsement; David McIntosh’s statement quoted verbatim; notes President Trump’s earlier endorsement. An advocacy organization’s release.Independent analysis or rating - 17Trump’s Latest Endorsements Include Three Texas CandidatesThe Texas Voice (Mark McCaig) · December 19, 2025
President Trump’s Truth Social endorsements on Thursday, December 18, 2025, including Gober; Gober’s statement in response, quoted verbatim.Independent reporting - 18AI super PAC money floods Texas congressional racesThe Texas Tribune (Olivia Borgula) · April 1, 2026
American Mission, part of the Leading the Future network, spent about $372,000 airing a pro-Gober ad and about $747,000 in all through late February, the most for any Texas congressional candidate and nearly half of the ad spending on his behalf (AdImpact); at least seven Texas candidates supported by AI-linked super PACs.Independent reporting - 19Docket No. 21-12, Federal Election Commission v. Ted Cruz for Senate, et al.Supreme Court of the United States · docketed July 7, 2021; decided May 16, 2022
Argued January 19, 2022 by Charles J. Cooper for appellees; affirmed May 16, 2022, Roberts, C.J., for the Court with Thomas, Alito, Gorsuch, Kavanaugh and Barrett; Kagan, J., dissenting with Breyer and Sotomayor; Cooper listed as counsel of record for appellees.Government record - 20Brief for Appellees, Federal Election Commission v. Ted Cruz for Senate and Senator Rafael Edward Cruz, No. 21-12Supreme Court of the United States (docket filing) · December 15, 2021
Cover lists Chris Gober, The Gober Group PLLC, Austin, and Charles J. Cooper, counsel of record, Cooper & Kirk; the questions presented on the $250,000 loan-repayment limit of 52 U.S.C. § 30116(j).Government record - 21Freedom Path, Inc. v. Internal Revenue Service, No. 18-10092 (opinion)United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit (Southwick, J.) · January 16, 2019
The 2011 application, the September 2013 proposed denial applying Revenue Ruling 2004-6, the July 7, 2017 denial of partial summary judgment, the November 28, 2017 final judgment, the agreement on other claims, and the vacatur for lack of standing, quoted verbatim.Government record - 22Freedom Path, Inc. v. Internal Revenue Service, No. 20-cv-1349 (JMC) — Memorandum Opinion and OrderUnited States District Court for the District of Columbia (Cobb, J.) · September 30, 2025
The vagueness holding and the sentences quoted verbatim; Freedom Path’s motion granted in part and denied in part, the IRS’s denied; the appropriations rider; renewed motions requested.Government record - 23CourtListener search index: RECAP dockets matching Freedom Path and GoberFree Law Project (CourtListener) · Accessed September 17, 2026
Freedom Path Inc v. Lerner, 3:14-cv-01537 (N.D. Tex., filed April 28, 2014), attorneys including Christopher K Gober, firms including Gober Hilgers PLLC and The Gober Group PLLC; Freedom Path, Inc v. Internal Revenue Service, 1:20-cv-01349 (D.D.C., filed May 20, 2020), attorneys including Chris Gober, The Gober Group PLLC. The index lists each docket’s attorneys and firms without stating which party each represented.Government record - 24Case 05-17-00278-CV, Mohamed Mohamed v. Center for Security Policy, Jim Hanson and Ben Shapiro — case detailFifth Court of Appeals of Texas (Texas Judicial Branch case search) · filed March 15, 2017; mandate December 4, 2018
Parties and representatives: Chris K. Gober and Kurt Schlichter for appellee Ben Shapiro; trial court 162nd Judicial District Court, Dallas County, cause DC-16-12579; opinion issued July 11, 2018, affirmed; petition for review denied by the Supreme Court October 19, 2018.Government record - 25Mohamed v. Center for Security Policy, Hanson and Shapiro, No. 05-17-00278-CV — opinionFifth Court of Appeals of Texas at Dallas (Evans, J.) · July 11, 2018
The 2015 clock incident and its coverage; the Kelly File interview of October 19, 2015; the trial court’s dismissals affirmed.Government record - 26Judge dismisses Philly DA Larry Krasner’s lawsuit challenging Elon Musk’s $1 million giveawaysPhillyVoice (Michael Tanenbaum) · November 4, 2024
Judge Angelo Foglietta let the giveaways continue; Musk’s lawyers said winners were not randomly selected but chosen as paid spokespeople; Gober’s testimony sentence quoted verbatim; Musk’s October 19 rally statement that awards would be made randomly.Independent reporting - 27Chris Gober — attorney biography (Internet Archive capture of November 30, 2022) (Internet Archive copy, captured Jan 24, 2023)The Gober Group PLLC (Internet Archive copy) · captured November 30, 2022
Harvard Law J.D.; Texas A&M B.B.A.; bar admissions; representative work; NRSC General Counsel, RNC Deputy Counsel, Justice Department Office of Legal Policy, all undated; Republican Party of Texas General Counsel from 2017 for two years with more than $150,000 in volunteered services; Bush campaigns; RNLA board (December 2020); Texas A&M PAC trustee; CASA, A Hand Up, Entrepreneurs’ Organization. The January 24, 2023 archive request resolves to the November 30, 2022 capture.Professional or biographical source - 28The Gober Group — home page (Internet Archive capture of January 24, 2023) (Internet Archive copy, captured 2022)The Gober Group PLLC (Internet Archive copy) · captured January 24, 2023
The firm’s description of its clientele and its statement of three consecutive Inc. 5000 listings; the live domain served an invalid certificate on the review date.Professional or biographical source - 29Lex Politica — firm websiteLex Politica · undated; read September 17, 2026
Practice areas in campaign finance and election law, crisis communications and lobbying disclosure; the firm’s own results list, including suits brought by the Wisconsin Attorney General and Philadelphia District Attorney and the Supreme Court loan-repayment case; the site carries no attorney biographies.Professional or biographical source - 30MUR 7745 — Casey Askar for CongressFederal Election Commission (enforcement file) · closed 2022
Respondent’s counsel: Gober, Chris K.; reason-to-believe finding on incomplete reporting of a bank line of credit; 6–0 vote to reject the signed conciliation agreement, issue an admonishment letter and close the file; other respondents dismissed.Government record - 31Caitlin Rourk for Congress — campaign websiteCaitlin Rourk for Congress · undated; read September 17, 2026
The Democratic nominee’s self-description as an Army veteran, private- and public-sector problem solver and mother, and her four stated priorities.Campaign or advocacy material - 32Democrat Caitlin Rourk seeks U.S. House District 10 seatKBTX (Delaney Wolovlek) · February 20, 2026
Rourk’s Army service and Washington policy work; her statements on cost of living and on Congress, quoted.Independent reporting - 33Kaul v. Musk, No. 2025AP647-OA — order denying motion for recusal (Dallet, J.)Supreme Court of Wisconsin (Office of the Clerk) · March 30, 2025
The case caption, Attorney General Josh Kaul against respondents Elon Musk and America PAC; the notice list of counsel served, which does not include Gober.Government record - 34Dark Money Group Sues IRS Over Targeting, DisclosureProPublica (Kim Barker) · April 30, 2014
Freedom Path’s suit filed in federal court in Dallas; lawyer Chris Gober formed the group in January 2011 and sat on its board with Mark Emerson and J. Scott Bensing; launched by backers of Senator Orrin Hatch; PhRMA gave $1 million of the almost $1.58 million it raised in 2011 and 2012.Independent reporting - 35Landmark case alleges IRS rules target conservative tax-exempt groupsFox News Digital (Cortney O’Brien, Kristine Parks) · July 8, 2025
Lex Politica CEO Chris Gober interviewed hours before arguing for Freedom Path at the first hearing in Washington; his statements on the 2011 application and the facts-and-circumstances test, quoted verbatim. Read from the site’s mirror host.Independent reporting - 36Supreme Court Nominations (1789–Present)United States Senate · undated; read September 18, 2026
Roberts confirmed September 29, 2005, 78–22; Alito confirmed January 31, 2006, 58–42.Government record - 37AMERICA PAC — committee overview, 2023–2024Federal Election Commission · coverage April 1 to December 31, 2024
Committee C00879510, Super PAC (Independent Expenditure-Only): $263,494,648.67 in total receipts and $261,272,000.28 in total disbursements, of which $173,734,996.50 in independent expenditures, as displayed on the page; rounded to the dollar in the text.Government record - 38Important Election DatesTexas Secretary of State · undated; read September 17, 2026
Tuesday, March 3, 2026, primary election; Tuesday, May 26, 2026, primary runoff; Tuesday, November 3, 2026, uniform election date.Government record
No matching sources. Try “Clerk,” “Senate,” or “campaign.”
Scope & method. Reviewed September 17, 2026, with an independent fact-check completed September 18, 2026. This is a documented overview of publicly available biography, professional record and stated priorities for a candidate who has not held elective office; there is no voting record to read. Court records were read from the Supreme Court’s docket and filings, the Fifth Circuit’s and the District of Columbia district court’s published opinions, the Texas Fifth Court of Appeals’ case file, a Wisconsin Supreme Court order and a trial transcript in the Texas redistricting case; the transcript was read from a copy posted by Democracy Docket, an outlet affiliated with a law firm representing some plaintiffs in that case, and its font-encoded text is paraphrased rather than quoted. The former firm’s biography was read from an Internet Archive capture because the firm’s domain served an invalid certificate. The State Bar of Texas directory, degree years, personal financial disclosures, the 2021 deposition, the Wisconsin court record beyond the order cited, and the commission’s itemized receipts were not part of this review; campaign-finance totals are the commission’s summary figures as displayed on its candidate and committee pages, rounded to the nearest dollar in the text and given to the cent in the source notes. Ballotpedia, OpenSecrets, The Associated Press and Truth Social refused automated requests. Numerical claims retain their original meaning and attribution; campaign and firm figures are identified as such. The source list provides direct links so readers can check the underlying material. Filings and campaign pages may change after this review.
Images. The candidate portrait is the profile photograph published on the campaign website, chrisgober.com, reproduced as a last resort because no photograph of the candidate under a free license was found on Wikimedia Commons or on a government site; it is a campaign-owned image flagged for the publisher’s decision. Inclusion does not imply campaign authorization or endorsement of this publication.
Where to find the candidate
Every link below was read from the campaign’s own website or the candidate’s official government page. A follower count is printed only where it was measured; otherwise the link is published and the number is left blank rather than guessed at.
Voting in Texas: official dates, deadlines and rules
The general election is Tuesday, November 3, 2026. The dates and rules below were read from the Texas Secretary of State; the authority's own page, linked beside each one, is the final word.
Dates and deadlines
- Voter registration deadlineMonday, October 5, 2026. An application counts if it is postmarked by that date or received in the county voter registrar's office by that date. A voter registration application filled out online must still be printed and sent to the county voter registrar's office. Read from: votetexas.gov/faq/registration.html
- Ballots sent to military and overseas (FPCA) votersSaturday, September 19, 2026 — deadline for county election officials to mail or email ballots to military and overseas voters who applied with a Federal Post Card Application (FPCA); for an FPCA received after that date, the ballot goes out no later than the seventh calendar day after it is received. This date applies to FPCA voters only. Read from: sos.texas.gov/elections/laws/advisory2026-03.shtml
- Early voting in person beginsMonday, October 19, 2026 — first day of early voting by personal appearance. Read from: votetexas.gov/faq/early-voting.html
- Early voting in person endsFriday, October 30, 2026 — last day of early voting by personal appearance. Read from: votetexas.gov/faq/early-voting.html
- Deadline to apply for a ballot by mail (received, not postmarked)Friday, October 23, 2026. The Application for Ballot by Mail (ABBM) must be received — not just postmarked — by the early voting clerk in the county where you are registered, before the close of regular business or 12 noon, whichever is later. Read from: votetexas.gov/voting-by-mail/application-for-ballot-by-mail.html
- Deadline to return a ballot by mail (received by)The early voting clerk must receive the ballot by 7:00 p.m. on Election Day, Tuesday, November 3, 2026, if the carrier envelope is not postmarked; or by 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday, November 4, 2026 (the next business day), if the carrier envelope is postmarked by 7:00 p.m. on Election Day at the location of the election. Different deadlines apply to overseas and military voters. Read from: sos.texas.gov/elections/voter/important-election-dates.shtml
- Polling place hours on Election Day7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. on Election Day, November 3, 2026, at all polling places statewide. Read from: votetexas.gov/voting/where.html
Rules to know
- What to bringVoters who have one of seven acceptable forms of photo ID must present it when voting in person: a Texas driver license, Texas Election Identification Certificate, Texas personal identification card or Texas handgun license issued by the Department of Public Safety (DPS); a U.S. military ID card with photo; a U.S. citizenship certificate with photo; or a U.S. passport. For voters aged 18–69 the ID may be expired no more than four years; for voters 70 or older, for any length of time. A voter who does not have one of these and cannot reasonably obtain one may show a supporting form of ID — such as a voter registration certificate, current utility bill, bank statement, government check or paycheck — and sign a Reasonable Impediment Declaration. A voter who has an acceptable ID but does not bring it may vote provisionally and has six days to show it to the county voter registrar. Read from: votetexas.gov/voting/need-id.html
- Who may vote by mail and how to applyVoting by mail in Texas is limited to voters who are 65 or older on Election Day; sick or disabled; expecting to give birth within three weeks before or after Election Day; absent from their county of registration during the early voting period and on Election Day; civilly committed under Chapter 841 of the Texas Health and Safety Code; or confined in jail but otherwise eligible. To ask for a ballot, send an Application for Ballot by Mail (ABBM) to the early voting clerk in the county where you are registered — in person, by mail, by common or contract carrier, or by fax or email (if faxed or emailed, the application must also be mailed so that the clerk receives it no later than the fourth business day after the clerk received the fax or email). VoteTexas.gov says a voter who applies because of an expected absence may apply in person before the period of early voting in person begins (Monday, October 19, 2026). The ABBM must include your Texas driver license, Texas personal ID or Election Identification Certificate number or, if you have none of these, the last four digits of your Social Security number. Read from: votetexas.gov/voting-by-mail/eligibility-requirements.html
- Early voting in personAny registered voter may vote early in person; no special qualification is required. From October 19 through October 30, 2026, you may vote at any early voting location in your county of registration. Hours vary by location. Early voting locations appear in the state's My Voter Portal two days before the first day of early voting, and the early voting clerk in your county can also provide them. Read from: votetexas.gov/faq/early-voting.html
- Track your ballot by mailAfter you send your ballot by mail to your county's early voting clerk, you can check its status in the Ballot by Mail Tracker on the Texas Secretary of State's My Voter Portal. To log in, enter your first and last name, your date of birth, the last four digits of your Social Security number, and your Texas driver license or DPS personal ID number. Read from: votetexas.gov/voting-by-mail/track-my-ballot.html
- Correcting a defect in a mail ballot application or carrier envelopeIf your Application for Ballot by Mail or your carrier envelope was rejected because the ID number was missing or did not match your voter registration record, you may correct the defect online through the Ballot by Mail Tracker. For other carrier-envelope defects — no signature, a signature mismatch, a missing Statement of Residence or incomplete witness information — complete the Corrective Action Form enclosed with the notice of defect and mail it back to the early voting clerk, or complete it in person at the clerk's office. You have until the 6th day after Election Day to correct the defect so that the ballot is counted. You may instead cancel the ballot by mail at an early voting or Election Day polling place and vote in person; without the mail ballot to surrender, the only option is a provisional ballot. Read from: votetexas.gov/voting-by-mail/corrective-action.html
Read from: Welcome to Texas Elections · Important Election Dates · November 3, 2026 Election Law Calendar · Current Elections Information List · Ballot Certification Report 2026 NOVEMBER GENERAL ELECTION November 03, 2026 · SAMPLE BALLOT (BOLETA DE MUESTRA) — Rules and dates as of Sep 17, 2026
Ideas, questions, corrections
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