Texas Tech booster donated $274K one day before Texas AG Ken Paxton’s Brendan Sorsby letter

One day before the office of Texas attorney general Ken Paxton released a letter threatening legal action against the Big 12 conference if it moved to sanction Texas Tech over quarterback Brendan Sorsby’s eligibility saga, Texas Tech board of regents chair and billionaire booster Cody Campbell donated $274,300 in support of Paxton’s U.S. Senate campaign.

According to a recent batch of campaign finance records filed to the Federal Election Committee, Campbell made the donation on June 10 to Paxton Victory, a joint fundraising committee for Paxton’s ongoing run for Senate as the Texas Republican nominee. On June 11, Paxton’s attorney general office sent a formal letter to the Big 12 Conference on behalf of Texas Tech University stating any penalties imposed by the Big 12 regarding Sorsby would be considered “unlawful” and met with legal action.

Under Texas state law, the attorney general represents Texas Tech University in court and legal proceedings, and the university’s general counsel interacts with the attorney general’s office.

Campbell declined to comment on the matter. The Texas attorney general office and Paxton’s Senate campaign did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Texas Tech did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Texas Tribune first reported the news of Campbell’s donation on Wednesday night. Additional campaign finance records show that Campbell regularly donates to Republican politics nationally and in Texas. This includes multiple donations to Wesley Hunt and his campaign for the same U.S. Senate seat, as well as to incumbent Texas senator John Cornyn; Hunt and Cornyn were Paxton’s opponents in the Republican primary race, which Paxton won in March.

Campbell made prior donations to Paxton’s Senate campaign dating back to 2025 and to Paxton in his capacity as attorney general. The June 10 donation to Paxton’s Senate campaign represents Campbell’s largest one-time amount given toward a state-level politician dating back to 2016, according to campaign finance databases.

The June 11 letter from Paxton’s state office came days after Sorsby was granted a temporary injunction by a Texas state court that briefly reinstated his athletic eligibility for the 2026 college football season. The injunction overruled the NCAA, which deemed Sorsby permanently ineligible this spring for committing thousands of gambling violations during his college career, including betting on his own team as a member of Indiana in 2022.

The court’s decision was met with immediate and intense backlash across college sports, with much of the ire directed at Texas Tech. Many urged the Big 12, of which Texas Tech is a member, to levy its own sanctions against Sorsby and/or Tech if it elected to play the quarterback this upcoming season.

Texas Tech was not involved in Sorsby’s lawsuit against the NCAA that was granted a temporary injunction, but Tech officials, including Campbell, were publicly supportive of Sorsby’s eligibility battle.

On June 15, the Big 12 filed a federal lawsuit against Paxton, Texas Tech, and university administrators, seeking a declaratory judgment that the conference could sanction Texas Tech under its league bylaws, and that those bylaws were protected by the First Amendment — a direct response to Paxton’s letter.

Later that same day, it was announced that Sorsby was leaving the Red Raiders to focus on the NFL.

“The decision was made with Brendan and his family and is purely an output of practical analysis of the situation,” Campbell wrote in a June 15 statement. “Brendan and Texas Tech stand on very solid and legitimate legal ground, but he faces a June 22nd deadline to be eligible to enter the NFL’s supplemental draft, and there is no practical way to resolve all the various pending legal disputes and ensure his eligibility prior to this date. This is the only viable and fair path for Brendan and his future, as well as for his teammates, and our university.”

The timing and nature of the Big 12’s lawsuit against Paxton and Texas Tech contributed to the end of Sorsby’s college football career, according to previous reporting by The Athletic.  Numerous legal experts argued that Paxton’s letter bolstered the Big 12’s argument on First Amendment grounds, allowing the league to file in federal jurisdiction as opposed to another Texas state court.

“(The Paxton letter) was a misstep of epic proportions to say the least because without that letter, there’s no (Big 12) lawsuit,” sports attorney Tom Mars told The Athletic.

The Big 12’s lawsuit remains active and ongoing.

The NFL ultimately rejected Sorsby’s application for the supplemental draft this summer, and Sorsby announced last month that he will sit out the 2026 season and prepare for the 2027 NFL Draft.

Campbell, a former Texas Tech offensive lineman and co-founder of Double Eagle Energy Holdings, has become one of the most prominent college sports boosters in recent years through his support of Tech athletics. He also serves as an advisor to President Donald Trump and the presidential committee on college sports, and is heavily involved in the Protect College Sports Act, a bipartisan Senate bill introduced in May.

Paxton was elected as Texas attorney general in 2014 and is running against Democratic nominee James Talarico for the Senate seat. A Democrat has not won a statewide race in Texas since 1994, but recent polling suggests a tight race between Paxton and Talarico ahead of a Nov. 3 vote.

— The Athletic‘s Chris Vannini contributed reporting.