This article was updated on July 16, 2025 to reflect an updated political campaign report filed by Renard Johnson.
With over two-and-a-half years left in his 1st term as mayor, Renard Johnson’s latest campaign report shows that he accepted $61,700 in campaign contributions from 33 individuals. Campaign finance reports are due today. Johnson filed his report on July 11.
Johnson reported spending over $114,000 from his campaign contributions between January 1 and June 30. He also reported loaning his campaign $40,000 on January 10, 2025. He reimbursed himself from campaign funds in two payments. The first reimbursement was on April 28 for $38,000. The second loan payment was on June 25 for $2,000.
Among his largest contributors are Miguel Fernandez ($3,500), Rick Francis ($5,000), Ted Houghton ($5,000) and Scott Schwartz ($5,000). There are two controversial contributions in his report. One appears to be an illegal contribution and the other, the largest contribution in his latest report was made by a pardoned felon.
Illegal Contribution?
Johnson reported on his campaign contributions report that he accepted a $1,000 campaign contribution from “Marathon petroleum [sic]” on May 3, 2025. The report lists 539 S. Main in Findlay Ohio as the address for the contributor.
Marathon Petroleum Corporation is headquartered in Findlay Ohio. Marathon is a public company. Texas Ethics Commission Ethics Advisory Opinion No. 574 states that “Texas law prohibits corporations from making campaign contributions.” Texas law recognizes that publicly traded companies, even those organized outside of Texas are prohibited from making campaign contributions.
Update: Sometime yesterday after our report was published, Renard Johnson filed a “Correction/Amendment Affidavit” correcting his campaign finance report. The affidavit explained that “Marathon Petroleum missing word ‘PAC’ during previous report.” The name of the contributor for the $1,000 campaign contribution was updated from “Marathon petroleum [sic]” to “Marathon petroleum [sic] Employees PAC.” A PAC is allowed to make campaign contributions to candidates and elected officials. A review of records shows that Marathon Petroleum has an active PAC for making campaign contributions.
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Pardoned Felon Made Significant Campaign Contribution To Johnson
Johnson’s largest campaign contribution was $15,000 made in two payments. Stanley Jobe, owner of Jobe Materials, made two contributions to Johnson, one for $10,000 and another for $5,000 in this report’s cycle.
In 1996, Jobe, along with his father, Billy Mac Jobe and three bank officials were convicted on bank fraud charges. In December 1989, FBI special agent Randy Wolverton discovered that “a large [check fraud] kite was underway involving” Jobe and his father with four banks. Basically, the bank fraud would inflate the balances in their accounts by making several bank transactions from uncollected funds.
The fraud showed that $150 million was in the bank accounts, when the true figure was around $20 million, according to court records. “Profits from the scheme were used to finance business ventures” owned by Jobe and his father.
Jobe sought a pardon for his bank fraud conviction from Bill Clinton in 1998. Clinton pardoned Jobe in 1994.
Jobe’s rock quarry was controversial to environmentalists in 2001 who alleged it contribution to El Paso’s pollution. Jobe publicly fought against the Ray Caballero administration’s attempt to curtail his quarry’s activities.
Other Jobe Campaign Contributions
According to campaign data collected by Transparency USA, Jobe contributed $34,698 to Dawn Buckingham. Buckingham is the commissioner for the Texas General Land Office. Buckingham became the first female commissioner for the agency on January 10, 2023.
Jobe’s second largest campaign contribution in 2024 was to Greg Abbott for $30,000. Jobe also contributed $11,000 to Christi Craddick’s 2024 campaign for her Railroad Commissioner’s reelection campaign. Craddick announced in March that she will be running for state comptroller in the upcoming elections.
Other campaign contributions made by Jobe in 2024 include Norma Chávez ($10,000), Cesar Blanco ($6,000) and Joe Moody ($4,000).
Payment To Murphy Nasica
Among campaign payments made by Johnson, includes a $10,000 payment to Murphy Nasica on January 6, 2025. In 2024, Johnson paid Murphy Nasica & Associates $280,389.40 for his mayoral campaign. Among clients of Murphy Nasica include Greg Abbott, Texas for Lawsuit Reform (TLR) and the Texas Association of Realtors.
Payments To Samaniego’s Campaign Manager
Johnson also paid $57,000 to Setforth Strategies for consulting services. As we previously reported, Setforth is owned by Lauren Zimmerman, his mayoral campaign manager. Zimmerman is now providing consulting work to Ricardo Samaniego, who is running for reelection to keep his county judge seat. Zimmerman was paid $89,203.19 by Johnson for her work on his mayoral campaign.
Zimmerman started working at the University Medical Center of El Paso (UMC) as its Director of Development Major Gifts sometime in June.