A donor to Democratic Socialist politicians, including New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, is among the hosts for an upcoming fundraiser for Democrat Texas House candidate Tyler Smith, who is seeking to oust Republican State Representative Lacey Hull in a battleground Harris County district.
Dr. Audrey Nath, a co-chair of the Houston Progressive Caucus who has been an unsuccessful candidate for the Houston ISD school board and Houston City Council, is listed as a member of the host committee for a September 23 fundraiser supporting Smith.
According to New York campaign finance records, Nath donated to Democratic Socialist Zohran Mamdani’s campaign for Mayor of New York City last year. Mamdani has called for defunding the New York City Police Department, signed an executive order reaffirming New York City’s status as a sanctuary city for illegal immigrants, and supports New York’s stringent environmental laws that target appliances such as gas stoves.
Mandani is not the only Democratic Socialist that Nath has supported financially. Federal campaign finance data shows that Nath donated to Democratic Socialist Kat Abughazaleh’s unsuccessful Democratic Primary race for Congress in Illinois earlier this year.
“Donald Trump, tech billionaires, and the Republican Party have banded together to rapidly and illegally break this country, all at the expense of our most vulnerable. Their vision is fascist, one of a militarized country where only certain people — a few dozen rich men — have a seat at the table. We will not and cannot let them win,” said Abughazaleh during her campaign.
Last year, Nath and two other leaders of the Houston Progressive Caucus penned an op-ed for the Houston Chronicle slamming Houston Mayor John Whitmire, a lifelong Democrat, for allegedly “ignoring progressives” and being insufficiently liberal.
“Immigrant rights advocates are sidelined even as federal enforcement overreach harms law-abiding Houstonians. Transit advocates go dismissed. LGBTQ+ Houstonians get treated as peripheral,” they wrote.
“Progressive activists are building a movement on the platform of proud Texans like Lyndon B. Johnson, Barbara Jordan, Antonio Orendain, and Jim Hightower. We’re drawing from labor and civil rights leaders who understood a basic political truth: Power never yields out of politeness. It only gives way when organized people refuse to accept less.”
Despite being bankrolled by far-left donors such as Nath, Smith has attempted to portray himself as a moderate to voters. On his campaign website, Smith tells voters, “I’ll work with anyone, Democrats, Independents, or Republicans, to lower costs and keep our neighborhoods safe for families.”
Smith, 26, currently works as a community organizer for Everytown for Gun Safety, an anti-gun advocacy organization funded by former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. He previously worked in Washington, DC as an aide to Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff.
Promoted by Democrats as a rising star in their Party, Smith was a participant in the Obama Foundation’s Leaders Program for 2024-2025. The program is described as an “eight-month values-based leadership program for 24 to 45-year-old changemakers across the public, civil, and private sectors.” His campaign for State Representative has attracted the support of national Democratic organizations such as David Hogg’s Leaders We Deserve PAC.
The race for House District 138, which covers a portion of Harris County, is viewed by many observers as one of the most competitive in the state. Incumbent Republican State Representative Lacey Hull, who was first elected in 2020, is the Chairman of the House Committee on Human Services.
