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State lawmakers only had nine days in June to raise money this year, but some were able to amass tens of thousands of dollars for re-election races next year.

The short fundraising period was due to the freeze on officeholders’ fundraising during the regular legislative session. But some lawmakers who are facing challengers in 2016 made a big fundraising push in that time.

So did candidates looking to challenge them, who because they do not hold office were not required to abide by the freeze.

Here are some of the top races we’re looking at:

1) Two GOP representatives are facing off to replace state Sen. Kevin Eltife, R-Tyler, with David Simpson of Longview outraising his colleague Bryan Hughes of Mineola in the nine-day period. Simpson raised roughly $143,000 and spent about $38,000, putting his cash on hand at almost $291,000. Hughes, meanwhile, raised almost $41,000 and spent just over $29,000. Hughes’ cash on hand stands at about $122,500.

2) Another outgoing senator leaving an open seat is Troy Fraser, R-Horseshoe Bay, where the field hasn’t fully developed. But Dawn Buckingham, an ophthalmologist who will be among the candidates in the GOP primary, loaned herself $500,000 to kickstart a war chest of almost $546,000. She raised about $48,000 and spent about $9,500.

The committee backing state Rep. Susan King, R-Abilene, who’s expressed some interest in the race, raised $430 but has nearly $485,000 in cash on hand.

3) On the Democratic side, state Sen. José Menéndez of San Antonio could see a rematch with state Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer. Menéndez beat Martinez Fischer in a special election earlier this year to replace former state Sen. Leticia van de Putte.

Both Democrats were active in fundraising during the nine-day period, with Menéndez’s mid-year cash on hand at $83,350 and Martinez Fischer’s at about $194,000.

On the House side, two top allies of House Speaker Joe Straus are facing primary challenges, although only state Rep. Charlie Geren, R-Fort Worth, has announced he is running for re-election.

4) State Rep. Byron Cook, R-Corsicana, didn’t raise any money during the 9-day period but has almost $675,000 in cash on hand. If he runs as expected, Cook would face Thomas McNutt, whose family owns the Collin Street Bakery. McNutt raised about $104,000 and has more than $41,000 in the bank.

5) Geren has announced he’ll seek re-election and will face Bo French, who was a business partner of Chris Kyle, the late Navy SEAL sniper whose story inspired the movie American Sniper.

Geren raised roughly $205,000 and has a war chest of about $801,000. French raised almost $104,000 and spent about $19,000. He also loaned himself $10,000.

6) Another House incumbent facing a challenge is state Rep. Molly White, R-Belton, who faces former state Rep. Hugh Shine. Shine has raised about $125,000 and loaned himself $30,000. White, meanwhile, raised about $7,700 and has about $7,600 in the bank, spending roughly $30,000 this year.

7) State Rep. J.D. Sheffield, R-Gatesville, will be challenged by Brent Graves, a land broker and auctioneer from Stephenville. Graves and Sheffield each raised about $9,500 this year, but Sheffield’s $40,000 war chest gives him an advantage over Graves, who has about $1,600 in cash on hand.

8) And state Rep. Dan Flynn, R-Van, who raised $7,025 and has about $22,800 in cash on hand, faces a challenge from Bryan Slaton. Slaton raised about $7,400 and has roughly $6,350 in cash on hand.

Enlarge Bob Daemmrich

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, Gov. Rick Perry and state Rep. Jimmie Don Aycock, R-Killeen, are shown at a press conference at Fort Hood, Texas, on April 4, 2014.

The first presidential debate sanctioned by national Republicans is not until Aug. 6, but the two White House hopefuls from Texas have nonetheless agreed to share a stage three days beforehand.

Both U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz and former Gov. Rick Perry will participate in a forum Aug. 3 in New Hampshire hosted by the early-voting state's largest newspaper, according to their campaigns. Organizers of the event are branding it as a kind of protest of the Aug. 6 debate, which Granite State Republicans have criticized as too exclusionary.

To qualify for the Aug. 6 debate, which Fox News is hosting in Ohio, candidates need to be polling in the top 10 of an average of the five most recent national surveys. On Wednesday, Cruz's spot on the stage appeared secure, while Perry's prospects looked less certain.

The two will nonetheless have a chance to practice their debate skills at the Aug. 3 event, which is being sponsored by the New Hampshire Union Leader and other early-voting state newspapers. So far, at least a half dozen other candidates have RSVPed.

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Texas' chamber of commerce is calling on Cruz to "put constituents ahead of politics" and support the reauthorization of the U.S. Export-Import Bank, whose charter expired at the end of June.

Cruz and other conservatives said at a news conference this week that they could block a highway funding bill if the bank's reauthorization is added onto the bill.

"I am willing to use any and all procedural tools to stop this corporate welfare, this corruption from being propagated," Cruz said, according to the Tribune’s Abby Livingston.

But the Texas Association of Businesses and Texas Association of Manufacturers criticized Cruz's stance in a statement, noting that the bank "supports over 135,000 Texas jobs and over $21 million in state exports."

“Texas exports more than any other state for a reason: We have the best workers and businesses," the groups said. "And our businesses rely on a host of tools to continue growing and hiring, including the Export-Import Bank. Senator Ted Cruz has failed to understand that and chooses, again and again, to put politics ahead of economic progress and payrolls for his constituents.”

*****

Two candidates for Houston mayor — Bill King and Sylvester Turner — released further information on their fundraising activity being reported on their July semiannual reports.

In the case of King, he gave the press a look at his report, which confirms that he lent his campaign $500,000 over the first six months of the year. A $100,000 loan was made Jan. 12, followed by one for $150,000 on June 4 and $250,000 on June 25.

As he announced earlier, King also raised roughly $750,000 from about 600 donations over the same period.

Turner, meanwhile, announced that he has a little more than $1.1 million in cash on hand after raising more than $760,000 in the nine days after the fundraising blackout on state officials ended.

*****

Julián Castro was hit with a $5,000 fine from the Texas Ethics Commission over errors in several of his campaign finance reports.

Castro, who’s now secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, misreported some items in reports stretching from 2011 to 2013, according to a recent order from the TEC. But the commission did not agree with allegations that Castro “converted political contributions to personal use” and accepted corporate donations.

The Texas Ethics Advisory Board, a conservative group, brought the complaint against Castro.

Enlarge Todd Wiseman

State Rep. David Simpson, R-Longview, on the House floor on May 7, 2015.

State Rep. David Simpson, R-Longview, again asked Gov. Greg Abbott to call a special session on same-sex marriage — this time regarding state agencies awarding benefits to same-sex couples.
 
Simpson, who’s running to replace state Sen. Kevin Eltife, R-Tyler, wrote in a letter this week that under the state’s constitution, the Legislature needs to sign off on any new spending, but that agencies have decided to allow those benefits following the U.S. Supreme Court ruling.
 
“There is no question that the appropriations made by the Texas Legislature did not include benefits for same-sex partners,” Simpson wrote. “In fact, such benefits have been intentionally prohibited by state law. The SCOTUS has the authority to decide a case, but it has no authority to appropriate state funds, and anyone who expends state funds without an appropriation is in violation of state law.”
 
Simpson addressed his letter to Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, House Speaker Joe Straus and Attorney General Ken Paxton. He said if state agencies made those decisions in consultation with them, their “acquiescence in this matter is derelict.”

*****

Gov. Greg Abbott, who made a concerted push last year to win Hispanic voters, is being careful when it comes to presidential hopeful Donald Trump’s inflammatory comments about illegal immigration.
 
“One thing that he has done that a bunch of candidates have done is he has injected into the presidential race the need to talk about the border,” Abbott said during an interview Monday morning on Fox News.

"Now, listen, I disagree with some of the tenor of Donald Trump, but the fact is that he has pointed out a great frustration that Americans have, and that is Washington, D.C., has not done its job to secure the border.”
 
Since he entered the 2016 race last month, Trump has riled the GOP with strident denunciations of illegal immigration, characterizing people in the country unlawfully as rapists and killers. As a result, most of the Republican field has distanced themselves from the bombastic billionaire.
 
Abbott’s remarks Monday put him between fellow Texas Republicans Rick Perry and Ted Cruz. Perry, the former governor, has positioned himself as a leading voice in the GOP against Trump, saying his comments do not represent the party. On the other hand, Cruz, a senator, has been the lone presidential candidate offering a defense of Trump, arguing he is raising an important issue.
 
Abbott, according to exit polling by the Texas Politics Project, won 44 percent of the Hispanic vote in the 2014 gubernatorial race after making an effort to attract Latino support. Throughout his campaign and since taking office, he has sought to balance that outreach with the image of a tough-on-the-border governor.

*****

Abbott has a new tool in his efforts to lure businesses to Texas — a web video highlighting his trip to New York.
 
The video, released on Wednesday, includes footage of Abbott at the New York Stock Exchange and the recent Facebook groundbreaking in Fort Worth over audio of news coverage of his trip.

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For this week’s nonscientific survey of insiders in government and politics, we asked about the immigration positions of the GOP presidential candidates. Specifically, we wanted to know which candidate best reflects the stance of the majority of the party's primary voters on that hot-button issue.

The insiders were evenly split, with 25 percent saying Donald Trump most reflected the beliefs of the primary voters and 24 percent saying Jeb Bush's views are most representative. Rick Perry and Ted Cruz were each cited by 21 percent while 10 percent nominated someone else.

State Rep. David Simpson, R-Longview, made some news this week by calling for a special session to address the decision by state agencies to fund benefits for same-sex spouses in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court decision legalizing same-sex marriage.

On this, the insiders have the agencies' backs. Close to three-fourths thought the agencies have done nothing wrong in going ahead without prior legislative action. And 90 percent didn't think the issue would spur Gov. Greg Abbott to call a special session.

And with the controversial (in some quarters) Jade Helm 15 military exercise kicking off this week, we asked if Abbott's response is doing long-term damage to Texas' image. On this question, the insiders were almost evenly split with 46 percent saying that damage has been done and 47 percent saying no.

We collected comments along the way, and a full set of those is attached. Here’s a sampling:

Enlarge Emily Albracht

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Who in the GOP presidential field is closest to the majority of primary voters on immigration?

• "Fiorina"

• "Marco Rubio"

• "GOP primary voters nationwide do not view immigration the same way Texans do. Jeb and Perry both reflect an intelligent approach."

• "It is Perry that serves the red meat and Jeb serves the solution. Has Trump even been to the border?"

• "No one wants to say it out loud, but many GOP primary voters believe that Latin American immigration, legal or not, is bad for this country."

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Are state agencies wrong to fund benefits to same-sex partners without legislative action, as state Rep. David Simpson suggested this week?

• "Texas is also WRONG to accept the bogus SCOTUS decision. It's as bad as blindly accepting Dred Scott."

• "They are complying with the law. As a public employee, you have an obligation to comply with rules, regulations, legislative mandates and court ordered rulings."

• "You can make a technical legal argument that the Legislature should speak, but is Mr. Simpson going to fund the legal challenges?"

• "The law is absolutely clear on this. No legislative action is needed, as the definition of spouse is automatically changed by operation of law. It's simply bizarre that so many supposedly educated people have suddenly gotten amnesia on basic law."

• "Simpson's comment was intended for primary voters, not for serious policy discussion."

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Will Greg Abbott call a special session to resolve the same-sex benefit funding issue?

• "Texans are waking to the SCOTUS decision and the more they understand the ramifications, the more angry they become."

• "If we didn't have the money — maybe, but still not likely. When we have lots of unbudgeted money — why?"

• "He was lucky to get the Lege out of town the first time — he doesn't want them back."

• "It Democrats are smart enough, they'll force Abbott to call a Special. Then watch Patrick vs. Abbott."

• "The gay thing is too good an opportunity for grandstanding to pass up. For both sides."

Enlarge Emily Albracht

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With the Jade Helm 15 military exercise starting this week, does Abbott's response cause long-term damage to Texas' image?

• "We need answers to simple questions like: Has this kind of exercise ever happened before? Why is it surrounded by secrecy? Why not NYC where terror has already struck?"

• "Had to wonder how that was playing with the New York business crowd..."

• "I think people would expect Texas to respond this way. I also think most people outside of Texas already have their minds made up one way or the other about Texas."

• "Most people think Jade Helm is on the Bachelorette."

• "Who cares what anyone else thinks? Texas' image to everyone else is that we are the place to come and be free, and if you don't like it, leave."

Our thanks to this week's participants: Gene Acuna, Cathie Adams, Clyde Alexander, George Allen, Jay Arnold, Andrew Biar, Allen Blakemore, Tom Blanton, Chris Britton, Raif Calvert, Lydia Camarillo, Snapper Carr, Janis Carter, Corbin Casteel, Elna Christopher, Harold Cook, Randy Cubriel, Curtis Culwell, Denise Davis, June Deadrick, Glenn Deshields, Tom Duffy, Richard Dyer, Jack Erskine, Tom Forbes, Dominic Giarratani, Bruce Gibson, Stephanie Gibson, Eric Glenn, John Greytok, Clint Hackney, Wayne Hamilton, Bill Hammond, Ken Hodges, Steve Holzheauser, Deborah Ingersoll, Mark Jones, Robert Kepple, Richard Khouri, Tom Kleinworth, Ramey Ko, Dale Laine, Pete Laney, Dick Lavine, James LeBas, Luke Legate, Leslie Lemon, Ruben Longoria, Matt Mackowiak, Steve Minick, Bee Moorhead, Mike Moses, Nelson Nease, Sylvia Nugent, Todd Olsen, Gardner Pate, Robert Peeler, Tom Phillips, Wayne Pierce, Allen Place, Gary Polland, Jay Pritchard, Patrick Reinhart, David Reynolds, Chuck Rice, Carl Richie, A.J. Rodriguez, Grant Ruckel, Jason Sabo, Barbara Schlief, Stan Schlueter, Robert Scott, Ben Sebree, Christopher Shields, Nancy Sims, Ed Small, Mark Smith, Larry Soward, Leonard Spearman, Dennis Speight, Colin Strother, Sherry Sylvester, Sara Tays, Jay Thompson, Trey Trainor, Corbin Van Arsdale, Ware Wendell, David White, Darren Whitehurst, Seth Winick.

Enlarge Todd Wiseman

Friday, July 17

• 56th Texas AFL-CIO Constitutional Convention, featuring AFL-CIO President Rich Trumka and a salute to Becky Moeller; 701 E. 11th Street, Austin (9 a.m.-6:30 p.m.)
• GOP presidential candidate Carly Fiorina keynote address at the 2015 Institute of Economic Empowerment of Women's Graduation Gala for Peace Through Business Entrepreneurs; 2943 SMU Boulevard, Dallas (7 p.m.)
• GOP presidential candidate Rand Paul "Stand with Rand" rally; 1200 Louisiana Street, Second Floor, Houston (2:45 p.m.)

Saturday, July 18

• 56th Texas AFL-CIO Constitutional Convention; 701 E. 11th Street, Austin (9-11 a.m.)

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz said he’s “willing to use any and all procedural tools” to prevent the reauthorization of the federal Export-Import Bank, whose charter expired at the end of June. Some in Congress are looking to attach the bank’s reauthorization to the federal highway bill, but Cruz said he may filibuster the bill if that’s the case.

Both Cruz and former Gov. Rick Perry burned through about half of the money they raised from April to June, putting them somewhere in the middle of the GOP field on that measure. Cruz’s $52 million haul is likely to put him second in the GOP fundraising race, while Perry’s network has raised about $18 million, with only $1.14 million of that coming from his campaign.

The U.S. military training exercise called Jade Helm 15 kicked off Wednesday, but there was little evidence in Bastrop of continued anxiety over the operation, which had garnered multiple headlines in April when some citizens warned it could lead to martial law.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick joined Gov. Greg Abbott in calling for an investigation into Planned Parenthood after an anti-abortion group's release of an undercover video. The video, which Planned Parenthood said misrepresented its work, showed an executive from the organization discussing how aborted fetuses can be preserved for medical research.

The State Board of Education voted Wednesday to seek alternatives to the computer-based General Education Development exam — possibly including paper-based tests. The 14-0 vote came a day after the board heard more than three hours of testimony from test-takers, teachers and advocates who said the only high school equivalency test the state recognizes is too expensive and too difficult.

The Rusk County Commissioners Court formally accepted the resignation of County Clerk Joyce Lewis-Kugle, apparently the first Texas elected official to quit office rather than abide by the U.S. Supreme Court decision legalizing gay marriage.

U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Austin, the U.S. House’s top Republican on homeland security, issued a scathing indictment of Mexican officials for letting Joaquin Guzmán, the world’s most notorious drug lord, tunnel out of a maximum-security prison.

Texas Republicans slammed President Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran, criticizing almost every aspect of the deal, from the lifting of the arms embargo to doubts on whether Iranians would allow inspectors to enter sites. Perry said that if he becomes president, one of his first actions “will be to fully rescind this accord.”

Disclosure: Planned Parenthood was a corporate sponsor of The Texas Tribune in 2011. A complete list of Tribune donors and sponsors can be viewed here.

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick reported bringing in more than $2 million during the 9-day fundraising period last month, which his campaign touted as a record haul. Patrick now has nearly $5 million in cash on hand. He also reported expenditures of nearly $1.1 million.

House Speaker Joe Straus reported raising $282,000 in the 9-day June fundraising period, giving him more than $8.1 million in cash on hand that he said will help his efforts to re-elect GOP House incumbents.

The Glenn Hegar campaign announced that the state comptroller raised $625,000 on his semiannual report, leaving him with $2.7 million in cash on hand.

Reed Williams, a grape grower who retired from the oil industry, announced his candidacy for state Sen. Troy Fraser's open seat. Williams previously served two terms in San Antonio’s city council and currently sits on the San Antonio Water System's board of trustees.

State Rep. Charles “Doc” Anderson announced last Friday that he’ll seek re-election in House District 56. The Waco Republican has served the McLennan County district since 2005.

Senate District 1 candidate Bryan Hughes won late last week the endorsement of the Tea Party group Grassroots America — We the People PAC, which is led by JoAnn Fleming.

Justice Cindy Bourland of the 3rd Court of Appeals has nabbed an endorsement from the Texans for Lawsuit Reform PAC. Former Gov. Rick Perry appointed Bourland in January for the seat, which is up for election in 2016.

State Rep. Allen Fletcher, R-Cypress, has endorsed Harris County Sheriff Ron Hickman county sheriff seat he once sought. Fletcher is retiring from public service and will not be on the ballot in 2016.

Bill King, the businessman running for Houston mayor, got an endorsement this week from the Spring Branch Republicans organization that hosts forums with prominent Texas GOP politicians.

The Texas Sunset Advisory Commission has been named a winner of a 2015 National Legislative Program Evaluation Society (NLPES) Certificate of Impact. The honor was given for the agency's report on the University Interscholastic League (UIL) during the 2014-2015 review cycle.

Disclosure: San Antonio Water System was a corporate sponsor of The Texas Tribune in 2012 and 2013. A complete list of Tribune donors and sponsors can be viewed here.