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GOP Texas candidate in the hot seat after rival exposes family's Dem donations: 'Doesn't make sense'
By Leo Briceno
Published March 03, 2026
A GOP candidate running for Congress in Texas believes the state’s open primaries may have allowed a Democrat to enter a Republican primary.
Alexander Hale can’t help but have questions about the political positions of his fellow Republican challenger — Alexander Kalai — as they face off to represent Texas’ 7th Congressional District. Kalai, for his part, claims he has all the Republican credentials he needs.
"In reality, I have a long history of supporting Republicans and Republican causes," Kalai told Fox News Digital on Tuesday.
Kalai’s background first caught Hale’s attention in December.
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Alexander Hale in an interview with Fox News Digital in Feb. 2026. (Fox News Digital)
"I was simply looking up my opponent’s information. And I saw on Transparency USA that his father had given [thousands] to Beto" and other top Democrats, Hale said, referring to a former Democratic representative of Texas, Beto O’Rourke, the failed Senate and gubernatorial candidate.
"And I thought, ‘well, that is super strange.’"
Federal Election Commission (FEC) filings show that Kalai's family has a track record of donating to Democrats, leading Hale to believe that the open primary system in Texas may invite Republican-looking candidates to detract attention from candidates with platforms that align more closely with the GOP base. Hale believes that’s a weakness shared by many states that use open primaries.
"I don’t think it’s too much of a stretch to say, well, ‘shouldn’t we only have Republicans electing Republicans and Democrats only electing Democrats?’" Hale said of the primary elections.
Texas is one of 14 states that use an open primary system, allowing unregistered candidates to announce their consideration for a party’s primary race.
In Kalai’s case, his website states that he supports traditional Republican positions like school choice, protecting women’s sports and an emphasis on deregulation to promote economic activity.
Asked about his positions, Kalai said he has championed Republican causes for years.
"I think even if you look back to my time in law school at Columbia, I was on the board of the Federalist Society, which everyone knows is not just Republican — it's a preeminent conservative institution defending the Constitution. So when you look at the facts, there should really be no doubt about my credentials as a conservative or a Republican," Kalai said, alluding to the conservative and libertarian studies group.
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Former U.S. Rep. Beto O'Rourke speaks to attendees during a "Our Fight, Our Future" rally at The Millennium bowling alley on October 2, 2024 in Austin, Texas. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
Kalai’s campaign has received $182,000. Of those, $134,000 has come from his own pocket. Kalai lists his source for those donations as "self-employed" and described that venture as part of a family business.
"I'm the CFO at Amerapex," Kalai said, referring to a technology, engineering and industrial services company based in Houston. "It's a family business. I own a very significant portion of it in shares. The other shareholders are my brother, my father and my mother. We own 100% of the company together."
His campaign has also received two donations from his parents, Bashar and Grigitte Kalai, both for $3,500 — the most one donor can give a candidate for the primary, according to federal law.
Bashar Kalai’s donation to his son, a Republican, goes against the grain of his past political contributions. As Hale pointed out, Bashar has a long track record of political donations — to Democrats.
In addition to his contributions to Beto O’Rourke, he has donated to the campaigns of Hillary Clinton, Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., the House Majority PAC, which is controlled by Democratic leadership in the House of Representatives and other Democratic candidates.
Hale, Kalai's opponent, believes his proximity to his son should raise questions about Alexander Kalai’s affiliations.
"I’d love to hear an explanation as to why someone comes out of the blue with all this blue money and says, ‘Hey, I’m a Republican. You’ve never heard of me. I’ve never voted in a primary, but I’m the Republican you need. It doesn’t make sense," Hale said.
Kalai pushed back on Hale's characterizations, arguing that his father's past contributions don't preclude him from holding Republican positions. When asked if his father's political views ever clashed with his own, Kalai said his father had encouraged him to pursue his own course.
"My parents are like pro go try everything. Go do whatever you want and be your own man. That's, that's what they've always supported. There have been a few times over the years when we've gotten into like, you know, sort of real arguments," Kalai said.
"My family's actually pretty split. My mother's very conservative and part of the right and my brother is so far to the right he's perhaps an anarchist. So I think this doesn't mean anything," Kalai said.
Kalai confirmed that he has never voted in a primary.
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Hillary Clinton, former U.S. secretary of state, speaks to members of the media outside the Chappaqua Performing Arts Center in Chappaqua, New York, U.S., on Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026. (Adam Gray/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
At the end of the day, Hale said his concerns stretch beyond the particulars of Kalai's campaign. He fears that candidates with sufficient financial backing, like Kalai, could present a convincing picture to voters in a primary process where fundraising is often used to establish legitimacy.
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"Money buys attention. In open primaries, we end up in a situation where whoever has the most money — it feels like whoever has the most money wins," Hale said.
Hale and Kalai will face off at the ballot box on Tuesday evening alongside three other Republican candidates. Whoever wins that primary will face off against incumbent Rep. Lizzie Fletcher, D-Texas, in November.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to include Kalai's response pushing back on allegations that he's a Democrat meddling in a Texas GOP primary.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/gop-texas-candidate-hot-seat-after-rival-exposes-familys-dem-donations-doesnt-make-sense