Net worth: $1.5 Billion (Forbes as of 7/10/25)
- Oil Baron Tim Dunn is one of the ultraconservative billionaires who has been backing Texas Republicans, as well as the GOP nationally, for well over a decade.
- Dunn made his fortune from pulling oil from Midland. While he is relatively unknown outside of the state of Texas, he’s infamous among many in Texas for spending more than $30 million to push the state to the right. In 2023, Dunn sold his company to Occidental Petroleum Crown Rock for $2.2 billion.
- Crowned one of his top five donors, Dunn contributed more than $5 million to Trump’s re-election in 2024.
- In the lead up to the 2022 midterms, Dunn coordinated with fellow billionaire Richard Uihlein to promote conservative candidates through Metric Media’s network of local news sites. The Columbia Journalism Review found that by October 2022, the network had received at least $1.6 million to bolster information about Dunn and Uihlein’s desired candidates.
- Dunn is on the board of Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF), a right-wing think tank affiliated with the State Policy Network. It is funded by big oil companies as well as other right-wing billionaires like the Bradleys.
- The State Policy Network is a group of far-right influence peddlers working at the state and local level to advance extreme right wing policy proposals like defunding public education, gutting environmental regulation, and tax cuts for the wealthiest.
- TPPF is incredibly close with controversial Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who routinely speaks at their events.
- Defend Texas Liberty, a PAC under the Dunn (who supplies roughly 90% of its funding) umbrella, came under fire after its former president spent time with white supremacist Nick Fuentes.
- Some of the PAC’s recipients include Attorney General Ken Paxton and Lt. Governor Dan Patrick.
- Dunn is on the board of the America First Policy Institute, Linda McMahon’s MAGA think tank that has sourced at least 16 alumni for various positions in the Trump administration.
For more information, see the Revolving Door Project’s Oligarchs in Trump World tracker.