Beto O'Rourke asks appeals court to toss Greg Abbott megadonor Kelcy Warren's libel lawsuit

The legal fight pitting Texas billionaire Kelcy Warren against Beto O'Rourke, the Democratic candidate for governor, has moved into the appeals courts, where O'Rourke is seeking to dismiss Warren's defamation lawsuit or, at the very least, remove the case from the energy executive's county of choice.

Warren, a political ally of O'Rourke's Republican opponent, Gov. Greg Abbott, sued the Democrat in February, alleging that he was defamed, libeled and slandered when his name got dragged into the political fight.

O'Rourke claims Abbott — beholden to large corporate donors, including a $1 million contribution from Warren — went soft on efforts to protect the Texas power grid that failed with fatal results during the 2021 freeze. Abbott rejects the claim, arguing that power plants have been upgraded and the grid is "good to go."

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In his lawsuit filed in San Saba County, about 100 miles northwest of Austin, Warren accused O'Rourke of making baseless claims that Abbott sought to benefit his company, Energy Transfer.

"O’Rourke has repeatedly stated, with no basis in fact whatsoever, that Warren 'broke the law' and committed felonies — extortion, bribery, and corruption — when he purportedly 'bought off' Governor Abbott not to fix the power grid in Texas so that Energy Transfer supposedly could make money in the event the grid failed," the lawsuit said.

Last month, a judge in San Saba County rejected O'Rourke's request to dismiss the lawsuit.

This week, O'Rourke made the same request to the Austin-based 3rd Court of Appeals, arguing that a state law, the Texas Citizens Participation Act, protects against retaliatory lawsuits that seek to intimidate or silence speakers on matters of public concern.

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O'Rourke, the appeal argued, exercised his free speech rights by railing against the influence wielded by energy executives while also criticizing fees charged by gas suppliers during the freeze and Abbott's approval of a "loophole" excusing some gas suppliers from winterizing after the storm.

"This is a frivolous abuse of the judicial system to silence political debate," O'Rourke's appeal said.

In addition, courts have long held that political debate, particularly statements comparing campaign contributions to bribery and extortion, are not defamatory, the appeal said.

"The colloquial use of sharp words to describe the danger of $1 million political contributions is not defamatory," the appeal said. "O’Rourke’s colloquial use of sharp words to describe a gas industry billionaire making a $1 million contribution days after the governor signed legislation containing a loophole favoring the gas industry is protected political speech and is not defamatory."

According to campaign records, Warren donated almost $2.8 million to Abbott in the past 10 years.

In a second appeal that also was filed Wednesday at the 3rd Court, O'Rourke argued that if the lawsuit was allowed to continue, it should be moved from San Saba County — where Warren spends two to three months a year on his ranch, court records show — to El Paso County, where O'Rourke lives.

"Warren’s legal residence — where he votes, pays taxes, claims a homestead, and receives official mail related to his San Saba vacation ranch — is in Dallas County," the second appeal said.

The appeal also disputed Warren's claims that San Saba County is the proper venue because he was living on the ranch when several of the allegedly defamatory remarks were made.

The proper venue could be an important consideration for a case with political implications. In the 2020 election, San Saba voters favored Republican Donald Trump over Democrat Joe Biden by an 8-to-1 margin, while Trump was soundly rejected by voters in Dallas and El Paso counties.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Beto O'Rourke asks court to toss lawsuit by Abbott backer Kelcy Warren