Dan and Farris Wilks
Daniel Howard "Dan" Wilks (born 1955 or 1956)
They are major investors in and funders of conservative causes, including The Daily Wire, PragerU, and the 2016 presidential campaign of Senator Ted Cruz.
Personal lives
Early lives
The brothers are sons of Myrtle and Gwyn Voy Wilks (went by his middle name) of
Assembly of Yahweh (7th day)
In 1947, Voy and Myrtle Wilks along with Myrtle's father Charlie Cullen Fenter Fenter were disfellowshipped from the Churches of Christ and founded a church which was at first called simply “A Church of Christ.” The church is not Christian, believing that Yahweh is the only god and that Jesus (called Yahushua) is a separate entity. In early 1952 Charles restricted communion to once a year rather than weekly and moved worship from Sunday to Saturday. The Fenters and Wilkses along with a few other families left the congregation and began to meet in private homes. When Charles died in May 1952, Voy took over the congregation and the couple and their five children continued to live at the home of Charles’ widow, Annie.[5]
In 1962 they adopted the name Church of God (7th day) (not to be confused with
Farris Wilks
Farris Wilks is married to Jo Ann and is the father of 11 children.[6][7] He is the current pastor and bishop of the Assembly of Yahweh (7th day) near Cisco.[5] In sermons, he has denounced homosexuality and abortion rights.[8]
Dan Wilks
Dan Wilks is married, with six children, and lives in Cisco, Texas.[9]
Frac Tech
In 2002, the brothers founded a
Post Frac Tech business history
Idaho land purchase and restrictions
As early as 2016
As of 2019, the Wilks brothers' shell company, DF Development, owned approximately 75,000 acres of land across 306 parcels in Valley County. Overall the Wilks brothers own about 200,000 acres in Idaho.[14]
As of 2018, many of the parcels of land owned by the Wilks Brothers have been listed for sale via Wilks Ranch Brokers, LLC. As of 2019, Wilks Ranch Brokers had listed 54,000 acres of Idaho land for sale.[14]
Montana land purchase and restrictions
In Montana, the Wilks brothers asked the Bureau of Land Management if they could swap a piece of their Duffee Hills ranch for a parcel of public land. This request was denied after local hunters objected on the grounds that the brothers had closed down an access road to the wild and scenic Missouri River.[18]
Political activity
Elections and campaigns
- The Wilks brothers supported Texas U.S. Senator Ted Cruz in the 2016 United States presidential election, contributing $15 million to a super political action committee backing Cruz's campaign.[19]
- They gave $50,000 in 2016 to the candidacy of Jeff Judson, who unsuccessfully challenged fellow Republican Joe Straus, Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives, in the District 121 Republican legislative primary in March 2016.[20]
- They contributed $300,350 to Donald Trump's 2020 presidential campaign.[21]
- Farris Wilks gave $75,000 to Jeff Cason in the 2020 Republican primary in the contest to replace Jonathan Stickland in Texas State House District 92.[22]
- Their Defend Texas Liberty PAC gave more than $3 million to the Don Huffines 2022 Texas gubernatorial campaign.[8]
Political media
The Wilks brothers were early investors in political commentator Ben Shapiro's media company The Daily Wire, a conservative news and opinion website in 2015.[23] Additionally, the Wilks Brothers provided early stage funding to Prager University, a YouTube channel and media company started by Dennis Prager to further conservative causes to a young audience.[24] They are major donors to conservative advocacy group Empower Texans.[22]
References
- ^ "Dan Wilks". Forbes. Archived from the original on September 6, 2023. Retrieved September 15, 2023.
- ^ "Farris Wilks". Forbes. Archived from the original on September 15, 2023. Retrieved September 15, 2023.
- ^ Montgomery, Peter (June 13, 2014). "Meet the Billionaire Brothers You Never Heard of Who Fund the Religious Right". American Prospect.
- ^ "The 41 Wealthiest Texans: Nos. 40 and 41: Dan Wilks and Farris Wilks: Dan Wilks (57, CISCO): $1.5 BILLION Farris Wilks (61, CISCO): $1.5 BILLION". Texas Monthly. 16 September 2013.
- ^ a b c "Our History". halleluyah.org. Assembly of Yahweh (7th day). Retrieved 26 December 2019.
- ^ a b Swan, Betsy (4 January 2016). "Inside the Anti-Gay Church That Loves Kim Davis and Ted Cruz". Retrieved 22 December 2019.
- ^ a b Conlin, Michelle (September 11, 2015). "Special Report: Touting morality, billionaire Texas brothers top 2016 donor list". Retrieved 7 July 2016; includes link to their statement of belief
{{cite news}}
: CS1 maint: postscript (link) - ^ a b Casey Tolan; Matthew Reynard; Will Simon; Ed Lavandera (24 July 2022). "How two Texas megadonors have turbocharged the state's far-right shift". CNN. Retrieved 25 July 2022.
Defend Texas Liberty, the group they fund, gave more than $3 million to Don Huffines
- ^ "Forbes profile: Dan Wilks". Forbes. Retrieved September 6, 2023.
- ^ Durgy, Edwin (September 26, 2011). "The Forbes 400's Newest Undercover Billionaires: The Wilks Brothers". Forbes.
- ^ "Billionaires buy up land in Idaho".
- ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2016-03-28.
- ^ "Texas billionaires limit snowmobile access on Idaho land, reverse course on logging".
- ^ a b c Blanchard, Nicole. "Texas billionaires put more Idaho land on the market". www.idahostatesman.com. Idaho Statesman. Retrieved 26 December 2019.
- ^ "Forest Service: Wilks brothers' gates on Forest Service road are illegal". KTVB. 28 November 2018.
- ^ "Texas billionaires put gates on popular Forest Service road near Boise". www.idahostatesman.com.
- ^ Rodine, Kristin. "Video of run-in revives worries caused by Texas billionaires' Idaho land purchase". www.idahostatesman.com. Idaho Statesman. Retrieved 26 December 2019.
- ^ Lundquist, Laura (23 December 2019). "Weyerhaeuser selling to timber investment group with Wilks Brothers ties". www.missoulacurrent.com. Missoula Current. Retrieved 26 December 2019.
- ^ "Big Money: Billionaire Brothers Give Ted Cruz $15M". The Daily Beast. 25 July 2015.
- ^ David Saleh Rauf, "Mega donors bolster tea party: Billionaire family fuels anti-Straus bid", San Antonio Express-News, January 22, 2016, pp. 1, A8
- ^ "Here Are The Billionaires Who Donated To Donald Trump's 2020 Presidential Campaign". Forbes. Retrieved 27 March 2024.
- ^ a b Weinberg, Tessa (February 7, 2020). "After scandal, will Empower Texans donors hurt or help in this Tarrant County race?". Retrieved 14 October 2020.
- ^ Stevenson, Seth (January 24, 2018). "The Many Faces of Ben Shapiro". Slate. Retrieved December 28, 2018.
- ^ Bernstein, Joseph (March 3, 2018). "How PragerU is winning the Right Wing culture war without Donald Trump". BuzzFeed. Archived from the original on March 11, 2018. Retrieved March 12, 2018.