WASHINGTON -- Republican U.S. Sen. John Cornyn of Texas received a $2,800 contribution in May from a leader in the opposition party -- Arkansas Democratic National Committeeman Dustin McDaniel.
It's a move that doesn't sit well with some Arkansas Democrats.
The former state attorney general, who serves on the national party's governing board, made the donation on May 15, 2019, Federal Election Commission records show.
The Little Rock attorney said he attended a fundraising lunch in Dallas and gave the money because it was held at a client's corporate office.
"It was the appropriate thing to do at the time, and there are no rules, that I know of, against it," he said Friday when reached by phone.
The donation doesn't mean he's rooting for Cornyn to return to Capitol Hill, McDaniel said.
"Of course I'd like to see a Democrat win that race and retake the United States Senate," he said. "My position on that is absolutely firm."
Press officials with the Democratic National Committee didn't respond Friday to questions about the donation. A staff member confirmed that a request for comment had been received, but couldn't say when a response would be forthcoming.
Democratic Party of Arkansas Chairman Michael John Gray said he hadn't heard about the Cornyn donation until contacted by a reporter.
"I've reached out to the DNC," he said. "I have not been informed that this would be any violation of DNC rules."
While McDaniel may be aiding Cornyn in Texas, he has also shown generosity to Arkansas Democrats over the years, Gray said.
The largest McDaniel contribution listed on the FEC website for 2019, $4,000, went to Big Sky Values PAC, a political action committee affiliated with Montana Gov. Steve Bullock, a Democrat. Another $2,800 went to Bullock's 2020 presidential campaign, which he ended last month. The Western politician, like McDaniel, is a former state attorney general.
Texas Democratic Party communications director Abhi Rahman said McDaniel's donation won't change the outcome.
"John Cornyn can raise all the money he wants but, at the end of the day, it doesn't change the fact that Texans don't like him, they don't trust him, and the fact that he's in for the fight of his life in 2020," he said.
McDaniel previously faced criticism for helping his Republican successor, Attorney General Leslie Rutledge, pay off her 2014 campaign debt. The $2,000 donation from the term-limited McDaniel came in November of that year, after her election but before she took office.
Disclosed April 15, 2015, on Rutledge's final campaign contribution and expenditure report, it bothered some party activists.
"The concern was that people who were working for Democrats and held themselves out to be Democrats were actually working against Democrats by donating to Republicans," said Chris Burks, who was party general counsel when a related rules change occurred.
Later in 2015, the party's state committee voted to add a new section to the rules, empowering the party to discipline leaders who aid Republican campaigns, Burks said.
Titled "Officer Loyalty," it was ratified by the Democratic Party of Arkansas state convention the following year, he added.
"Public expressions of support, including campaign contributions, for candidates opposing nominees of the Democratic Party of Arkansas shall be the basis for censure or removal from office of any officer," Section 7.08 states.
It passed unanimously.
"There was no objection to it," Burks recalled. "It was a very clear prohibition. People felt very [strongly] about it."
The section didn't address aid to out-of-state Republicans.
McDaniel's financial support for Cornyn, a former Republican whip and one of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's top lieutenants, violates the spirit of the rule, if not the letter, Burks said.
"An officer of the Democratic Party of Arkansas should not be donating to a Trump-supporting Republican. Period. Full stop," Burks said.
Asked in a subsequent text whether he has contributed to Republicans beyond Cornyn and Rutledge, McDaniel wrote: "I have given generously to Democrats at every level of government, all over the United States. I also have many friends who are Republicans, especially among America's Attorneys General, and have been proud to contribute across the aisle to good men and women who offer themselves up for public service."
McDaniel, a DNC member since 2009, isn't running for re-election to the committee. A successor will be chosen later this year.
Susan Inman, the Democratic nominee for secretary of state in 2014 and 2018, said she was surprised that McDaniel would help fund the opposition.
"It just feels bad, it looks bad, for Democrats in our state when our national committee member is contributing and funding candidates of another party," she said.
Metro on 01/11/2020
CORRECTION: In 2009, then-Atty. Gen. Dustin McDaniel of Arkansas was elected by fellow members of the Democratic Attorneys General Association to serve on the Democratic National Committee. In 2014, he was elected as Arkansas' Democratic National Committeeman. An earlier version of this article misstated the year McDaniel joined the Democratic National Committee.