With an official population of 64, Loving County is the least-populated county in Texas. It’s the kind of place where locals might take quick notice of newcomers.
Lately, there have been some new faces in the area, some of whom are talking about a political takeover of the county and its budget, which has been swollen by revenue from oil and gas taxes.
Eric Dexheimer, investigative reporter for the Houston Chronicle, looked into who was behind the new group. He spoke to the Texas Standard about what he found. Listen to the interview above or read the transcript below.
This transcript has been edited lightly for clarity:
Texas Standard: Tell me a little bit about who seems to be leading this effort that, as I understand it, would be to move more people into Loving County and, what, take over government?
Eric Dexheimer: Well, that’s what they’ve been saying on social media.
So it’s a group of people. Right now, it stands at about three dozen. They’ve been coming from all over the country. And they’ve been kind of attracted there by a man named Dr. Malcolm Tanner, who is kind of a mysterious leader who is based in Indiana.
He has a very large social media presence. And he has been promising people who move out there a free house and $5,000 a month to live there. It’s unclear how he’s going to provide either of those things, but his stated goal on his social media posts has been to get enough people out there to register to vote to win county seats.
The Loving County government is the only official government in Loving County and they have a massive budget, about $60 million.
$60 million. I’m guessing that’s oil and gas money.
Yeah, so Loving County is in the middle of the Permian Basin, which has been experiencing this ongoing oil and gas boom, and their revenues just not so long ago were about $5 million a year.
In the last five years, they’ve jumped to about $60 million, so that’s about a million dollars per permanent resident.
Have any homes been given away yet, and where’s this money coming from for free houses?
Well, that part is mysterious to me as well. When I went out there, I saw only a cluster of RVs. And there was one woman I interviewed who said that when she arrived, she was told she would have to get a tent and a generator.
This is in a very, very rural part of the state. It’s about a half hour drive down rough caliche roads owned by oil companies outside of Mentone, which is the only city in Loving County. Their grocery stores are about an hour away. There’s no water out there. There’s no electrical lines out there. So it’s very harsh living conditions.
And when I was there anyway, I didn’t see anything resembling a house, so I couldn’t tell you how those houses are going to be built, paid for, or apportioned out.
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Is Dr. Tanner living in Loving County now?
I’ve heard that he has stopped by several times, but I don’t believe he lives there. I think his address, at least on the public documents I’ve been able to find, still list him as living in Indiana.
Is it clear whether he’s had any real success? I mean, is it clear how many people have moved out, followed, heeded this call?
From the people I’ve spoken to, they’ve counted about maybe 30 to three dozen, and when they first arrived, they submitted a stack to the voter registrar of about 30 registration applications. There were some technical problems with them, so most of them were not accepted.
But the voter register, who also doubles as the elected sheriff out there, has said that they can be cured without too much difficulty. So there’s definitely the kind of the raw material for having a substantial voting block out there.
What’s the reaction been like among longer-term residents, those who’ve got some roots out there?
I think they’re kind of watching very warily. This is not Loving County’s first rodeo. There have been other kind of charismatic people who’ve moved out there who want to claim it as their own.
You know, as I said, these are mostly African Americans. Loving County is, as of 2020, was exclusively white and Hispanic. I think there have been a couple of families who have moved in since then.
So they’re definitely a new group of people who stand out, but I haven’t seen anybody overtly hostile. I think they’re just kind of curious to see what’s going to happen.