Endorsement Whirlwind: Muslim Groups Shift Support In High-Stakes Irving Council Showdown

In just 72 hours between April 26 and April 28, Muslim organizations’ political endorsements in Irving’s City Council race flipped rapidly–– as votes were already being cast.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) Action Texas revoked its endorsement of candidate David Pfaff shortly after group leaders shared a flyer backing him alongside other candidates in a widely shared WhatsApp message targeting Irving’s Muslim community. However, the group did not shift its support to Pfaff’s opponent, Sergio Porres.

Contemporaneous with CAIR’s reversal, the Muslim civic group Impact Action updated its endorsement list to include Porres. Additionally, a new organization called Irving Muslims PAC announced it “was founded in April 2025 during the Irving City Council election to fill a critical gap: the need for principled, faith-based civic engagement.”

Irving Muslims named Porres its choice for the Place 2 seat on the Irving City Council and made no other endorsements. “Our support is based on careful consideration of where individuals and issues stand on justice, religious freedom, family protection, human dignity, and moral responsibility,” the group’s website reads.

The wave of activity followed former Mayor Herb Gears’ warning to the Muslim community in an April 24 YouTube video and WhatsApp message. In the text message, he called attention to the Families For Irving PAC (FFI) and its alleged ties to anti-Sharia efforts from years past. His narrative connected then-Mayor Beth Van Duyne to Families for Irving through Councilman Brad LaMorgese, who was first elected in a wave of candidates aligned with Van Duyne in 2012 and now receives support from FFI.

Gears urged residents to oppose the PAC-backed candidates, including Porres.

“I’m reaching out with deep concern about the Families for Irving PAC and their ties to past anti-Sharia efforts right here in Irving,” Gears said in the message. “Their growing influence could cause real harm to our diverse and peaceful community.”

In his video, Gears dismissed casino concerns, saying, “It’s really a dead issue.”

The message was shared in Muslim WhatsApp groups, and a list of CAIR Action Texas’s endorsements, including of Pfaff, followed shortly thereafter— although it was not immediately clear if it was the first time the list had been published.

Porres responded to Gears’ video by highlighting financial ties between the pro-casino Lone Star Conservative Action Network and Las Vegas Sands, citing reporting first published by The Dallas Express.

A Dallas Express investigation published on April 22 linked the Lone Star Conservative Action Fund — which supports Pfaff — to the Las Vegas Sands Corporation. The fund, whose donor list is not public, shares leadership ties with Leon Strategies, a political firm backed by Sands-linked PACs.

“If the casino is a dead issue, why are all the pro-casino people coming out in support of Pfaff?” Porres said, referencing The Dallas Express article that connected Sands-funded PACs with signage, texts, and other support efforts for Pfaff, Tony Grimes, and Priscilla Vigliante.

Gears responded in an April 25 video, saying, “I smell a rat,” and questioning Porres’s integrity.

However, Gears’ video did not reverse the political earthquake that was already underway, as the Muslim organizations began changing their endorsements shortly thereafter.

Muslim community leaders have been vocal opponents of the proposed casino rezoning since the public became aware of the issue in late February.

At a March 4 Planning and Zoning Commission meeting, Imam Saeed Purcell said, “Muslim populations like ours, one of the largest Islamic centers in the country, have additional religious and ethical reasons to oppose gambling, as Islamic teachings clearly prohibit [it].”

At the March 20 Irving City Council meeting, many Muslim speakers raised concerns about Israeli-born Sands owner Miriam Adelson’s “zionist” views and pro-Israeli political activities.

Muslim Councilman Abdul Khabeer, a figure typically aligned with Democratic politics, was part of the council coalition that signaled opposition to casino gambling. Though the rezoning request was withdrawn on March 20 — moments before a city council vote — tensions over the proposal have lingered as a Sands-aligned organization has poured nearly 100k into the City Council race, DX reported.

The stakes are high for all sides in the council race. LaMorgese is not seeking reelection, leaving Porres and Pfaff to battle for Place 2 and a seat that could determine the council’s ideological control.

However, Porres versus Pfaff is not the only race in this cycle that could have major repercussions.

Adam Muller is running against Vigliante for District 7. Incumbent John Bloch, an anti-casino rezoning figure, is facing Grimes for Place 1. Councilman Abdul Khabeer, a Democrat-aligned Muslim member, was among five councilmen in March to signal opposition to the casino project with Bloch and LaMorgese.

Herb Gears’ opposition to Van Duyne stretches back over a decade, including two failed mayoral campaigns against her. Van Duyne’s tenure was marked by tensions with Irving’s Muslim community, particularly during the 2015 “clock boy” controversy and her criticism of a local Islamic tribunal that was reportedly imposing Sharia law.

“The fact that we are, almost overnight, seeing a massive wave of activity in support of these candidates puts the lie to the idea that Sands is no longer interested in building the world’s largest casino here,” Porres previously told The Dallas Express. “They tried to gaslight the voters and that didn’t work, so their next tactic is to simply flood the field… I don’t think it’s going to work.”

Vigliante, also supported by the same PAC, told DX she was unaware of the fund’s support, noting she had previously voted to curb poker houses.

Pfaff later released a video that showed him saying, “I don’t want their [Sands and Lone Star’s] Support.”

He followed up, saying, “I can not be bought.”

Early voting in the Irving City Council election runs through April 29. Election Day is May 3.