Loving County is not only the least populated county in Texas, but with 64 official inhabitants as of the 2020 census, it’s also the least populated county in the entire nation. (Kalawao County, Hawaii, on an island that was formerly a leper colony, comes in second.) Flat desert land up along the New Mexico border, Loving doesn’t have much to recommend it except splendid isolation.
And oil.
It’s that last little bit, Loving’s notable oil wealth, that probably inspired a carpetbagger gadfly from Indiana to try to take over Loving County.
Malcolm Tanner, a political activist from Indiana who has filed to run for president of the United States, has drawn widespread attention after the Houston Chronicle first reported on his plan to recruit new residents to Loving County by offering them free homes. Tanner purchased and subdivided land in the remote county, promising a title to anyone willing to move there, register to vote, and join his effort to remake the community’s government.
Tanner evidently ran for President in 2024, and made so little an impression that he failed to register the low four-digit totals of Vermin Supreme and “Lucifer Everylove.” Tanner’s platform (“an executive order that would provide African Americans with a $5,000 monthly settlement”) and naming his group “Melanated People of Power” does rather suggest a social justice bent to his politics.
Back to The Texan:
The plan’s implications are significant, given two defining features of Loving County: its minuscule population and its oil-rich tax base. The U.S. Census Bureau estimates only about 64 residents live within its boundaries, yet the county government takes in roughly $60 million annually in property tax revenue from the surrounding Permian Basin oilfields.
With the Chronicle reporting that Tanner has already relocated some 30 people to the area, an unprecedented political takeover has gone from just another viral social media post to a very serious reality.
“This woman right here is in the running to be the next county judge right here in Loving County,” Tanner said in one video, referring to a new resident while jokingly calling the area “Tanner County.”
In the footage, Tanner stands on a patch of dry, windswept land he claims as his future subdivision, surrounded by recruits who have accepted his offer of free homes and, according to his plan, will soon register to vote and run for local office.
This past week, Tanner also promoted an event called “Tanner Fest” in the county seat of Mentone, advertising “100 free homes up for grabs” and promising to “share the vision and process” behind his movement.
It does rather sound like Tanner is promising material rewards for voting his way. Tiny problem: That’s illegal under federal law.
In another video, Tanner is seen confronting a Loving County deputy at the courthouse. “Once we get here, we are going to fine-tooth everything,” he says. “If we find anything out of pocket, we’re gonna lock you up.” He also added that he believes county officials have been “stealing money.”
News of Tanner’s plan has triggered a wave of attention across state and national media — and drawn alarm from state and federal officials, who are now calling for investigations into what they describe as a potential threat to election integrity.
“We write to request immediate action and coordination among agencies to address serious election irregularities and threats of manipulation in Loving County,” state Sen. Kevin Sparks (R-Midland) and state Rep. Brooks Landgraf (R-Odessa) said in a joint letter last week to Secretary of State Jane Nelson.
The lawmakers cited “disparities in recent election results” and emphasized the seriousness of the matter. “All Texans, including those in the most rural areas, deserve fair and lawful elections,” they wrote, asking the secretary of state to “use all available authority to investigate and address election fraud in Loving County.”
Enter Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.
Attorney General Ken Paxton has filed a sweeping lawsuit and is seeking an emergency restraining order against an Indiana man accused of trying to “take over” Texas’ least populous county through what he is calling an illegal and unsafe settlement scheme.
Filed in Loving County’s 143rd Judicial District Court, the petition names Malcolm Tanner, a Crawfordsville, Indiana, resident who purchased two adjoining five-acre tracts in January of this year.
According to the complaint, Tanner has been using social media to invite followers—many of them women with children—to move to the barren property, promising “free homes” and even “$5,000 a month” if they help him “take over” local government.
“Indiana resident Malcolm Tanner has no right to try and take over Loving County with illegal schemes that endanger real Texans,” Paxton said in a statement. “His deceptive and unlawful scheme to lure people with free housing for the purpose of conducting a political takeover is a disgustingly fraudulent plot to line his own pockets.”
The lawsuit alleges Tanner’s property has no sewer, septic systems, or running water, relying instead on gas generators and a “burn pit” for trash disposal. Dozens of people have reportedly moved in, living in RVs and tents on the desolate land.
State attorneys say those conditions violate Chapter 341 of the Texas Health and Safety Code, which governs the disposal of sewage and other waste that could spread disease. The requested temporary restraining order would bar Tanner and others from discharging human waste in ways that could contaminate soil or groundwater and would prohibit any additional residents from moving onto the site until it meets health-code standards.
The 14-page filing goes further, accusing Tanner of running a “combination” engaged in organized criminal activity, citing alleged threats against law-enforcement and oil-field workers. It also seeks to declare the site a public nuisance and asks the court to impose any restrictions needed to prevent future “gang activity.”
Separately, Paxton’s office brings claims under the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act, asserting that Tanner falsely advertised free housing, misrepresented the quality of property being offered, and failed to disclose critical information about living conditions. The State is seeking up to $10,000 per violation and additional penalties of $10 to $200 per day for ongoing health-code violations.
Prosecutors note that Tanner has publicly bragged online about plans to “change the name of Loving County to Tanner County” and to run for president in 2028. The filing describes his effort as both a public-health hazard and a fraudulent political operation, alleging he “receives financial support from individuals as a condition of them remaining on the property.”
The attorney general’s office is asking the court to immediately issue an ex parte temporary restraining order, followed by a temporary and then permanent injunction halting habitation and advertising at the property.
If the scheme itself sound familiar, that’s because it’s exactly what Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh managed to do to Antelope (briefly “Rajneesh”), Oregon in the early 1980s: Encouraged his followers to settle there and take over the local town council. A lot of criminality and lunacy (including a “bioweapon attack” of salmonella) ensued before Rajneesh was deported for immigration fraud in 1985, and the whole scheme collapsed.
I had previously had the impression that no land in Loving County was for sale, as the locales didn’t want to sell, but it appears that a few plots are now available at relatively modest prices. I’m not sure how deep “Dr.” Malcolm Tanner’s pockets are, but the gadfly nature of his actions suggests someone bigger on impractical dreams than cold, hard cash.
I sincerely doubt Mr. Tanner has Bhagwan money.
In a way, Loving County is quite fortunate. Someone with deeper pockets and the ability not to shoot their mouth off about their cockamamie carpetbagging schemes might have actually managed a takeover of the county before anyone noticed…