Hank Gilbert in Austin
Hank Gilbert in Austin Ben Philpott

The Democratic primary for agriculture commissioner is going to have to run on star power and free media — neither of the candidates has the money to make a statewide TV campaign out of this thing. The promoters are pretty talented, though: Jason Stanford working for Kinky Friedman and Mike Lavigne handling marketing duties for Hank Gilbert. The winner of the Democratic primary will face a yet-to-be-named Libertarian (Leonard Nelson or Rick Donaldson) and the incumbent, Republican Todd Staples. The numbers from the Democrats’ 30-day reports:

Candidate Contributions Expenditures Cash on Hand Loans
Kinky Friedman $26,023 $11,221 $67,110 $0
Hank Gilbert $0 $12,644 $100,172 $0

Source: Texas Ethics Commission

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Ross Ramsey co-founded The Texas Tribune in 2009 and served as its executive editor until his retirement in 2022. He wrote regular columns on politics, government and public policy. Before joining the...