The GOP primary for Texas comptroller of public accounts is shaping up to be an expensive one, with candidates hauling in millions in contributions from donors whose businesses will be affected by the decisions of the state’s next chief financial officer.

The three candidates in the race had collectively raised nearly $10 million as of early September, even as two of the contenders were under a fundraising moratorium for the first half of the year, while the Legislature was in session. Former state Sen. Don Huffines leads the pack, followed by Railroad Commission Chair Christi Craddick and Interim Comptroller Kelly Hancock. In comparison, former comptroller Glenn Hegar and his primary opponents had raised a combined $674,000 around at the same point in the 2014 cycle, the last time the office was open.

Experts say the cash influx in part reflects the authority the office has over a wide range of business sectors. For instance, the comptroller is in charge of collecting dozens of taxes in the state, developing statewide contracts for goods, overseeing the state’s corporate tax incentives program and managing $50 billion worth of assets — all on top of shepherding the state budget and calculating revenue estimates for state lawmakers, who write a new budget every two years.

“That obviously is going to lead you to a situation where there are going to be people who are gonna have a financial interest in that office,” said Brendan Glavin, of the Washington, D.C.-based government transparency group OpenSecrets. He said that is why comptrollers in many states are not elected. “There’s a lot of potential for bad actors to get involved.”

Texas has a $338 billion budget and produces more than $2.7 trillion worth of goods that places the state economy as the eighth largest in the world compared to other countries, a point of pride for the state’s Republican leaders.

Some donors have long contributed to comptroller candidates. Among them is G. Brint Ryan, the chief executive of a Dallas tax firm who along with his employees accounted for about one-third of the $3.2 million fundraised by Craddick. The roughly $1 million donated by Ryan and 71 employees all came within an eight-day period at the end of June, after the fundraising moratorium lifted for elected officials such as Craddick and Hancock.

Ryan’s company, Ryan LLC, helps large corporations secure tax breaks under state programs managed by the comptroller. He and his employees were also among the biggest donors to Hegar over a decade ago. At the same time, his employees represented more than 230 businesses with active cases before the comptroller’s staff, the Dallas Morning News reported in 2014.

It appears that the company remains involved in a new version of the state program to offer corporations tax incentives.

Ryan, who did not respond to an interview request, also donated to previous Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn and to Craddick’s recent campaigns, like when he paid for an event’s catering in 2016 and staff for another event in 2021 while she sought to keep her seat on the agency that regulates the oil and gas industry.

In a statement posted on Craddick’s campaign website, Ryan said that Craddick — the daughter of former Texas House Speaker Tom Craddick — is the best candidate for the job due to her experience in the state’s Railroad Commission and her attention to detail and distaste for waste.

“She abhors frivolous spending that takes state government away from its mission of serving the taxpayers of Texas,” Ryan said in the statement. “She’s done her job with consummate efficiency and because I know Christi and believe in her, I know she’s always up for a new challenge, if the challenge is about helping Texas grow and prosper.”

Craddick’s campaign declined to make her available for an interview.

Huffines, a Dallas businessman and former state senator, is leading the pack with a reported $4.7 million fundraised this year, most of which came from a $3 million donation from his brother. He has also loaned $10 million of his own money to his campaign.

While much of his campaign is self-funded, Huffines said the contributions he has received have come from funders who believe he will slash government waste by inspecting the state’s expenditures, one of his main campaign pledges.

“My donors want good government in Texas,” he said. “The comptroller race, as I am explaining to them, is extremely important and underappreciated. It has eyes and ears on all of our spending.”

Some of those donors run companies that must pay taxes and operate under regulations set by the comptroller, like Ashford Hospitality, a Dallas-based hotel network, and TREZ Capital, a real estate investment firm.

Hancock, a former state senator from North Richland Hills who was appointed by Gov. Greg Abbott in June, has hauled the least so far — reporting $1.7 million in filings with the state. Among his biggest donors were also people who run companies that interact with the comptroller’s office, like the CEO of Hunter Industries, which builds and maintains roads for the Texas Department of Transportation, and the CEO of Oncor Electric Delivery, which works closely with the Public Utility Commission of Texas and Electric Reliability Council of Texas.

Half a dozen donors who contributed among the most to each candidate did not respond to interview requests.

The opening for a coveted statewide elected office was created by Hegar’s departure to lead the Texas A&M University System. When he last ran for reelection, in 2022, he spent $6.2 million — almost 23 times the $274,018 his general election challenger spent.

A financial advantage could help any of the candidates in the March primary seeking to replace Hegar, a Republican who served in the role for 10 years.

Texas is home to two of the nation’s largest media markets — in the Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston regions — where buying ads can quickly decimate a candidate’s campaign coffers, as can traveling throughout the state, geographically one of the largest, to get in front of prospective voters.

This year, the Legislature added another major responsibility to the office: Rolling out a new program to offer taxpayer-funded vouchers for parents to send their children to private school. The initiative was Abbott’s biggest priority during this year’s regular legislative session.

In a statement, Hancock — who has been endorsed by Abbott — blasted his competitors’ messaging and said that he is focused on delivering results as the interim comptroller. He pointed to the implementation of the private school voucher program and his decision to end a program that aimed to boost women- and minority-owned businesses.

“Gov. Abbott and a growing coalition of business owners, farmers and ranchers, and grassroots donors stand with us for one reason: We don’t campaign on conservative slogans — we deliver conservative results,” Hancock said. “We fight every day for safer communities, stronger jobs and a government Texans can trust — and we’re not slowing down.”

The next campaign filings are due to the state in mid-January.

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