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Editor’s note: To help readers learn more about primary candidates, The Texas Tribune is sharing background information on top candidates. In particularly crowded races, we focused on candidates with political experience or demonstrably competitive campaigns, using benchmarks such as fundraising, endorsements and online presence. For a full list of candidates, view our primary ballot page. For more information on the primaries and the voting process, check out our guides and news coverage here.

About this elected seat: The Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts is the state’s chief financial officer. Among the office’s main responsibilities is collecting sales taxes from local government, managing hundreds of state contracts on behalf of other agencies and estimating the state’s revenue and economy, which instructs the Legislature’s budget drafting every two years. The office is also in charge of implementing a new $1 billion program that will offer parents taxpayer-funded vouchers to send their kids to private schools and pay for educational expenses.

What’s at stake: The future of the office and the state, in some ways. For years Texas has benefited from a budget surplus — a financial fortune added to the state’s general revenue fund that’s afforded the state opportunities to trim property taxes some, boost teacher pay and strengthen the state’s crumbling water infrastructure. This estimate comes from the comptroller. 


Whoever is at the helm of the office can also try expanding its authority, like in recent years when the office waded into more social issues — like investigations that scrutinized drag shows. 

Candidates at a glance:

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Campaign site

Kelly Hancock

Republican, acting comptroller

💰 Campaign finance:

  • $7 million cash on hand

💰 Major donors this cycle:

  • John Nau, beer distributor from Houston — $505,238.11
  • Texans for Responsible Government PAC, a group launched by GOP megadonor couple from Hill Country Michael and Mary Porter — $75,000

Experience:

  • Served in the Texas statehouse for almost two decades, first in the House and later in the Senate
  • Acting comptroller since July, overseeing the launch of the state’s public school voucher program
  • Former school board member

Political ideology:

Hancock supported both socially and fiscally conservative causes in the state Legislature. He was one of two GOP state senators who voted in favor of impeaching Attorney General Ken Paxton for misusing his office. A majority of Texas Senate Republicans voted to acquit Paxton of all articles.

Policy stances:

  • Reduce government spending, lowering taxes and investigating fraud
  • Support the state’s immigration clampdown along the Texas-Mexico border and beyond to stop illegal crossings
  • Eliminate diversity and equity-aimed programs in state contracting

In the news:

Endorsements:

  • Gov. Greg Abbott
  • Combined Law Enforcement Associations of Texas, the largest labor organization representing Texas law enforcement

How to contact or learn more:
817-899-0892
info@kellyhancock.com
Texans for Kelly Hancock P.O. Box 11528 Austin, TX 78711

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Campaign site

Don Huffines

Republican

💰 Campaign finance:

  • $11.7 million cash on hand

💰 Major donors this cycle:

  • Phillip Huffines, his brother — $3 million
  • Protect Freedom PAC, a group affiliated with U.S. Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky — $500,000
  • Andrew Beal, founder and owner of the Beal Bank — $100,000

Experience:

  • He and his brother Phillip founded one of the largest real estate development companies in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, Huffines Communities
  • As a state senator, Huffines led a crusade against the Dallas County Schools bus agency in the middle of allegations of poor financial management and not delivering the services it sold; a county-wide vote shut down the agency and the Dallas County Schools board president later pleaded guilty to tax evasion
  • Challenged Gov. Greg Abbott in the 2022 GOP gubernatorial challenge. Although unsuccessful, he gained experience running a statewide campaign.

Political ideology:

Huffines is a MAGA Republican with libertarian and Christian roots. He has vowed to not take a state salary if he’s elected comptroller, root out government waste and ensure no public money is used to benefit any undocumented immigrants.

Policy stances:

  • End government regulations that he says get in the way of job creation by burdening businesses
  • DOGE-ing Texas by auditing government spending and reimbursing taxpayers through property tax relief
  • Studying the cost of undocumented immigration on the state (The comptroller’s office has not conducted such a study since 2006, when it found that such immigrants generated more revenue for the state than they cost the state through the use of services like education.)
  • Implement the state’s new school vouchers program with transparency
  • Fix traffic on Texas roads by auditing highway construction contracts

In the news:

Endorsements:

  • U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas
  • Five sitting U.S. Representatives from Texas: Chip Roy, Wesley Hunt, Ronny Jackson, Keith Self, and Brandon Gill
  • Jim “Mattress Mack” McIngvale, owner of Gallery Furniture who has lent his backing to GOP candidates in recent years
  • Kenny Webster, a young conservative radio host
  • Texas Gun Rights

How to contact or learn more:

(214) 884-7025

don@donhuffines.com

6125 Luther Ln #294

Dallas, Texas, 75225

T Campaign photo
Campaign site

Christi Craddick

Republican

💰 Campaign finance:

  • $2.8 million cash on hand

💰 Major donors this cycle:

  • G. Brint Ryan, the chief executive of a Dallas tax firm — $250,000 (Dozens of Ryan’s employees also donated to Craddick, contributing nearly $1 million to her bid)
  • Javaid Anwar, major Texas oil donor — $200,000
  • NGL Texas PAC, the political action committee of a Tulsa oil and gas company — $125,000

Experience:

  • Served on the Railroad Commission of Texas since 2012
  • Before running to be a railroad commissioner Craddick worked in energy
  • She is an attorney from Midland

Political ideology:

Craddick, the daughter of former Texas House Speaker Tom Craddick, is conservative. In her bid for comptroller, she has promised financial accountability to reduce government spending and to inspect local governments’ budgets.

Policy stances:

  • Inspect all state contract invoices to tackle government fraud
  • Scrutinize local government budgets and any proposed tax rate increases
  • Supporting small businesses by speeding up tax returns when companies overpay

In the news:

Endorsements:

  • Woody Hunt, an El Paso real estate developer and philanthropist
  • Ross Perot Jr., real estate developer and businessman from Dallas
  • Kelcy Warren, oil tycoon

How to contact or learn more:

(512) 271-4782

info@christicraddick.com

Another candidate, Michael Berlanga, filed to run in the primary.

Campaign photo
Campaign site

Sarah Eckhardt

Democrat

💰 Campaign finance:

  • $183,691 cash on hand

💰 Major donors this cycle:

  • Texas Trial Lawyers Association PAC, the political arm of a trial lawyers group — $5,000
  • R. Stephen McNally, Austin lawyer — $10,000

Experience:

  • Served in the Texas Senate, representing Travis County, since 2020
  • Before serving in the Legislature’s upper chamber, she was Travis County Judge for five years
  • Former prosecutor.

Political ideology:

Eckhardt has consistently ranked among the most liberal Democratic members in the Texas Senate based on her voting record. Perhaps as frequently, she’s been at odds with the chamber’s presiding officer, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who she recently accused of treating his role “as his church, as his pulpit.” Last summer she clashed with Patrick once again, calling him a bully when Patrick used a rare procedural move to kill a planned filibuster from Democrats who opposed a congressional redistricting map gerrymandered to max GOP representation in the U.S. House.

Policy stances:

  • Wants the office to focus on ensuring Texans are safe, not on polarizing social issues
  • Vows to root out government corruption
  • Aims to restore trust in government by running an independent office with integrity

In the news:

Endorsements:

  • Texas AFL-CIO
  • The Houston LGBTQ+ Political Caucus

How to contact or learn more:
campaign@saraheckhardt.com
Sarah Eckhardt Campaign
P.O. Box 301586
Austin, TX 78703
Two other candidates also filed to run in the Democratic primary: Michael Lange and Savant Moore.

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Alejandro Serrano writes about Texas politics and government, with a focus on immigration and education issues. Since joining the Tribune, he has helped investigate the 2022 Uvalde school shooting, lived...