Former state Sen. Don Huffines, an ultraconservative who challenged Gov. Greg Abbott in 2022, won the GOP primary for comptroller Tuesday night, trouncing the governor’s chosen candidate to be the state’s chief financial officer.
Huffines defeated Kelly Hancock, a former state senator from North Richland Hills who has served as acting comptroller since July. He also bested Railroad Commissioner Christi Craddick and fourth place candidate Michael Berlanga.
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Abbott appointed Hancock to the post last year after the previous comptroller stepped down. In the waning days of the campaign, the governor spent millions of dollars trying to boost Hancock to no avail.
Tuesday’s results confirmed what public polls had shown in the weeks leading up to the primary: Huffines was the front runner by a wide margin. Should he become the state’s next comptroller, Huffines will be in charge of implementing one of the governor’s latest and biggest political accomplishments — a $1 billion program to offer parents vouchers for private schools using public dollars.
Huffines, a wealthy business owner from Dallas, lost his gubernatorial primary bid to Abbott four years ago in a campaign attacking the governor for not being conservative enough on issues including COVID-19 vaccine mandates and property taxes. Huffines has pushed to eliminate property taxes and called for Texas to build its own state-funded border wall before Abbott announced the state would do just that.
The three leading GOP candidates ran similar campaigns, promising to investigate fraud, slash government waste and tackle an array of socially conservative issues, such as trans athletes, illegal immigration and diversity initiatives.
Heading into the final week of the campaign, the trio reported having spent $16 million in total during the campaign season. In comparison, former Comptroller Glenn Hegar had spent $1.2 million to defeat his Republican primary challenger in 2022 at the same point of that cycle. Hegar left the job in July to become the chancellor of the Texas A&M University System.
The comptroller’s main responsibilities are collecting taxes, writing checks and estimating revenue, which instructs the Legislature’s budget drafting every two years.
Once Texas lawmakers approve a budget, the comptroller oversees it — currently serving as the main eyes over the state’s $338 billion two-year spending plan.
On the Democratic side, state Sen. Sarah Eckhardt of Austin declared victory in a three-way contest to face off against whoever wins the GOP nomination. The state has not had a Democratic comptroller since 1999, when Republican Carole Keeton Strayhorn succeeded John Sharp, who unsuccessfully ran for lieutenant governor.
“From now until Election Day, I’ll be working to win the vote of every Texan tired of seeing their hard earned tax dollars wasted on culture wars, corporate tax breaks, no-bid contracts, and voucher schemes,” Eckhardt said in a statement. “I’m running to take on the GOP pay-to-play political system that rewards the rich and powerful while ignoring the needs of Texans—from healthcare and home insurance to fully funded public schools. As Comptroller, I will serve the people, not the rich and powerful.”
The contest for the seat, open for the first time since 2014, began last March on the day that Abbott announced Hegar would be appointed to lead A&M. Huffines and Craddick quickly declared their candidacy.
Hancock later resigned from his senate seat to be appointed acting comptroller.
Huffines largely funded his own campaign and has vowed to not accept a government salary if elected. He focused his campaign on “DOGE-ing” Texas government — a nod to Elon Musks’ slashing of funding and staff at the federal level — eliminating “woke” policies and running the state’s finances like a businessman guided by taxpayers’ best interests. He went into Tuesday with a late-breaking endorsement from President Donald Trump and from MAGA heavyweights including U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, and the late activist Charlie Kirk.
Meanwhile, Craddick also dug into culture war issues — like keeping boys out of girls sports — and similarly vowed to audit state spending to uncover waste and abuse. She also promised to help small businesses and scrutinize local governments.
The office’s investigative authorities are much more limited than they once were to carry out such probes, since the Legislature over past years removed its audit authority.
Hancock’s loss is notable given that he had several months in the office, giving him quasi-incumbency and allowing him to pitch himself to voters as the candidate already delivering results.
The acting comptroller touted his rolling out of the school vouchers program. He claimed he ended DEI in state contracting when he removed women and minorities from a program that aims to boost businesses owned by economically disadvantaged groups. And he pointed to a grant program for sheriffs who collaborate with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement as evidence he’s tough on illegal immigration.
It turned out to be a hard sell for Hancock.
A campaign finance report to the state a week out from the election showed Abbott dipping into his massive war chest to help his candidate of choice. Out of the $2.6 million that Hancock spent over a two-week period, roughly two-thirds had come from Abbott.