State Rep. Nate Schatzline, R-Fort Worth, resigned from the Texas House Thursday to take a new position as Gov. Greg Abbott’s senior adviser on election policy.
Schatzline, who was among the most hardline conservative members of the Texas House, is set to lead “policy development and legislative strategy efforts related to election integrity,” according to a Thursday announcement by Abbott’s office.
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The two-term lawmaker had been floated in recent weeks as the governor’s potential choice for secretary of state, Texas’ top elections officer, according to unconfirmed media reports that The Texas Tribune could not independently verify. On June 2, Secretary of State Jane Nelson announced she would step down from the office in mid-July, just months before a blockbuster midterm.
“Nate Schatzline is a dedicated conservative leader with a proven record in the fight for election integrity,” Abbott said in a statement. “His experience in the Texas House and service in the Trump administration will be a tremendous asset as we protect the voices of Texas voters.”
Schatzline’s portfolio for the next legislative session is expected to include closing Texas’ primary elections, or requiring voters to register with a party in order to cast a ballot in the nominating contests. It is set to be a major priority of the Legislature next session, with Abbott announcing his support for doing so at the Texas GOP’s convention last month and the party’s rank-and-file delegates putting it on their policy wishlist.
Republican activists have long pushed to close the primaries, arguing that Democrats and voters who are not truly conservative were casting ballots in GOP primaries and elevating more moderate candidates. Other Republicans, including U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, have opposed closing the primaries, arguing the move would stifle participation.
The Texas GOP sued Nelson, a former Republican state senator, last year in a bid to close the 2026 primaries. She opposed the idea on the grounds it would “confuse voters, unduly burden election administrators, or otherwise sow chaos or distrust in the electoral process,” she wrote in a court filing, arguing lawmakers could instead take up the issue during their 2027 session.
In Schatzline, the proponents of closing the state’s primaries will have a strong ally.
The hard-right lawmaker authored a bill during the 2025 legislative session that would have done just that. House Bill 4059 was referred to the chamber’s elections committee but never received a hearing.
Last year, he also proposed a bill that would have further restricted voting by mail in Texas, limiting the practice exclusively to voters who are 65 or older. The bill, which failed, would have removed all other eligibility to vote by mail, which currently includes those with a disability or illness, those who are absent from the county and those confined in jail before a conviction.
Schatzline has said he believes the 2020 election was stolen from President Donald Trump, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. At a November event in Abilene honoring conservative activist Charlie Kirk, who was assassinated in September, Schatzline praised rallygoers for “stepping up as election judges, making sure that the election is not stolen like it actually was in 2020 when Trump was winning,” the West Texas Tribune reported.
He has otherwise had little involvement in legislation affecting Texas’ election laws during his two terms representing a Tarrant County House district. He did not serve on the lower chamber’s elections committee, and no bill that bore his name as the primary author or sponsor ever reached Abbott’s desk.
Schatzline most recently served as senior director of the National Faith Advisory Board in the Trump administration, a position he began after briefly seeking an open state Senate seat. He ended his campaign when Republican activist Leigh Wambsganss entered the race with an endorsement from Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who tightly controls the chamber. Wambsganss lost the seat to Democrat Taylor Rehmet in a special election this year; they will face each other again in November.