The governor is supporting two U.S. House candidates whose opponents were recently endorsed by President Donald Trump, while his picks for comptroller and agriculture commissioner are trailing in the polls.
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Greg Abbott made his mark on the Texas GOP primaries two years ago, rallying national Republicans to unseat a group of GOP state lawmakers who had opposed his push for school vouchers. It was an unusually aggressive gambit by the governor —Abbott is backing at least four candidates in the March 3 primary who are facing political headwinds to varying degrees, including acting Comptroller Kelly Hancock, who is trailing in the polls as he runs for the permanent job, and businessman Nate Sheets, who is also looking to make up ground in his challenge to Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller. Additionally, Abbott is supporting two candidates for Congress whose opponents President Donald Trump endorsed on Monday. Abbott’s positioning in the primaries is notable because he is arguably at the peak of his power within the GOP, a shift from recent years after his handling of the Covid pandemic divided some Texas Republicans and attracted. With his 2024 primary endorsements, Abbott made powerful new allies nationally, became closer to Trump and showed skeptical state lawmakers he was capable of upending their political careers. Former Texas GOP chair James Dickey said Abbott’s endorsements this cycle are a natural reflection of a governor who is entering his 12th year in office. “His influence and relationships and history with folks has certainly grown over time, and his base and operations has also grown over the same period,” Dickey said. “It’s not surprising to see he is taking a position in more and more races each election and that he has a deeper emotional tie in each one, both for and against different candidates.”, a stark warning sign to any Republican who would want to go against him after his successful 2024 primary season. But now, Abbott finds himself in murkier intraparty terrain where the battle lines are a little more complex. And in federal races where he has made endorsements, he cannot be as helpful to candidates due to restrictions on the use of state campaign funds. In backing Hancock, a former state senator, Abbott is staying loyal to a longtime ally in the Legislature whom hethe $1 billion school voucher program that Abbott fought so hard to pass, making it especially important to the governor that he has a loyalist in the job. The race is also personal for Abbott because Hancock’s chief rival is former state Sen. Don Huffines, who challenged Abbott from the right in the 2022 primary for governor. Huffines entered the race for comptroller months ahead of Hancock and racked up a list of high-profile endorsements, including Sen. Ted Cruz and the late conservative activist Charlie Kirk. Railroad Commissioner Christi Craddick is also vying for the GOP comptroller nomination, undeterred by Abbott’s support for Hancock. With Sheets, Abbott is making a highly rare endorsement against a fellow statewide incumbent, taking a chance on a first-time political candidate with a background as an agriculture businessman, veteran and evangelist. Abbott has long been irritated by Miller, who flirted with running against the governor in 2022, but unseating Miller will not be easy: He has twice before defeated primary challengers for reelection who also had considerable money and connections in Austin. Kim Snyder, Abbott’s campaign manager, said the governor endorsed Sheets because of Miller’s “history of corruption.” The commissioner hasMiller has defended Smith’s hiring and called the criminal case against him “Democrat lawfare.” And he has responded to Abbott’s endorsement of Sheets byfound that Sheets was trailing Miller by 30 points, while Hancock was eight points behind Craddick for a second runoff spot against the leading Huffines. Roughly 3 in 10 likely voters were undecided in each case. The survey was completed between Jan. 20 and 31; Abbott Trump has stayed neutral in the primaries for comptroller and agriculture commissioner. His silence in the latter race is especially notable given that Miller has been a Abbott has also put political capital on the line in the state’s congressional primaries, which have been especially action-packed this year after Abbott signed into law a new U.S. House map that Trump wanted so Republicans could pick up five more seats in Texas. Abbott has endorsed state Reps. Briscoe Cain and John Lujan for two of those newly drawn seats, and has long been invested in Lujan’s political rise, seeing him as a key GOP messenger for the Hispanic community. But the congressional primaries took a sudden turn on the eve of early voting, when Trump backed Lujan’s opponent, Air Force veteran Carlos De La Cruz, and Cain’s rival, 2022 Harris County judge nominee Alex Mealer. “Obviously has his own decision-making process about the races he gets in,” Abbott told reporters Tuesday after casting his early primary ballot, shrugging off the president’s snub of Cain. “That race is personal to me because I’ve dealt very closely with Briscoe Cain for years, working side-by-side with him on key pieces of legislation that needed to be passed and are making Texas a better state.” Abbott’s top strategist, Dave Carney, said the governor primarily bases each endorsement on the candidate’s overall record and how supportive they have been of his agenda. Abbott also has waded into the race for Harris County judge, a pivotal contest for him this election cycle because one of his campaign’s top goals — besides winning reelection — isagain. Yet Abbott’s candidate for the county executive position — Marty Lancton, president of the Houston Professional Fire Fighters Association — faces a well-known local GOP politician in former county treasurer and mayoral candidate Orlando Sanchez. Sanchez led Lancton in a recent University of HoustonIn most of the primaries where Abbott has endorsed, the dynamics are different from 2024. Last cycle, the governor put millions of his own campaign cash behind his preferred candidates, many of whom also got support from national voucher groups and hardline conservative donors. This year, some of those same groups have lined up against the governor’s preferred candidates, while Abbott has yet to deploy the same level of support for his candidates at the state level.of the voucher program and scheduling stops with Hancock — along with Sheets — on a statewide get-out-the-vote tour ahead of the primary. Hancock has airedMany GOP operatives still consider Abbott’s endorsement one of the best their candidates could receive in a Texas primary besides Trump’s. AElliott Griffin, a general consultant for the Sheets campaign, said they were “so grateful” for Abbott’s endorsement and likened it to a “shot of B12 in the final weeks.” “It’s brought excitement, it’s brought legitimacy and it’s opened doors for a new group of donors who don’t typically give to the agriculture commissioner race,” Griffin said. Disclosure: University of Houston has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune’s journalism. Find a completeOff-duty HCSO deputy killed in motorcycle crash in north HoustonFormer Harris County Tax Office employees accused in vehicle registration sticker schemeLegendary Houston sketch artist ‘unretires’ for Nancy Guthrie caseSuspicious person report prompts lockdown at Dobie High SchoolBurglars Use Ladders to Break Into Second-Story Windows Across HoustonFirefighters Save Elderly Woman from Apartment Fire Near Eastex FreewayUn memorial crece afuera de una tienda en el norte de Houston
Politics 2026 Elections Elections Greg Abbott Kelly Hancock Sid Miller State Agencies Texas Legislature
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