(The Center Square) – Three candidates have announced their bid to replace outgoing Texas comptroller Glenn Hegar, with one sworn in on Thursday to temporarily fill the role.
Voters will elect party candidates in a March primary and the next comptroller in November next year.
The Texas comptroller is the state’s chief financial officer, responsible for overseeing the state treasury. The comptroller’s office provides revenue estimates to guide the state legislative biennial budget process, manages key programs related to unclaimed property, oversees state purchasing and economic development programs, and ensures transparency, efficiency and effectiveness in government spending.
Hegar was first elected comptroller in 2014 and is leaving to become the next chancellor of the Texas A&M System.
On Thursday, he swore former state Sen. Kelly Hancock, R-North Richland Hills, into office as the Chief Clerk of the Comptroller’s Office. Hancock will become Acting Comptroller on July 1.
Hegar administered the oath after Hancock resigned from the senate and announced his candidacy.
“Kelly is a great fit to serve as the chief financial officer of Texas,” Hegar said. “As a long-serving member of the Texas Legislature, he helped shape sound financial policy and authored the state’s conservative spending cap legislation. Having worked alongside Kelly over the years, I know he brings a deep respect for the taxpayers of this state, a strong background in both business and public policy, and a steady hand to any office he holds. And most importantly, he’s an honest, trustworthy, all-around good guy.”
Hancock was first elected to the Texas House, where he served for six years; he was elected to the Texas Senate in 2012 and reelected last November to another two-year term.
Hancock served for a decade on the Senate Finance Committee, five years on the Legislative Budget Board and chaired the Senate Business and Commerce Committee. His legislative record includes passing more than 300 bills “focused on taxpayer protection, fiscal responsibility, energy independence, transportation innovation, border security, price transparency, veterans’ benefits and more,” Hegar said.
“The Comptroller’s office exists to serve every Texas taxpayer,” Hancock said. “Whether it’s safeguarding your tax dollars, ensuring transparency or implementing forward-thinking initiatives like education savings accounts and broadband expansion, this office plays a vital role in driving Texas’ continued economic success.”
Gov. Geg Abbott endorsed Hancock, highlighting three reasons, including wanting Hancock to oversee his signature legislative achievement his year, Texas’ first school choice program, which becomes effective Sept. 1.
“First, the new Comptroller has the daunting task to implement the largest day-one school choice program in America. Kelly Hancock brings the most experience and proven commitment to that cause. From serving as a school board member to voting – repeatedly – to pass school choice, Kelly knows far more about the school choice law than other candidates,” Abbott said.
“Second, the Comptroller needs to know how business and finance works – in the state and at a business,” Abbott said, highlighting Hancock’s legislative and committee experience. “He passed a law to impose a state spending cap. He’s funded border security, cut property taxes, strengthened election integrity, and overhauled ERCOT. He has done more than just talk about cutting red tape; he passed laws that actually do it.”
He also highlighted Hancock’s business experience, saying, he “built a successful family-run business from the ground up. He knows what it means to pay taxes, what it means to sign both the front and the back of a paycheck. He will be a guardian of the taxpayers.”
He also endorsed Hancock “because I want a candidate who will actually win the election, not someone who has already lost an election to a Democrat,” Abbott said, referring to Dallas businessman Don Huffines. Huffines served one term in the Texas Senate and lost his reelection in 2018 to Democrat Nathan Johnson. Huffines challenged Abbott for governor in the 2022 election and lost the Republican primary, receiving 12% of the vote.
Huffines and Texas Railroad Commissioner Christi Craddick previously announced their candidacy for comptroller. Craddick, an attorney from Midland, has served on the RCC, playing a major role overseeing the Texas oil and natural gas industry since in 2012. She was reelected last November to a six-year term.
If Huffines and Craddick remain in the race, they have an uphill battle against Hancock in the March Republican primary.
The majority of Republican primary voters, 64%, have said they were more likely to vote for a candidate endorsed by Abbott, The Center Square reported. Election results in the last several elections, especially Republican primaries, have proven polling to be accurate with candidates backed by Abbott overwhelmingly winning their races last year.
