The Republican primary for the position of Texas comptroller of public accounts is becoming increasingly competitive and financially intensive, with candidates amassing millions in contributions from donors whose businesses stand to be directly impacted by the decisions of the forthcoming chief financial officer for the state.
As of early September, the three contenders in the race had raised nearly $10 million combined, despite two of them being under a fundraising halt for the first half of the year while the Legislature was in session. Leading the fundraising efforts is former state Senator Don Huffines, followed by Christi Craddick, Chair of the Railroad Commission, and Interim Comptroller Kelly Hancock. In stark contrast, during the last open race for the office in 2014, former comptroller Glenn Hegar and his primary challengers raised a total of only $674,000 at this point in the election cycle.
Experts attribute the significant influx of donations to the considerable authority the comptroller’s office holds over various business sectors. The comptroller is responsible for collecting numerous state taxes, developing statewide contracts for goods, managing the state’s corporate tax incentives program, overseeing $50 billion in assets, and helping to draft the state budget while estimating revenue for lawmakers who create a new budget biennially.
Brendan Glavin from the D.C.-based government transparency group OpenSecrets highlighted the financial interests that surround the office, noting that this dynamic is one reason why many states opt not to elect their comptrollers. “There’s a lot of potential for bad actors to get involved,” he remarked.
Texas boasts a $338 billion budget and produces goods worth over $2.7 trillion, positioning its economy as the eighth largest globally, a fact that Republican leaders in the state take pride in.
Among the notable donors is G. Brint Ryan, the CEO of a Dallas tax firm who, along with his employees, contributed about one-third of the $3.2 million raised by Craddick. Roughly $1 million of this was donated in a concentrated eight-day period at the end of June after the fundraising moratorium for elected officials like Craddick and Hancock was lifted.
Ryan’s company, Ryan LLC, assists large corporations in securing tax breaks through state programs overseen by the comptroller. His employees have historically been among the largest contributors to Hegar’s campaigns, and they represent over 230 businesses that have active cases with the comptroller’s office, as reported by the Dallas Morning News in 2014.
It appears that Ryan’s firm continues to be involved in a revamped version of the state tax incentive program. Although he did not respond to a request for an interview, Ryan has also supported previous Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn and has backed Craddick in her recent campaigns, including funding catering for events in 2016 and staff for another in 2021 during her re-election efforts for the Railroad Commission.
In a statement on Craddick’s campaign website, Ryan expressed his belief that Craddick, the daughter of former Texas House Speaker Tom Craddick, is the most qualified candidate due to her experience with the Railroad Commission and her commitment to efficiently serving taxpayers. “She abhors frivolous spending that detracts from the mission of serving the taxpayers of Texas,” he stated.
Craddick’s campaign has not made her available for interviews.
Huffines, a businessman from Dallas and a former state senator, leads the fundraising race with a reported $4.7 million raised this year, largely due to a $3 million donation from his brother. Additionally, he has personally loaned $10 million to his campaign.
While Huffines has self-funded a significant portion of his campaign, he noted that his donors are primarily motivated by a desire for responsible government spending, a key promise of his campaign. “My donors want good government in Texas,” he explained, emphasizing the importance of the comptroller’s role in overseeing state expenditures.
Many of his contributors are from companies that are subject to taxation and regulations set by the comptroller’s office, including Ashford Hospitality, a hotel network based in Dallas, and TREZ Capital, a real estate investment firm.
Hancock, who was appointed as interim comptroller by Governor Greg Abbott in June, has reported the lowest fundraising total of the three candidates, with $1.7 million raised. His top donors include CEOs from companies that frequently interact with the comptroller’s office, such as the CEO of Hunter Industries, which constructs and maintains roads for the Texas Department of Transportation, and the CEO of Oncor Electric Delivery, an entity closely associated with the Public Utility Commission of Texas and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas.
Several major donors to each candidate have not responded to requests for interviews.
The opportunity for this prestigious statewide office arose following Hegar’s departure to lead the Texas A&M University System. In his last re-election bid in 2022, Hegar spent $6.2 million—almost 23 times more than the $274,018 spent by his general election opponent.
A financial edge could greatly benefit any of the candidates vying to succeed Hegar, a Republican who has held the position for a decade. Texas encompasses two of the largest media markets in the nation, in the Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston areas, making advertising a significant and costly aspect of campaigning, compounded by the state’s vast geography that necessitates extensive travel to connect with voters.
This year, the Legislature has added a significant new duty to the comptroller’s office: implementing a taxpayer-funded voucher program that allows parents to send their children to private schools, a key priority for Abbott during the recent legislative session.
In a statement, Hancock, who has received Abbott’s endorsement, criticized the messaging of his rivals and emphasized his focus on delivering tangible results as the interim comptroller. He pointed to the establishment of the private school voucher program and his decision to terminate a program intended to support women- and minority-owned businesses.
“Gov. Abbott and a growing coalition of business owners, farmers and ranchers, and grassroots donors stand with us for one reason: We don’t campaign on conservative slogans — we deliver conservative results,” Hancock asserted. “We fight every day for safer communities, stronger jobs, and a government Texans can trust — and we’re not slowing down.”
The next campaign finance filings are due to the state in mid-January.
