The Texas mid-term primary elections are already gaining momentum with a lot of new faces and changes in the works. The filing period to run for the March 3 primaries was Dec. 8 Offices up for election in 2026 include governor, Lt. Governor, attorney general, comptroller, land commissioner, ag commissioner, railroad commissioner, four members of the supreme court, three members of the court of criminal appeals, three members of the 15th court of appeals, and U.S. senate.
Additionally, eight members of the State Board of Education, 16 state senators, all 150 state representatives, seven chief just of court of appeals, and various courts of appeals, district, county, criminal and family judges, along with county clerks, treasurers county commissioners and Justices of the Peace.
In the U.S. Senate race, incumbent John Cornyn is facing the toughest election of his political career, going up against Texas Atty. General Ken Paxton and U.S. Rep. Wesley Hunt in the Republican primary.
On the Democratic side, state Rep. James Talarico is preparing to face off against U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett, who jumped in around the same time former U.S. Rep. Colin Allred dropped out this past Monday.
Gov. Greg Abbott is running for a fourth term facing five Republicans in the primary race. Contenders include State Board of Education member Evelyn Brooks, Arturo Espinosa, Pete Chambers, Kenneth Hyde and Stephen Samuelson.
Seven Democrats are vying for the office, including State. Rep. Gina Hinojosa, Andrew White, former U.S. Rep. Chris Bell, Bobby Cole, Patricia Abrego, Angela Villescaz and Jose Navarro.
The Texas attorney general race has several major candidates including Republican Sens. Joan Huffman, R-Houston, and Mayes Middleton, RGalveston, and Aaron Reitz. U.S. Rep. Chip Roy is campaigning but hadn’t officially filed as of last Friday.
On the Democratic side, state Sen. Nathan Johnson Galveston mayor Joe Jaworski and Tony Box, a former FBI agent and federal prosecutor, filed to run.
In the Ag Commissioner race, incumbent Sid Miller faces Republican challengers Nathan Sheets, Kelly Shackelford and Angela Paxton. For the Democrats, Clayton Tucker is lone candidate.
The Texas comptroller race will include interim comptroller Kelly Hancock, former state Sen. Don Huffines and Railroad Commission chair Christi Craddick in the Republican primary, and state Sen. Sarah Eckhardt will run as a Democrat.
The Railroad Commission sees Republican Jim Wright facing two challengers, hawk Dunlap and Bo French. The Democrats like nominee will be state Rep. Jon Rosenthal.