Governor (Statewide)

(Photos courtesy of the Texas Tribune)

Greg Abbott (R)

Career: Lawyer, former attorney General of Texas

Education: He wants to fully fund public education, allow parents to choose the best school for their child, and protect students.

Abortion: He is pro-life and wants to ensure “every unborn child with a heartbeat will be saved.”

Firearms: Abbott believes we should protect the Second Amendment. He passed the constitutional carry law, allowing people to carry a handgun in public without a license.

Immigration: He wants to secure the border and crack down on human trafficking and drug smuggling.

Inflation: Abbott wants to balance the budget without raising taxes, provide property tax relief, and invest in workforce development.

Beto O’Rourke (D)

Career: Small business owner, previous El Paso councilman and member of Congress

Education: O’Rourke wants to fully fund public schools. He wants to fund classrooms, and end standardized testing.

Abortion: He believes all Texans “deserve the freedom to make their own decisions about their own body.”

Firearms: He wants to make it harder to use guns irresponsibly by repealing permitless carry and reforming gun laws.

Immigration: He said that “Texas should be the leader in building a safe, legal, orderly immigration system that meets the needs of our state and country.”

Inflation: He wants to provide property tax relief and bring in new forms of state revenue by expanding Medicaid and legalizing marijuana.

Lieutenant Governor

Dan Patrick (R)

Career: Radio host

Education: Patrick has continued education reforms. He began as Senate Education Committee Chair, providing more choices like charter and private schools.

Abortion: He helped pass the Heartbeat Bill, which placed the most restrictions on abortion in the country at the time.

Firearms: He said he wants to support the Second Amendment and is an outspoken supporter of law enforcement.

Immigration: During his time as Lt. Governor, the Senate has passed legislation to increase border security, and he wants to secure the border.

Inflation: He wants to address Texas’ infrastructure challenges to assure that our state continues to grow economically. Patrick has helped to reduce the franchise tax by 25% and hopes to eliminate it all together.

Mike Collier (D)

Career: Business executive

Education: Collier aims to fully fund public schools, as well as invest in “smaller class sizes, more special education support, and great teachers.” He wants to end budget cuts and the STAAR test.

Abortion: He will work to write the protections of Roe v. Wade into state law and repeal the current laws. Collier said that women and their doctors should make decisions about their healthcare.

Firearms: He wants to put into law red flag laws, raise the age to purchase a firearm to 21, and end permitless carry.

Immigration: His website did not contain specific information about his stance on this topic.

Inflation: He said he wants to create a good business climate with “thousands of good paying jobs,” as well as an economy that serves everyone and “not just out-of-state corporations.”

Texas Railroad Commissioner

Wayne Christian (R) 

Career: Financial Planner

Gasoline Prices: “With a responsible regulatory agenda that encourages U.S. oil and gas production, we can encourage our Texas oil and gas producers to produce as much as they possibly can, which would drive down costs to consumers,” he said. He supports fewer regulations and increased production of oil and gas.

Electric Grid: “Our current facilities are now prepared for the next weather emergency, but we must make sure there are enough of them to meet the energy demands of our growing state,” he said. He supports increasing the number of  natural gas plants for the state power grid. 

Climate Change: “Oil and gas production and a clean environment are not mutually exclusive.” Christian said. He is opposed to regulations that could shut down oil and gas production as well as subsidies and preferential treatment for renewable resources. 

Luke Warford (D)

Career: Executive

Gasoline Prices: “Texans are paying more for energy than consumers in surrounding states.” Warford said. He supports increasing grid reliability and to reduce costs overall energy costs for Texans.

Electric Grid: “I am running because 700 Texans died during Winter Storm Uri in a grid failure that could have been prevented,” Warford said. He wants to establish a clear weatherization standard, identify critical gas producers, and ensure that preparations for the next winter storm are actually completed.

Climate Change: “Lowering Texas oil and gas emissions is just good business, and with the situation in Europe, buyers are demanding lower-emissions gas,” he said. He supports restrictions on emissions, consistently enforcing existing rulest, and preventing natural resources from being wasted and investment into renewable energy.

Attorney General

Rochelle Garza (D)

Career: Lawyer

Education: Garza wants to “reverse the trend of disinvesting in our public schools and give our students and teachers the resources they need to be successful.”

Abortion: Garza is committed to restoring abortion access in Texas and “defending the rights of women and pregnant people whenever they’re threatened.”

Firearms: Her website did not contain specific information at publication about this topic.

Immigration: As Attorney General, Garza hopes to stop Governor Abbott’s border wall and his Operation Lone Star, which she said “unconstitutionally deployed Texas National Guard members to the border.”

Inflation: Garza wants to create a Workers’ Rights Bureau to “protect Texas workers” as well as fight to end wage theft.

Ken Paxton (R)

Career: Lawyer

Education: Paxton released an opinion claiming that schools cannot withhold student health information from parents, including if a student identifies as non-binary or transgender.

Abortion: Paxton wants to “ensure that laws passed by the legislature to protect the lives of unborn children are fully implemented and legally protected.”

Firearms: Paxton supports the Second Amendment and wants to defend our right to keep and bear arms.

Immigration: Paxton is making it a top priority to “achieve operational control of our border” and “achieve our goals for border security to protect Texans.”

Inflation: Paxton wants to ensure tax money is spent wisely as well as opposing tax increases. He also believes in investigating and prosecuting Medicaid fraud.