2014 Texas elections

The 2014 general election was held in the U.S. state of Texas on November 4, 2014. All of Texas's executive officers were up for election as well as a United States Senate seat, and all of Texas's thirty-six seats in the United States House of Representatives. Primary elections were held on March 4, 2014. Primary runoffs, required if no candidate wins a majority of the vote, were held on May 27, 2014. Elections were also held for the Texas legislature and proposition 1, seeking funds for Texas highways (which passed).

A combination of retirements, incumbents seeking other offices and a primary defeat means that after the election, for the first time since 1874, all of Texas's executive offices were held by new officeholders.

The Tea Party made large gains in the 2014 elections, with Tea Party-backed candidates being elected into offices such as lieutenant governor and attorney general, among other offices.

Governor
Incumbent Republican Governor Rick Perry, who has served in the office since December 21, 2000, when George W. Bush resigned ahead of being sworn in as President of the United States, has announced that he will not run for a fourth full term as governor. This will be the first open election for governor since 1990, when Ann Richards was elected.

Greg Abbott won the Republican primary, Wendy Davis won the Democratic primary. Kathie Glass won the Libertarian Party of Texas nomination in convention. They and a Green candidate will contest the general election.

Abbott won the general election, defeating Davis by twenty points.

Lieutenant governor
Incumbent Republican lieutenant governor David Dewhurst ran for re-election to an unprecedented fourth term in office.

Candidates

 * Declared
 * David Dewhurst, incumbent lieutenant governor
 * Dan Patrick, state senator
 * Jerry E. Patterson, Commissioner of the General Land Office
 * Todd Staples, Commissioner of Agriculture


 * Declined
 * Susan Combs, Comptroller of Public Accounts

Runoff

 * Polling


 * Results

Candidates

 * Declared
 * Leticia Van de Putte, state senator


 * Withdrew
 * Maria Luisa Alvarado, retired United States Air Force master sergeant and nominee for lieutenant governor in 2006

Candidates

 * Declared
 * Brandon de Hoyos, journalist


 * Withdrew
 * Ed Kless, businessman

Candidates

 * Declared
 * Chandra Courtney

Attorney General
Incumbent Republican Attorney General Greg Abbott did not run for re-election to a fourth term. He was instead the Republican nominee for governor.

Candidates

 * Declared
 * Dan Branch, state representative
 * Ken Paxton, state senator
 * Barry Smitherman, chairman of the Railroad Commission of Texas


 * Declined
 * Greg Abbott, Texas Attorney General

Runoff

 * Results

Candidates

 * Declared
 * Sam Houston, attorney and nominee for Texas Supreme Court Justice Place 7 in 2008

Candidates

 * Declared
 * Jamie Balagia (In 2019, Balagia was found guilty of defrauding Colombian drug traffickers thousands of dollars after claiming to be well-connected to U.S. officials who could dismiss the drug trafficking cases if the Colombians paid money).
 * Tom Glass, Vice Chair of the Libertarian Party of Texas

Balagia won the Libertarian nomination

Candidates

 * Declared
 * Jamar Osborne

Comptroller of Public Accounts
Incumbent Republican Comptroller Susan Combs retired and did not seek a third term in office.

Candidates

 * Declared
 * Glenn Hegar, state senator
 * Harvey Hilderbran, state representative
 * Debra Medina, activist and candidate for governor in 2010
 * Raul Torres, former state representative


 * Declined
 * Susan Combs, Comptroller of Public Accounts

Results
A runoff was to be held, but with Hegar only narrowly below the 50% threshold and with several thousand provisional and overseas ballots to be counted, Hildebran withdrew on March 7, 2014, and endorsed Hegar. When the final results were released, Hegar had come only 50 votes short of winning the primary outright.

Candidates

 * Declared
 * Mike Collier, businessman and accountant

Candidates

 * Declared
 * Ben Sanders

Candidates

 * Declared
 * Deb Shafto, nominee for Governor in 2010

Commissioner of the General Land Office
Incumbent Republican Commissioner Jerry E. Patterson did not run for re-election to a fourth term. He instead ran unsuccessfully for lieutenant governor.

Candidates

 * Declared
 * George P. Bush, attorney, U.S. Navy Reserve officer and son of former Governor of Florida Jeb Bush
 * David Watts, businessman, author, preacher and flight instructor


 * Declined
 * Jerry E. Patterson, Commissioner of the General Land Office

Candidates

 * Declared
 * John Cook, former mayor of El Paso

Candidates

 * Declared
 * Steven Childs
 * Justin Knight


 * Withdrew
 * Ed Tidwell, Lago Vista City Councilman

Knight won the Libertarian nomination

Candidates

 * Declared
 * Ulises Cabrera

Commissioner of Agriculture
Incumbent Republican Commissioner Todd Staples did not run for re-election to a third term. He instead ran unsuccessfully for lieutenant governor. On September 18, he announced that he would resign within the next two months, to become President of the Texas Oil and Gas Association.

Candidates

 * Declared
 * J. Allen Carnes, Mayor of Uvalde
 * Joe Cotten, candidate for Railroad Commission of Texas in 2012
 * Tommy Merritt, former state representative
 * Sid Miller, former state representative
 * Eric Opiela, attorney, rancher and former executive director of the Republican Party of Texas


 * Withdrew
 * Brandon Creighton, state representative (running for the state senate)


 * Declined
 * Todd Staples, Commissioner of Agriculture

Runoff

 * Results

Candidates

 * Declared
 * Hugh Fitzsimons, rancher and former member of the Winter Garden Water Conservation District
 * Kinky Friedman, singer, songwriter, novelist, humorist and Independent candidate for Governor in 2006
 * Jim Hogan, farmer and insurance agent

Runoff

 * Results

Candidates

 * Declared
 * Rick Donaldson
 * David "Rocky" Palmquist, rancher

Palmquist won the Libertarian nomination.

Candidates

 * Declared
 * Kenneth Kendrick, food safety advocate and whistleblower

Railroad Commissioner
Incumbent Republican Commissioner Barry Smitherman did not run for re-election to a full term. He instead ran unsuccessfully for attorney general.

Candidates

 * Declared
 * Becky Berger, geologist and candidate for the Railroad Commission in 2012
 * Malachi Boyuls, attorney and venture capitalist
 * Wayne Christian, former state representative
 * Ryan Sitton, oil and gas engineer and candidate for the Texas House of Representatives in 2012


 * Withdrew
 * Stefani Carter, state representative (running for re-election)
 * Ray Keller, former state representative
 * Joe Pool, Jr., candidate for Texas Supreme Court Justice Place 4 in 2012 and son of former U.S. Representative Joe R. Pool


 * Declined
 * Barry Smitherman, Chairman of the Railroad Commission of Texas

Runoff

 * Results

Candidates

 * Declared
 * Steve Brown, former chairman of the Fort Bend County Democratic Party
 * Dale Henry, perennial candidate

Candidates

 * Declared
 * Jason Kute
 * Mark Miller, businessman

Miller won the Libertarian nomination.

Candidates

 * Declared
 * Martina Salinas

Texas Legislature
Every seat in the Texas House of Representatives and about half of the seats in the Texas Senate were up for election.

United States Senate
Incumbent Republican senator and Senate Minority Whip John Cornyn ran for re-election to a third term. He won the Republican primary with 59% of the vote, easily turning back a primary challenge from U.S. Representative Steve Stockman and six others. The Democratic primary went to a runoff after businessman David Alameel took 47% of the vote and Worldwide LaRouche Youth Movement activist Kesha Rogers took 22% of the vote. Alameel won the runoff.

In the general election, Cornyn defeated Alameel 61.6%–34.4%.

United States House of Representatives
All of Texas's thirty-six seats in the United States House of Representatives were up for election in 2014.