The 2014 general election was held in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

on November 4, 2014. All of Texas's executive officers were up for election as well as a

United States Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...

seat, and all of Texas's thirty-six seats in the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Artic ...

Primary election Primary elections or primaries are elections held to determine which candidates will run in an upcoming general election. In a partisan primary, a political party selects a candidate. Depending on the state and/or party, there may be an "open pr ...

s 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 A lieutenant governor, lieutenant-governor, or vice governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction. Often a lieutenant governor is the deputy, or lieutenant, to or ranked under a governor — a "second-in-comm ...

and

attorney general In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general (: attorneys general) or attorney-general (AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have executive responsibility for law enf ...

, among other offices.

Governor

Incumbent Republican

Governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

Rick Perry James Richard Perry (born March 4, 1950) is an American politician who served as the 14th United States secretary of energy from 2017 to 2019 in the first administration of Donald Trump. He previously served as the 47th governor of Texas fr ...

, who has served in the office since December 21, 2000, when

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician and businessman who was the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Bush family and the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he i ...

resigned ahead of being sworn in as

President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president directs the Federal government of the United States#Executive branch, executive branch of the Federal government of t ...

, 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 Dorothy Ann Richards (née Willis; September 1, 1933 – September 13, 2006) was an American politician who served as the 45th governor of Texas from 1991 to 1995. A Democrat, she first came to national attention as the Texas State Treasurer, ...

was elected.

Greg Abbott Gregory Wayne Abbott ( ; born November 13, 1957) is an American politician, attorney, and jurist who has served since 2015 as the 48th governor of Texas. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served from 2002 to ...

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

David Dewhurst ran for re-election to an unprecedented fourth term in office.

Republican primary

Candidates

Declared * David Dewhurst, incumbent

* 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

Polling

Results

Runoff

Polling
Results

Democratic primary

Candidates

Declared * Leticia Van de Putte, state senator Withdrew * Maria Luisa Alvarado, retired

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...

master sergeant A master sergeant is the military rank for a senior non-commissioned officer in the armed forces of some countries. Israel Defense Forces The (abbreviated "", master sergeant) is a non-commissioned officer () rank in the Israel Defense Force ...

and nominee for lieutenant governor in 2006

Libertarian nomination

Candidates

Declared * Brandon de Hoyos, journalist Withdrew * Ed Kless, businessman

Green nomination

Candidates

Declared * Chandra Courtney

General election

Polling

Results

Attorney General

Incumbent Republican Attorney General

was eligible to seek re-election to a fourth term, but instead decided to run for governor. Republican state senator

Ken Paxton Warren Kenneth Paxton Jr. (born December 23, 1962) is an American politician and lawyer who has served as the attorney general of Texas since 2015. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served in the Texas Senate representing the e ...

defeated Democratic attorney Sam Houston with 58.81% of the vote.

Comptroller of Public Accounts

Incumbent Republican

Comptroller A comptroller (pronounced either the same as ''controller'' or as ) is a management-level position responsible for supervising the quality of accountancy, accounting and financial reporting of an organization. A financial comptroller is a senior- ...

Susan Combs retired and did not seek a third term in office.

Republican primary

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

Polling

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.

Democratic primary

Candidates

Declared * Mike Collier, businessman and accountant

Libertarian nomination

Candidates

Declared * Ben Sanders

Green nomination

Candidates

Declared * Deb Shafto, nominee for Governor in 2010

General election

Polling

Results

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.

Republican primary

Candidates

Declared * George P. Bush, attorney, U.S. Navy Reserve officer and son of former

Governor of Florida The governor of Florida is the head of government of the U.S. state of Florida. The Governor (United States), governor is the head of the Government of Florida#Executive branch, executive branch of the government of Florida and is the comman ...

Jeb Bush John Ellis "Jeb" Bush (born February 11, 1953) is an American politician and businessman who served as the 43rd governor of Florida from 1999 to 2007. A member of the Bush family, Bush political family, he was an unsuccessful candidate for pre ...

* David Watts, businessman, author, preacher and flight instructor Declined * Jerry E. Patterson, Commissioner of the General Land Office

Results

Democratic primary

Candidates

Declared * John Cook, former mayor of

El Paso El Paso (; ; or ) is a city in and the county seat of El Paso County, Texas, United States. The 2020 United States census, 2020 population of the city from the United States Census Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau was 678,815, making it the List of ...

Libertarian nomination

Candidates

Declared * Steven Childs * Justin Knight Withdrew * Ed Tidwell, Lago Vista City Councilman Knight won the Libertarian nomination

Green nomination

Candidates

Declared * Ulises Cabrera

General election

Polling

Results

Commissioner of Agriculture

Incumbent Republican

Commissioner A commissioner (commonly abbreviated as Comm'r) is, in principle, a member of a commission or an individual who has been given a commission (official charge or authority to do something). In practice, the title of commissioner has evolved to incl ...

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.

Republican primary

Candidates

Declared * J. Allen Carnes, Mayor of Uvalde * Joe Cotten, candidate for

Railroad Commission of Texas The Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC; also sometimes called the Texas Railroad Commission, TRC) is the state agency that regulates the oil and gas industry, gas utilities, pipeline safety, safety in the liquefied petroleum gas industry, and su ...

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 The Republican Party of Texas (RPT) is the Texas affiliate of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party in the United States. It is currently chaired by Abraham George (politician), Abraham George, who succeeded Matt Rinaldi in 2024 ...

Withdrew * Brandon Creighton, state representative (running for the state senate) Declined * Todd Staples, Commissioner of Agriculture

Results

Runoff

Results

Democratic primary

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

Results

Runoff

Results

Libertarian nomination

Candidates

Declared * Rick Donaldson * David "Rocky" Palmquist, rancher Palmquist won the Libertarian nomination.

Green nomination

Candidates

Declared * Kenneth Kendrick, food safety advocate and whistleblower

General election

Polling

Results

Railroad Commissioner

Incumbent Republican

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

Republican primary

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

Results

Runoff

Results

Democratic primary

Candidates

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

Results

Libertarian nomination

Candidates

Declared * Jason Kute * Mark Miller, businessman Miller won the Libertarian nomination.

Green nomination

Candidates

Declared * Martina Salinas

General election

Polling

Results

Texas Legislature

Every seat in the

Texas House of Representatives The Texas House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Texas Legislature. It consists of 150 members who are elected from single-member districts for two-year terms. There are no Term limits in the United States, term limits. The ...

and about half of the seats in the

Texas Senate The Texas Senate is the upper house of the Texas Legislature, with the Texas House of Representatives functioning as the lower house. Together, they form the State legislature (United States), state legislature of the state of Texas. The Senate ...

were up for election.

Texas House of Representatives

Texas Senate

United States Senate

Incumbent Republican senator and Senate Minority Whip

John Cornyn John Cornyn III ( ; born February 2, 1952) is an American politician, attorney, and former jurist serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, senior United States Senate, United States senator from Texas, a seat he has held since 2002. ...

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 The Worldwide LaRouche Youth Movement (WLYM or LYM) and the LaRouche Political Action Committee (LaRouche PAC or LPAC) are part of the political organization of controversial American political figure Lyndon LaRouche. The LYM's " war room" is in ...

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

were up for election in 2014.

References

{{2014 United States elections