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Republican Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar, who championed broadband access and the oil and gas industry during his campaign, warded off Democratic challenger Janet Dudding to win a third term as the state’s chief financial officer on Tuesday, according to Decision Desk HQ.
This is likely Hegar’s final term in this office, as the 51-year-old has said he won’t run for a fourth term if reelected. His name has been floated in political circles as a potential future candidate for U.S. Senate or even lieutenant governor, but Hegar has so far declined to say what his future might hold after 2026, when the next round of statewide elections will happen.
“I am honored and humbled that the people of the great state of Texas have once again entrusted me with the responsibility of helping to guide the Texas economy through challenging times,” Hegar said in a statement. “It is clear that voters across the political spectrum are concerned about issues that impact the day to day lives of each and every one of us.”
Dudding, 63, an accountant and political newcomer from the Brazos Valley, criticized Hegar for his lack of accounting credentials and what she called his support of big-money business instead of average Texans.
“We ran a campaign that appealed to Texans of every stripe,” Dudding said. “Texans who are tired of seeing their tax dollars wasted, who are tired of the good old boys making decisions in dark rooms while the comptroller refused to turn on the light, who believe we deserve accountability from the people we send to Aust in. Unfortunately, we came up short. I congratulate Glenn on his victory and hope he will spend the next four years as the comptroller we all know Texas deserves.”
How can I check whether my ballot was counted?
Voters can check with their county election officials to see whether their vote was counted. Some counties also make this information available on their websites. Find your county website here. Who a person voted for is not public record. If you voted through a provisional ballot because of an administrative issue or photo ID problem, you should receive a notice by mail letting you know if your ballot was counted by Dec. 2. Voters who vote by mail can use an online tracker to check the status of their mail-in ballot. You can access the tracker here.
How are votes counted in Texas elections?
County officials can begin counting early voting results, including mail-in ballots, on as early as the last day of early voting in large counties. Those results are usually posted online shortly after polls close at 7 p.m. on Election Day. Counties must count results from each polling location within 24 hours of the polls closing. Those counts are added in increments to the tally, which is then updated online. This takes time as polling places are closed down and election materials are transported back to county election officials. Election Day results are unofficial because officials still have to account for late arriving mail-in ballots, ballots from military or overseas voters and provisional ballots.
Where can I see election results?
For federal, district and state elections, you can find results on our results page. The data is from our partner Decision Desk HQ, which gathers information from the Texas Secretary of State’s office and a representative sample of 50 counties to provide estimates as to how many votes are left to be counted and call winners. For local elections, you can find results on your county’s website. Find yours here.
How are ballots and elections protected in Texas?
Voting machines and software are certified by the U.S. Election Assistance Commission and the Texas Secretary of State. Machines used to mark and read ballots cannot connect to the internet to protect against hacking. The machines also have seals with unique serial numbers and are locked down at the end of voting. Paper ballots are also stored in locked boxes and must be preserved for at least 22 months after an election. Texas requires counties that use electronic machines to count votes to conduct a partial manual audit after the election. Read more about election safeguards here.
How common is voter fraud?
Several studies, reports and courts have found that voter fraud is relatively rare, according to the Brennan Center for Justice, a nonpartisan law and policy institute. Instances of alleged fraud have also in some cases turned out to be mistakes by elections administrators or voters, according to the center. The Texas Secretary of State’s office launched an audit of the 2020 election results in Dallas, Harris, Tarrant and Collin Counties. The audit is ongoing, but an initial report found few discrepancies between manual and electronic counts. The Texas Attorney General’s office also opened 390 cases looking at potential electoral fraud from January 2020 to September 2022, but it only secured five election-related convictions during that period.
The comptroller is the state’s chief tax collector, revenue estimator and check writer. Hegar’s most high-profile time, typically, is around the legislative session when he tells lawmakers how much money they’ll be able to spend in the next biennium.
The race is widely considered to be a low-information election, with little public knowledge about the powerful position. The comptroller oversees a state budget that reached $265 billion for the 2022-23 biennium and holds the reins on how much tax money state legislators are allowed to spend each year.
Hegar, who started his career in 2002 as a state representative from Katy, outraised and outspent Dudding throughout the campaign and dropped $238,765 in the last month before the election, compared to Dudding’s $45,138. Hegar still had $8.7 million in his war chest leading up to the election, while Dudding had about $18,600 on hand.
During the campaign, Hegar touted his work on lowering taxes and expanding broadband in Texas, reforming the tax code, reducing regulations on agriculture and pushing for government transparency.
He also rode some of the emotional volatility of an election season with emotionally divisive underpinnings, weighing in against transgender students’ participation in school athletics, slamming President Joe Biden on immigration policy, bashing student loan forgiveness and supporting efforts to keep “critical race theory” out of schools.
His campaign site also discusses his belief in religious liberty, his support as a legislator for gun rights and his record on anti-abortion legislation.
Before he assumed his current role, Hegar was perhaps best known for defending his abortion restriction bill nearly a decade ago when he was on the opposite side of Wendy Davis’ famous Senate filibuster.
Dudding, who lives in Bryan with her husband, touted her credentials as a certified public accountant with 35 years of state and local government experience, as well as politically liberal stances she said were smart financial policy.
Legalizing or decriminalizing marijuana would bring in an estimated $1 billion and save hundreds of millions, she said. Converting methane emissions on state land into energy could save billions in costs caused by climate-related disasters, she argued.
She pushed for Medicaid expansion, wanted to address rising taxes and corporate welfare and supported better pay for teachers.
The Texas Tribune is a nonprofit statewide news organization dedicated to keeping Texans informed on politics and policy issues that impact their communities. This election season, Texans around the state will turn to The Texas Tribune for the information they need on voting, election results, analysis of key races and more. Get the latest.