{"id":137430,"date":"2026-01-25T11:26:23","date_gmt":"2026-01-25T11:26:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/137430\/"},"modified":"2026-01-25T11:26:23","modified_gmt":"2026-01-25T11:26:23","slug":"meet-the-republicans-and-democrats-running-for-texas-governor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/137430\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet the Republicans and Democrats running for Texas governor"},"content":{"rendered":"

Republican Gov. Greg Abbott<\/a> is seeking an unprecedented fourth term as Texas\u2019 governor in 2026, and holds an enormous fundraising advantage over his numerous Republican and Democratic challengers.<\/p>\n

Abbott, 68, faces 10 opponents in the GOP primary on March 3. <\/p>\n

While most of them have little political experience, one intriguing contender is Evelyn Brooks<\/a>, who serves on the Texas State Board of Education, and was once an ally of the governor before launching a campaign that\u2019s been deeply critical<\/a> of his school voucher program.<\/p>\n

If Abbott is reelected and serves out another four-year term, he\u2019ll be the longest-serving governor in Texas history, and he\u2019ll rival others for that title nationwide. He reported a staggering $105 million<\/a> on hand for his reelection campaign as of Dec. 31. <\/p>\n

Nine Democrats are seeking their party\u2019s nomination for governor in the March primary. <\/p>\n

The two biggest-name contenders <\/a>were Houston businessman Andrew White<\/a> and state Rep. Gina Hinojosa<\/a> (D-Austin), but White dropped out to endorse Hinojosa<\/a> on Jan. 5. His name will still appear on the ballot in March. The race also includes former U.S. Rep. Chris Bell<\/a>, though Bell\u2019s website appears to have been archived and his campaign email address is no longer working.<\/p>\n

Hinojosa has raised about $1 million<\/a> since launching her campaign and reported about $370,000 on hand as of Dec. 31.<\/p>\n

The November ballot could still include third-party candidates, who choose their nominees outside of the primary process, or independent candidates, who collect signatures to qualify after the primary. <\/p>\n

Candidates below are shown in the order they will appear on Bexar County\u2019s Republican<\/a> and Democratic<\/a> primary ballots.<\/p>\n

Republican candidates for Texas governor in 2026<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/a>\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t R.F. \u201cBob\u201d Achgill <\/a>
\n\t\t\t\tBob Achgill is a mechanical engineer in Bryan who worked on NASA’s\u00a0Space Shuttle program for IBM.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/a>\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t Pete Chambers <\/a>
\n\t\t\t\tPete “Doc” Chambers is a U.S. Army veteran who runs a nonprofit ministry in Wimberly.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/a>\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t Evelyn Brooks <\/a>
\n\t\t\t\tEvelyn Brooks in a longtime educator who serves on the State Board of Education.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/a>\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/a>\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t Mark V. Goloby <\/a>
\n\t\t\t\tMark V. Goloby lives in Houston and founded an oil and gas technology company.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/a>\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t Kenneth Hyde <\/a>
\n\t\t\t\tKenneth Hyde is a San Antonio horticulturist focused on legalizing marijuana.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/a>\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t Stephen Samuelson <\/a>
\n\t\t\t\tStephen Samuelson is a medically retired veteran who works in trauma advocacy.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/a>\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t Ronnie Tullos <\/a>
\n\t\t\t\tRonnie Tullos served in the Texas Guard and as a captain with the San Jacinto County Sheriff\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/a>\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/a>\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t Greg Abbott <\/a>
\n\t\t\t\tGreg Abbott is the longest-serving governor in Texas history, first elected in 2014.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/a>\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Democrats running for Texas governor in 2026<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/a>\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t Angela Villescaz <\/a>
\n\t\t\t\tAngela “T\u00edaAngie” Villescaz is an education advocate from Uvalde. <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/a>\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/a>\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t Chris Bell <\/a>
\n\t\t\t\tChris Bell is an attorney and former journalist who served in Congress and on Houston’s city council.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/a>\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t Bobby Cole <\/a>
\n\t\t\t\tBobby Cole is an East Texas farmer and retired firefighter.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/a>\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t Andrew White <\/a>
\n\t\t\t\tAndrew White dropped out of the race on Jan. 5 but will still appear on the primary ballot.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/a>\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t Patricia Abrego <\/a>
\n\t\t\t\tPatricia Abrego is seeking the Democratic nomination for governor in 2026.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/a>\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t Zach Vance <\/a>
\n\t\t\t\tZach Vance is a medically retired Marine who most recently worked at an Austin news organization.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/a>\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t Gina Hinojosa <\/a>
\n\t\t\t\tGina Hinojosa is an attorney from Brownsville who represents Austin in the Texas House.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/a>\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t Carlton Hart <\/a>
\n\t\t\t\tCarlton W. Hart is a retired events specialist from Houston.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Republican Gov. Greg Abbott is seeking an unprecedented fourth term as Texas\u2019 governor in 2026, and holds an…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":137431,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[8519,58275,58276,288,3496,392,32343,82,84,83,5600,28194,44242,92,93,3219],"class_list":{"0":"post-137430","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-antonio","8":"tag-2026-election","9":"tag-2026-texas-gubernatorial-election","10":"tag-bexar-county-ballot","11":"tag-elections","12":"tag-gina-hinojosa","13":"tag-greg-abbott","14":"tag-march-3-primary","15":"tag-san-antonio","16":"tag-san-antonio-headlines","17":"tag-san-antonio-news","18":"tag-texas-democrats","19":"tag-texas-gop","20":"tag-texas-governors-race","21":"tag-top-story","22":"tag-typefeature","23":"tag-wc-less-than-500"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137430","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=137430"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137430\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/137431"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=137430"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=137430"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=137430"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}