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Comptroller

Statewide

Sarah Eckhardt (D) won the Texas comptroller race with 51.3% of the vote to Don Huffines' (R) 46.2%, as called by the Associated Press.

Results

Sarah Eckhardt vs. Don HuffinesNovember 3 results

Pre-electionNot Rated
Democrat: Sarah EckhardtWinner
51.3 percent of the vote5,014,496 votes
Republican: Don Huffines (incumbent)
46.2 percent of the vote4,511,185 votes

V. Alonzo Echavarria-Garza (Libertarian) 1.9% · Shehla Faizi (Green) 0.7%

Called by AP9,774,685 votes counted
Texas Secretary of State (opens in new tab)

State count last updated Nov. 4, 4:18 p.m. CT. Unofficial until the state canvass, between Nov. 21 and Dec. 7.

Counties must finish their canvass by Nov. 17, and totals can change until then.

Texas' chief financial officer. The comptroller certifies the $321 billion state budget, collects taxes, manages state funds, and provides economic forecasts that determine what the Legislature can spend.

Before Election Day: Ratings and Analysis

Written before Election Day and not updated with returns. Ratings and polls describe the race before any returns were reported.

Don Huffines enters November as the appointed incumbent: after acting Comptroller Kelly Hancock stepped down on July 31, Gov. Greg Abbott appointed Huffines, already the GOP nominee, to the office effective August 1, 2026. The seat opened when Glenn Hegar left to become Chancellor of The Texas A&M University System. Huffines won the Republican primary with 57.4%; Sarah Eckhardt won the Democratic primary with 64.1%. No major forecaster rates the race, and no Democrat has won Comptroller since 1994.

No major forecaster rates this race. Don Huffines (R), appointed Comptroller effective August 1, 2026, now defends the office against Travis County state senator Sarah Eckhardt (D). A five-month appointment carries less incumbency advantage than a full term, but no Democrat has won the comptroller's office since 1994.

November Polling Before Election Day

Every poll here was conducted before Election Day. They stay here for comparison with the returns.

  • Texas Southern University · Oct. 25, 2026 · 2,000 LV · ±2.19 MOE

    Eckhardt 44% · Huffines 50%Huffines +6Undec. 5%

  • Texas Public Opinion Research · Oct. 18, 2026 · 969 LV · ±3.9 MOE

    Eckhardt 46% · Huffines 49%Huffines +3Undec. 4%

    Political sponsor · excluded from average · includes leaners

  • University of Houston Hobby School of Public Affairs · Oct. 14, 2026 · 2,000 LV · ±2.19 MOE

    Eckhardt 40% · Huffines 47%Huffines +7Undec. 11%

  • UT Texas Politics Project · Oct. 5, 2026 · 861 LV · ±3.34 MOE

    Eckhardt 46% · Huffines 47%Huffines +1Undec. 0%

    Includes leaners

  • Stratus Intelligence · Sept. 24, 2026 · 865 LV · ±3.5 MOE

    Eckhardt 43% · Huffines 49%Huffines +6Undec. 8%

    Political sponsor · excluded from average

  • Texas Public Opinion Research · Aug. 24, 2026 · 1,000 LV · ±3.3 MOE

    Eckhardt 41% · Huffines 43%Huffines +2

    Political sponsor · excluded from average

  • UT Texas Politics Project · Aug. 13, 2026 · 1,200 RV · ±2.83 MOE

    Eckhardt 34% · Huffines 40%Huffines +6

    Registered voters · excluded from average

  • Texas Southern University · July 30, 2026 · 1,200 LV · ±2.83 MOE

    Eckhardt 39% · Huffines 46%Huffines +7

Methodology and source notes for 8 polls
  • Texas Southern University, Oct. 25, 2026

    Fielded October 21-25, 2026; released October 29. The Barbara Jordan Public Policy Research and Survey Center at TSU reports a probability-based sample of 2,000 likely voters, +/-2.19-point margin of error, and a two-part likely-voter screen supplemented by past election participation. A random sample of registered voters was contacted by SMS and directed to an online survey in English or Spanish; weighted by multidimensional calibration on demographic, historical electoral, and geographic benchmarks. A little more than one-third of respondents had already voted, and the report calls the result vote intention. The report names no outside sponsor, publishes no question wording, and describes no leaned follow-up. Libertarian V. Alonzo Echavarria-Garza 1%, Green Shehla Faizi 0%, unsure 5%.

    Original poll release (opens in new tab)
  • Texas Public Opinion Research, Oct. 18, 2026

    Fielded October 15-18, 2026, via an online panel; n=969 likely voters, margin of error ±3.9 points; weighted by gender, race, age, education, income, geography, and 2024 vote recall. Shown with leaners (Q48, "Intermediate Push," after undecided respondents were asked which candidate they lean toward). First-choice result (Q46): Huffines 47%, Eckhardt 44%, undecided 7%. The ballot names the Republican as Donald Huffines. Libertarian V. Alonzo Echevarria-Garza 1%; Green Shehla Faizi shown as "-"; would not vote in that race shown as "-" in the topline. Still not sure after the lean question: 4%. TPOR's release headlines a "Final Push" result that asks remaining undecided respondents a second time and leaves none undecided; that forced result is not used. TPOR describes itself as a nonpartisan polling initiative and names no external commissioner. The site's copyright line names Luke Warford, whom the Texas Tribune (June 6, 2024) describes as the Texas Democratic Party's former chief strategy officer. This topline's page footer reads "Prepared by Slingshot Strategies"; September's read "Prepared by Texas Public Opinion Research."

    Original poll release (opens in new tab)
  • University of Houston Hobby School of Public Affairs, Oct. 14, 2026

    Fielded Oct. 10 to 14, 2026 among 2,000 Texas likely voters contacted by SMS text and directed to an online survey, in English or Spanish. It was weighted by multidimensional calibration on demographic, historical electoral, and geographic benchmarks. The margin of error is ±2.19 points. The report and its Oct. 19 release publish no question wording and no separate questionnaire or topline document (as of Oct. 19, 2026, the Hobby School's Texas 2026 page links only this report, which prints the topline results). The report prints an undecided share and describes no leaner follow-up, the same disclosure standard as other polls in the average. No outside sponsor is named. Released Oct. 19, 2026. Libertarian V. Alonzo Echavarria-Garza 2%, Green Shehla Faizi 0.4%, undecided 11%.

    Original poll release (opens in new tab)
  • UT Texas Politics Project, Oct. 5, 2026

    University of Texas / Texas Politics Project in-house poll (no outside sponsor), fielded Sept. 25 to Oct. 5, 2026. YouGov interviewed 1,253 Texas registered voters online and matched them to 1,200, weighted by propensity score and post-stratified on 2024 presidential vote, gender, age, race, and education. Likely voters (weighted base 861, 905 unweighted respondents) report the published ±3.34-point margin. V. Alonzo Echavarria-Garza (Libertarian) 2%, Shehla Faizi (Green) 1%, someone else 3%, not sure 0%. UT's published ballot folds in a forced follow-up ("If you had to make a choice, who would you choose?") among respondents who first said they didn't know, and the topline does not print the initial ballot. The initial ballot, computed from UT's posted microdata with its own likely-voter flag and weight, is Huffines 45.79%, Eckhardt 42.93%, not sure 8.34%. Counted in the average under the leaner rule adopted Oct. 21, 2026: when a poll publishes a result that includes leaners, the table and average use it.

    Original poll release (opens in new tab)
  • Stratus Intelligence, Sept. 24, 2026

    Stratus Intelligence memo, fielded September 22 to 24, 2026 among 865 likely voters; 81% SMS-to-web and 19% live phone; ±3.5 points. The memo names no sponsor and publishes neither question wording nor weighting. Breitbart (September 29) and the Wikipedia Senate-race listing report the poll was conducted for Texans for a Conservative Majority. Sponsored poll, shown with the sponsor disclosed and excluded from the headline average. Undecided 8%.

    Original poll release (opens in new tab)
  • Texas Public Opinion Research, Aug. 24, 2026

    TPOR director Luke Warford is a Democratic strategist. Ballot named Libertarian V. Alonzo Echavarria-Garza at 1%.

    Original poll release (opens in new tab)
  • UT Texas Politics Project, Aug. 13, 2026

    Ballot named Libertarian V. Alonzo Echavarria-Garza at 1% and Green Shehla Faizi at 1%. Registered voters, not likely voters.

    Original poll release (opens in new tab)
  • Texas Southern University, July 30, 2026

    Four-way ballot incl. V. Alonzo Echavarria-Garza (L) 2% and Shehla Faizi (G) under 1%, with 13% undecided. 79% of likely voters did not know enough about Eckhardt to rate her. Barbara Jordan Public Policy Research and Survey Center. The poll used SMS-to-web, was fielded July 27 to 30, and was coauthored by Rice's Mark P. Jones. Sampling frame and weighting variables are not disclosed in the report.

    Original poll release (opens in new tab)

Each row is one poll, shown as reported. Before Election Day, headline cards averaged eligible likely-voter polls of the nominees taken since the runoff, leaving out polls sponsored by campaigns or political operatives and polls held out over method or ballot differences. See the methodology page. The reported gap is the difference between candidate percentages, not a finding of a statistically significant lead. An undecided share appears only when explicitly recorded from the source; a dash means it has not been recorded. Independently rounded categories may not sum to 100%. Likely-voter (LV) and registered-voter (RV) samples are not directly comparable.

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Campaign Finance

Dataset updated Nov. 1, 2026

Candidate accounts only. Super PACs and other outside groups are not included. Texas Ethics Commission figures cover one account and reporting period each, not a full cycle.

Don HuffinesRaised $2.0M

Texas Ethics Commission · Reporting period: Sept. 25, 2026–Oct. 24, 2026

Account: Don Huffines candidate account

Filing Details

Don Huffines candidate/officeholder account (filer 00069651), 8-day-before-general report 101072355 filed Oct. 26, covering Sept. 25 to Oct. 24, 2026. Raised and spent are this report period's totals. Cash on hand is the period-end balance TEC reports as political contributions maintained. The filing reports $15,250,000.00 in outstanding loan principal, which is not included in cash on hand.

Sarah EckhardtRaised $398K

Texas Ethics Commission · Reporting period: Sept. 25, 2026–Oct. 24, 2026

Account: Sarah Eckhardt candidate account

Filing Details

Sarah Eckhardt candidate/officeholder account (filer 00084783), 8-day-before-general report 101072029 filed Oct. 26, covering Sept. 25 to Oct. 24, 2026. Raised and spent are this report period's totals. Cash on hand is the period-end balance TEC reports as political contributions maintained. The filing reports $0.00 in outstanding loan principal.

Campaign finance data for candidates
CandidatePartyRaisedSpentCash on HandCoverage
Don HuffinesRepublican$1,961,857.63$1,799,922.26$2,276,031.03Texas Ethics Commission · Reporting period: Sept. 25, 2026–Oct. 24, 2026
Sarah EckhardtDemocratic$398,458.31$419,714.6$308,669.04Texas Ethics Commission · Reporting period: Sept. 25, 2026–Oct. 24, 2026

Frequently Asked Questions

Who won the 2026 Texas Comptroller race?

Sarah Eckhardt (D) won the Texas comptroller race with 51.3% of the vote to Don Huffines' (R) 46.2%, as called by the Associated Press. Results are unofficial until the canvass.

Who was on the 2026 ballot for Texas Comptroller?

Sarah Eckhardt (Democratic), Don Huffines (Republican), V. Alonzo Echavarria-Garza (Libertarian), and Shehla Faizi (Green) were on the November 3 ballot.

Don Huffines vs. Sarah Eckhardt: who was on the ballot for Texas Comptroller?

Incumbent Republican Don Huffines and Democrat Sarah Eckhardt were the major-party candidates for Texas Comptroller on the November 3, 2026 ballot.

Where can I see 2026 results for Texas Comptroller?

This page publishes Texas Secretary of State returns for Texas Comptroller as they become available. Election-night counts are unofficial until canvassed, and TexPolls marks a race called only after a named news organization calls it.

Key Dates

General ElectionNov. 3, 2026