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. 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. Libertarian nomination. Candidates. Balagia won the Libertarian nomination Comptroller of Public Accounts. Incumbent Republican Comptroller Susan Combs retired and did not seek a third term in office. Republican primary. 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. 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. Libertarian nomination. Candidates. Knight won the Libertarian nomination 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. Libertarian nomination. Candidates. Palmquist won the Libertarian nomination. Railroad Commissioner. Incumbent Republican Commissioner Barry Smitherman did not run for re-election to  a full term. He instead ran unsuccessfully for attorney general. Libertarian nomination. Candidates. Miller won the Libertarian nomination. 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.