Abbott Gets 2nd Comptroller Appointment
in Year as Hancock Quits for Ministry Post Capitol Inside
July 1, 2026
Texas Governor Greg Abbott has the unprecedented opportunity to handpick someone for the powerful position of state comptroller for the second time in a 12-month span after Republican Kelly Hancock revealed on Wednesday that's leaving the post at the end of July for a new role in the religious sector.
A former Texas Senate member who began work as the comptroller exactly one year ago, Hancock informed the governor in a resignation letter that he's stepping down so he can spend more time with a growing family while transitioning into a leadership post with an "international ministry" that he declined to identify.
Hancock represented a swath of the Fort Worth area for a dozen years in the Senate, where he was one of only two Republicans who voted to convict Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton of corruption charges in the wake of his impeachment that GOP leaders in the state House engineered in 2023. But Paxton had spent two regular sessions in Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick's doghouse - having been demoted by the Senate president from a coveted post as the Business and Commerce Committee chair to the top job on the Veterans Affairs Committee after the two clashed on Texas power grid reform in the aftermath of a deadly freeze in 2021.
Hancock's abrupt departure put Abbott in position to name a replacement to head the massive state agency for the remainder of 2026. Abbott could tap Donald Huffines for the upcoming opening as the Republican nominee for comptroller after eliminating Hancock and Railroad Commissioner Christi Craddick from the competition for the position with a victory in the March primary election with more than 57 percent of the vote.
The governor invested substantial political capital in Hancock's campaign for the job that he was given last summer. Abbott had appeared to despise Huffines since the wealthy Dallas business and former state senator sought without success to oust him from the governor's office in the GOP primary election in 2022. Abbott tried to give Hancock a game-changing head start with the ability to run as the incumbent with the governor's vigorous support and funding when he tapped him to replace Republican Glenn Hegar in the post. Hegar resigned before his term ended so he could go to work as the chancellor at the Texas A&M University System in College Station.
But the GOP primary voters were not impressed despite Abbott's pitching of Hancock at events around the state leading up to the initial election in 2026. Hancock failed to advance to a runoff when he finished a distant second to Huffines with less than 24 percent of the first-round vote. The governor could swallow his pride with an appointment of the GOP nominee for the opening that Hancock will leave in his wake. Abbott could use the appointment as a tool for a reconciliation with Huffines, who would have the ability to mess with the governor on a wide range of fronts if he beats Democrat Sarah Eckhardt in November as the Democrats' nominee for comptroller.
Huffines appears to be a considerable favorite in the general election this fall like all of the Republican statewide ticket members with the exception of Paxton. Abbott runs the risk of alienating Huffines even more he passes him over in the Hancock replacement process.
The Texas comptroller oversees an agency whose chief responsibility is the estimation of revenue that they state will have when the Legislature writes a new two-year state budget during regular sessions in odd-numbered years. But Hancock gave the impression in the resignation letter that he'd had his hands full with the implementation of the first ever school vouchers program that Republicans who control the Legislature approved last year. The outgoing comptroller gave himself a plug for the work he's done getting the school choice program off the ground.
"The program is running smoothly for a new initiative of this size," Hancock told Abbott. "That success reflects your leadership, the Legislature's work, the many families who made their voices heard, and the exceptional team of Comptroller personnel and partner organizations who have worked diligently and passionately to provide life-changing opportunities for Texas students are record speed."
But Eckhardt gave Hancock a failing grade amid questions on whether the public money that's been appropriated for private school subsidies is being used the way legislators' intended. Eckhardt, a former Travis County judge, accused the Republicans of playing "political football" with the vouchers program amid claims of "abrupt breaks with the law" during Hancock's tenure.
"Families across Texas are scrambling as more than 120 public schools close," Eckhardt argued. "Someone needs to be asking harder questions about where our public education dollars are actually going; that someone isn't likely to be an Abbott appointee."
Abbott refused to come to Paxton's defense during the impeachment ordeal - and the governor remained on the sidelines in the GOP primary election for a U.S. Senate seat this year before boarding the AG's bandwagon after ousted veteran U.S. Senate member John Cornyn in a runoff in May. But Paxton raised no apparent objections to Abbott's selection of Hancock for the top job at the comptroller's office despite his position in the impeachment trial.
more to come ...
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