The 2022 Texas gubernatorial election took place on November 8, 2022, to elect the governor of Texas. Incumbent

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

Governor

Greg Abbott Gregory Wayne Abbott (born November 13, 1957) is an American politician, attorney, and former jurist serving as the 48th governor of Texas since 2015. A member of the Republican Party, he served as the 50th attorney general of Texas from 2002 ...

defeated the Democratic nominee and former U.S. Representative

Beto O'Rourke Robert Francis "Beto" O'Rourke ( , ; ; born September 26, 1972) is an American politician who served as the U.S. representative for from 2013 to 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, O'Rourke was the party's nominee for the U.S. Senat ...

to win reelection to a third term. All statewide elected offices are currently held by Republicans. In his previous gubernatorial race in 2018, Abbott won with 55.8% of the vote. The Democratic and Republican primaries were held on March 1, 2022. O'Rourke and Abbott won outright majorities in their respective primaries, and therefore did not participate in the May 24 runoffs. Texas has not voted for a Democratic candidate for governor since

Ann Richards Dorothy Ann Richards (née Willis; September 1, 1933 – September 13, 2006) was an American politician who served as the 45th governor of Texas from 1991 to 1995. A Democrat, she first came to national attention as the Texas State Treasurer, w ...

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of humanity on Earth, astrophysicist ...

. Additionally, Abbott had a strong approval rating on election day, with 55% of voters approving to 45% disapproving.. Beto O'Rourke, who gained national attention in

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the Unit ...

for his unusually close and competitive campaign against Senator

Ted Cruz Rafael Edward "Ted" Cruz (; born December 22, 1970) is an American politician and attorney serving as the junior United States Senator from Texas since 2013. A member of the Republican Party, Cruz served as Solicitor General of Texas from ...

, was widely viewed as a rising star in the

Texas Democratic Party The Texas Democratic Party is the affiliate of the Democratic Party in the U.S. state of Texas and one of the two major political parties in the state. The party's headquarters are in Austin, Texas. President Lyndon B. Johnson was a Texas Democ ...

and potential challenger for Abbott, but a failed run for President of the United States in

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global social and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in t ...

prompted criticisms of opportunism, via Republican attempts to brand him as anti-law enforcement and his former comments on

guns A gun is a ranged weapon designed to use a shooting tube (gun barrel) to launch projectiles. The projectiles are typically solid, but can also be pressurized liquid (e.g. in water guns/cannons, spray guns for painting or pressure washing, ...

. Abbott won re-election by 10.9%, which is a margin slightly smaller than his 13.3% in 2018 in spite of a much redder national climate in 2022, making this the closest gubernatorial election in Texas since 2006, and the closest election of Abbott's entire political career since his first race for the

Texas Supreme Court The Supreme Court of Texas (SCOTX) is the court of last resort for civil matters (including juvenile delinquency cases, which are categorized as civil under the Texas Family Code) in the U.S. state of Texas. A different court, the Texas Court of ...

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

. Beto O'Rourke, meanwhile, performed 8.3% worse than his 2018 Senate run, but ''did'' still win the highest share for a Democratic gubernatorial candidate since Ann Richards received 45.88% in her unsuccessful reelection bid against

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nelson ...

. Abbott's raw vote total was less than his 4.65 million in 2018, while O'Rourke set a record of most raw votes for a Texas Democratic gubernatorial candidate at around 3.55 million, but was also less than his 4.04 million vote total in the 2018 Senate race. Abbott carried 235 out of 254 counties in his re-election victory, flipping the heavily

Hispanic The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad. The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to viceroyalties forme ...

counties of Culberson and Zapata and becoming the first Republican gubernatorial candidate to win the latter in the state's history (though Zapata had voted Republican in the

2020 presidential election This national electoral calendar for 2020 lists the national/federal elections held in 2020 in all sovereign states and their dependent territories. By-elections are excluded, though national referendums are included. January *5 January: **C ...

), while O'Rourke became the first Democratic gubernatorial candidate to win the county of Fort Bend since 1974. O'Rourke outperformed Joe Biden two years prior among

Latino vote The Latino vote or refers to the voting trends during elections in the United States by eligible voters of Latino background. This phrase is usually mentioned by the media as a way to label voters of this ethnicity, and to opine that this demographi ...

rs though his performance with them was still worse than past nominees because Joe Biden had a 58% disapproval rating in Texas on election day.

Republican primary

On June 4, 2021,

Texas Republican Party The Republican Party of Texas (RPT) is the affiliate of the United States Republican Party in the state of Texas. It is currently chaired by Matt Rinaldi, succeeding Allen West who resigned prior to the expiration of his term to run for governo ...

chairman Allen West announced his resignation as party chair. West criticized Gov. Greg Abbott's handling of the

COVID-19 pandemic in Texas The COVID-19 pandemic in Texas is a part of the ongoing viral pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), a novel infectious disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The state of Texas confirmed its ...

. The history of conflict between West and Abbott included a lawsuit by West and other Republicans challenging Abbott's extension of the early voting period in 2020, as well as a protest outside the Governor's Mansion over pandemic-related shutdowns as well as mask mandates. On July 4, 2021, West announced that he would challenge Abbott in the 2022 gubernatorial primary. Both West and fellow gubernatorial candidate

Don Huffines Donald Blaine Huffines is an American politician and businessman from the state of Texas. Huffines co-owns and operates Huffines Communities, a real estate development company in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. A conservative, Tea Party Repub ...

were considered more conservative than Abbott. On March 1, 2022, Abbott won the Republican primary by a much smaller margin than in 2018.

Candidates

Nominee

, incumbent governor

Eliminated in primary

*Paul G. Belew, criminal defense attorney *Danny Harrison, businessman *Kandy Kaye Horn, philanthropist *

, former member of the

Texas Senate The Texas Senate ( es, Senado de Texas) is the upper house of the Texas State Legislature. There are 31 members of the Senate, representing single-member districts across the U.S. state of Texas, with populations of approximately 806,000 per co ...

*Ricky Lynn Perry, staffing agency employee * Chad Prather, BlazeTV talk show host, activist, and

stand-up Stand-up comedy is a comedic performance to a live audience in which the performer addresses the audience directly from the stage. The performer is known as a comedian, a comic or a stand-up. Stand-up comedy consists of one-liners, stories, ...

comedian * Allen West, former chair of the

and former U.S. representative for

Withdrawn

* Martin Holsome, former

Rusk A rusk is a hard, dry biscuit or a twice-baked bread. It is sometimes used as a teether for babies. In some cultures, rusk is made of cake, rather than bread: this is sometimes referred to as cake rusk. In the UK, the name also refers to a whea ...

city councillor *Kurt Schwab, military veteran

Declined

George P. Bush George Prescott Bush (born April 24, 1976) is an American politician and attorney who served as the commissioner of the Texas General Land Office from 2015 to 2023. A member of the Republican Party, Bush unsuccessfully campaigned for the party's ...

, Texas Land Commissioner and member of the

Bush family The Bush family is an American dynastic family that is prominent in the fields of American politics, news, sports, entertainment, and business. They were the first family of the United States from 1989 to 1993 and again from 2001 to 2009, and w ...

''( ran for Attorney General)'' * Christi Craddick, Texas Railroad Commissioner * Glenn Hegar,

Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts The Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts is an executive branch position created by the Texas Constitution. The comptroller is popularly elected every four years, and is primarily tasked with collecting all state tax revenue and estimating the a ...

''(running for re-election)'' * Sid Miller, Texas Agriculture Commissioner ''(running for re-election)'' * Rick Perry, former governor and former U.S. Secretary of Energy *

Joe Straus Joseph Richard Straus III (born September 1, 1959) is an American politician who served as the Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives from 2009 to 2019. A Republican, he represented District 121, which comprises northeastern Bexar County ...

, former

Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives The Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives is the presiding officer of the Texas House of Representatives. The Speaker's main duties are to conduct meetings of the House, appoint committee A committee or commission is a body of one or ...

Endorsements

Polling

;Graphical summary

Results

Democratic primary

Candidates

Nominee

, former U.S. Representative for , nominee for U.S. Senate in

and

candidate A candidate, or nominee, is the prospective recipient of an award or honor, or a person seeking or being considered for some kind of position; for example: * to be elected to an office — in this case a candidate selection procedure occurs. * ...

for

President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States ...

Eliminated in primary

*Inocencio Barrientez, fitness trainer *Michael Cooper, pastor, candidate for lieutenant governor in

, and candidate for U.S Senate in

*Joy Diaz, reporter *Rich Wakeland, former advisor to Public Utility Commissioner Ken Anderson

Disqualified

*Jack Daniel Foster Jr., teacher *R. Star Locke, veteran

Declined

* Steve Adler,

Mayor of Austin The mayor of Austin is the official head of the city of Austin in the U.S. state of Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km ...

* Joaquin Castro, U.S. Representative for ''(endorsed O’Rourke)'' * Julián Castro, former U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, former

Mayor of San Antonio The following is a list of mayors of San Antonio, Texas. San Antonio operates under a council–manager form of government.Kriston CappsWhy Julián Castro's Record as Mayor of San Antonio Doesn't Necessarily Tell Us Much About His Future at HUD ...

, and

for

* Wendy Davis, former state senator, nominee for governor in

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

, and nominee for in

Veronica Escobar Veronica Escobar (born September 15, 1969) is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for , based in El Paso, since 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, she served as an El Paso County commissioner from 2007 to 2011 and t ...

U.S. Representative The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they c ...

for , former

El Paso El Paso (; "the pass") is a city in and the seat of El Paso County in the western corner of the U.S. state of Texas. The 2020 population of the city from the U.S. Census Bureau was 678,815, making it the 23rd-largest city in the U.S., the s ...

commissioner, and former

county judge The term county judge is applied as a descriptor, sometimes as a title, for a person who presides over a county court. In most cases, such as in Northern Ireland and the Victorian County Courts, a county judge is a judicial officer with civil ...

''( running for re-election)'' * Lina Hidalgo, Harris County Judge

Endorsements

Polling

Results

Green primary

Candidates

Declared

* Delilah Barrios, environmental activist

Libertarian convention

Candidates

Declared

*Mark Jay Tippetts, attorney, former Lago Vista city councilman, and nominee for governor in

Withdrew/disqualified

*Dan Behrman, software engineer, internet personality, candidate for

Texas House of Representatives The Texas House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Texas Legislature. It consists of 150 members who are elected from single-member districts for two-year terms. As of the 2010 United States census, each member represents abo ...

, and candidate for

https://www.sos.state.tx.us/elections/forms/2022-libertarian-party-candidates-for-convention.pdf *Andrew Jewell, industrial maintenance technician, Secretary of Libertarian Party of Dallas County, Chair of Texas Libertarian Party Radical Caucus, and candidate for Dallas County Commissioner District 3 in 2020

Independents and other parties

Candidates

Declared

* Deirdre Dickson-Gilbert, public educator ''(previously ran for Democratic nomination)'' * Ricardo Turullols-Bonilla, retired educator and write-in candidate for

U.S. Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

Disqualified

*Patrick Wynne, software engineer, data scientist and

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage o ...

veteran ( Reform Party)

Declined

Matthew McConaughey Matthew David McConaughey ( ; born November 4, 1969) is an American actor. He had his breakout role with a supporting performance in the coming-of-age comedy '' Dazed and Confused'' (1993). After a number of supporting roles, his first succes ...

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

-winning actor (no declared party affiliation)

General election

Predictions

Debates

Endorsements

Polling

;Aggregate polls ;Graphical summary ;Greg Abbott vs. Julián Castro ;Greg Abbott vs. Beto O'Rourke with Matthew McConaughey as an independent ;Greg Abbott vs. Don Huffines ;Greg Abbott vs. Matthew McConaughey ;Greg Abbott vs. generic Democrat ;Greg Abbott vs. generic opponent

Results

Analysis

While Texas Democrats hoped for Beto O'Rourke to achieve an upset over the incumbent Greg Abbott, one did not materialize. Abbott won by about 10.9 points, a margin slightly larger than aggregate polling, but virtually in line with the last poll conducted. He won the vast majority of counties, mostly rural, and by significantly wide margins. 34 counties, in particular, gave Abbott over 90% of the vote, the most by any Texas Republican gubernatorial candidate, and the most for any candidate since Democrat

Allan Shivers Robert Allan Shivers (; October 5, 1907 – January 14, 1985) was an American politician who served as the 37th governor of Texas. Shivers was a leader of the Texas Democratic Party during the turbulent 1940s and 1950s and developed the lieutena ...

' 1954 re-election. He won several mid-sized metro areas which include Corpus Christi along the coastal bend; Beaumont–Port Arthur,

Tyler Tyler may refer to: People and fictional characters * Tyler (name), an English name; with lists of people with the surname or given name * Tyler, the Creator (born 1991), American rap artist and producer * John Tyler, 10th president of the United ...

and Longview in

East Texas East Texas is a broadly defined cultural, geographic, and ecological region in the eastern part of the U.S. state of Texas that comprises most of 41 counties. It is primarily divided into Northeast and Southeast Texas. Most of the region cons ...

;

Lubbock Lubbock ( ) is the 10th-most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and the seat of government of Lubbock County. With a population of 260,993 in 2021, the city is also the 85th-most populous in the United States. The city is in the northw ...

and Midland-Odessa in

West Texas West Texas is a loosely defined region in the U.S. state of Texas, generally encompassing the arid and semiarid lands west of a line drawn between the cities of Wichita Falls, Abilene, and Del Rio. No consensus exists on the boundary betwee ...

; and

Amarillo Amarillo ( ; Spanish for " yellow") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the seat of Potter County. It is the 14th-most populous city in Texas and the largest city in the Texas Panhandle. A portion of the city extends into Randall Cou ...

in the Panhandle. Abbott also did well in the suburbs of the

Texas Triangle The Texas Triangle (also known as Texaplex) is a region of Texas which contains the state's five largest cities and is home to the majority of the state's population. The Texas Triangle is formed by the state's four main urban centers, Austin ...

, winning Brazoria,

Galveston Galveston ( ) is a coastal resort city and port off the Southeast Texas coast on Galveston Island and Pelican Island in the U.S. state of Texas. The community of , with a population of 47,743 in 2010, is the county seat of surrounding Ga ...

, and Montgomery counties around

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 i ...

;

Comal COMAL (''Common Algorithmic Language'') is a computer programming language developed in Denmark by Børge R. Christensen and Benedict Løfstedt and originally released in 1975. COMAL was one of the few structured programming languages that was a ...

and Guadalupe around

San Antonio ("Cradle of Freedom") , image_map = , mapsize = 220px , map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1= State , subdivision_name1 = Texas , subdivision_t ...

; Collin, Denton,

Ellis Ellis is a surname of Welsh and English origin. Retrieved 21 January 2014 An independent French origin of the surname is said to derive from the phrase fleur-de-lis. Surname A * Abe Ellis (Stargate), a fictional character in the TV series ' ...

Kaufman Kaufman or Kauffman may refer to: People * Kaufmann (surname) ''Includes Kaufman, Kauffman, Kauffmann'' Places * Kaufman, Illinois, an unincorporated community in Madison Count * Kaufman, Texas, a city in Kaufman County * Kaufman County, Texa ...

, Rockwall, and Tarrant in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex; and Williamson in Greater Austin. In DFW and Austin specifically, Republican strength has collapsed much faster in these metros than anywhere else in Texas, with Abbott carrying Collin, Denton, Tarrant, and Williamson by 10.07%, 12.81%, 4.11%, and 0.62% respectively, down from his margins of 19.48%, 20.60%, 10.64%, and 10.71% from 2018. O'Rourke, despite his loss, did best in Texas's urban centers. He carried Travis, home to the state capital Austin (72.6% - 25.9%), his best performance in the state;

, his home county, 63.4% - 35%;

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

(62.8% - 35.9%); Bexar (57.5% - 41.1%); and

Harris Harris may refer to: Places Canada * Harris, Ontario * Northland Pyrite Mine (also known as Harris Mine) * Harris, Saskatchewan * Rural Municipality of Harris No. 316, Saskatchewan Scotland * Harris, Outer Hebrides (sometimes called the Isle of ...

(54% - 44.5%). He also carried Hays, a rapidly growing county south of Austin which contains

San Marcos San Marcos is the Spanish name of Saint Mark. It may also refer to: Towns and cities Argentina * San Marcos, Salta Colombia * San Marcos, Antioquia * San Marcos, Sucre Costa Rica * San Marcos, Costa Rica (aka San Marcos de Tarrazú) ...

and

Texas State University Texas State University is a public research university in San Marcos, Texas. Since its establishment in 1899, the university has grown to the second largest university in the Greater Austin metropolitan area and the fifth largest university ...

, by 54.5% - 43.7%. Despite improving on 2018 nominee

Lupe Valdez Guadalupe Valdez (born October 11, 1947) is an American law enforcement official who served as Sheriff of Dallas County, Texas, from 2005 to 2017, and was the Democratic nominee for Governor of Texas in the 2018 gubernatorial election. She lo ...

's margins in these counties, he did worse in all of them compared to his Senate campaign in

, and, excluding Travis and Hays, worse than Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential race but that is chiefly because Greg Abbott is much more popular than Donald Trump in the state. The only county O'Rourke flipped was suburban Fort Bend outside Houston, which voted for Abbott by 0.2% in 2018, but voted for O'Rourke by 4.68% in this election. Outside the Texas Triangle and Trans Pecos, the only other area O'Rourke won was the heavily Hispanic

Rio Grande Valley The Lower Rio Grande Valley ( es, Valle del Río Grande), commonly known as the Rio Grande Valley or locally as the Valley or RGV, is a region spanning the border of Texas and Mexico located in a floodplain of the Rio Grande near its mouth. Th ...

along the U.S. border with Mexico, but his performance was worse than Valdez's and his own from 2018, which continued the trend of rural Hispanic voters away from the Democrats towards Republicans, but did slightly outperform Biden from 2020. Counties that voted for Biden by single digits like Duval (2.61%), Starr (5%), and

Maverick Maverick, Maveric or Maverik may refer to: History * Maverick (animal), an unbranded range animal, derived from U.S. cattleman Samuel Maverick Aviation * AEA Maverick, an Australian single-seat sportsplane design * General Aviation Design Burea ...

(9.45%); voted for O'Rourke 11.02%, 17.85%, and 17.68% respectively. Despite this improvement from the 2020 presidential race, Abbott flipped two heavily Hispanic counties, Zapata and Culberson (in the Trans Pecos). Exit polls according to NBC News showed Abbott winning male (58% - 41%) and female voters (51% - 48%), whites (66% - 33%), voters over 45 (60% - 39%), college graduates (52% - 47%) and non-college graduates (56% - 43%), and voters who denied the results of the 2020 presidential election (94% - 5%). O'Rourke won black voters (84% - 15%), Latinos (57% - 40%), Asians (52% - 48%), voters between 18-44 (54% - 44%), Independents (49%-47%) and moderates (60% - 38%). Fox News Voter Analysis exit polls showed Abbott winning male (59%-39%) and female voters (51%-48%); whites (68%-30%); voters over 45 (61%-37%); college graduates (54%-44%), non-college graduates (56%-43%) and other minorities (53%-42%); white men (70%-28%); white women (67%-32%). O'Rourke won African Americans (81%-18%), Latinos (56%-42%); African American men (76%-24%); African American women (85%-13%) and Latina women (61%-37%). O'Rourke also won Latino men (55%-45%)
Fox News Voter Analysis

Notes

;Partisan clients

References

External links

;Official campaign websites
Greg Abbott (R) for Governor

Delilah Barrios (G) for Governor

Deirdre Gilbert (I) for Governor

Beto O'Rourke (D) for Governor

Mark Tippetts (L) for Governor
{{Elections in Texas footer

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretariat; The global monkeypo ...

Gubernatorial A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

Beto O'Rourke

Republican primary

Candidates

Nominee

Eliminated in primary

Withdrawn

Declined

Endorsements

Polling

Results

Democratic primary

Candidates

Nominee

Eliminated in primary

Disqualified

Declined

Endorsements

Polling

Results

Green primary

Candidates

Declared

Libertarian convention

Candidates

Declared

Withdrew/disqualified

Independents and other parties

Candidates

Declared

Disqualified

Declined

General election

Predictions

Debates

Endorsements

Polling

Results

Analysis

See also

Notes

References

External links