Huffines Refused to Quit after Bad Losses
En Route to Win as Top Primary Challenger
Capitol Inside
March 11, 2026
Nobody in their right mind would have thought that Dallas Republican Don Huffines would win a statewide race someday after a dismal showing four years ago in a bid to oust Governor Greg Abbott in a primary fight everyone knew he was going to lose. A former state senator who'd had his first and only re-election campaign capsized by a blue wave in 2018, Huffines' attempt at a comeback in a fight against the governor made a lot of folks wonder if he was simply in the game for the thrill of the chase and the attention without that much interest in actually serving.
Huffines spent a ton of his own money and received less than 12 percent of the primary vote in the governor's race in 2022. Allen West - a former Florida congressional member who'd won the Texas GOP chairmanship at a convention that the coronavirus relegated to Zoom - added insult to injury for Huffines when he finished second to Abbott with slightly more than 12 percent in a field of eight.
But Huffines was undaunted by the disappointment from two ugly defeats - and he bounced back in round one in 2026 with a stunning yet predictable win in the battle for the statewide post that Comptroller Kelly Hancock was fighting to keep with the governor leading the cheers and footing the bills in a highly-determined bid to knock the eventual winner out. Huffines beat the governor's hand-picked incumbent by 34 points on March 3 with more than 57 percent of the vote in the competition for the nomination in the comptroller's race. Railroad Commissioner Christi Craddick was way back in third with a mere 15 percent while a fourth candidate who'd been nothing more than a name on the ballot finished last with less than 4 percent. While Abbott didn't win `em all in the first round of the 2026 midterms, none of the drubbings that the candidates he'd been backing suffered stung anywhere near as much or more than the walloping Huffines administered to the incumbent who the governor appointed, endorsed and bankrolled in record fashion.
Huffines is a product of a wealthy family that's operated car dealerships and a long line of other businesses in the Dallas-Fort Worth area for decades. The comptroller nominee's twin brother is Phillip Huffines - a former Dallas County GOP chair and state Senate candidate. Don Huffines unseated veteran Senate Republican John Carona in the primary election in a close race as a tea party product in 2014. Huffines was unopposed in the general election that year - and he had a clear path to the nomination when he was on the ballot for a second term in 2018. Democratic State Senator Nathan Johnson - a candidate in a runoff for attorney general this year - beat Huffines by 8 points in the 2018 general election when Democrats flipped a dozen Texas House seats, two congressional districts and two Senate seats.
Huffines' detractors will claim that he bought the nomination - and you will find little quibbling on that. Huffines put $18 million more of his own money into the latest comeback bid - and he raised quite a bit of dough from supporters who are family, friends and fans. With five or six times more to spend than each of his two major foes, the Huffines campaign had a natural propensity for overkill. But Huffines had always had gillions more to spend than rivals - and he'd still lost more than he'd won before last week. This time around he was a far more energetic, focussed and determined candidate. Huffines outworked his opponents as much or more than he outspent them. He capitalized on unique opportunities - vowing to lead a DOGE-like initiative at the state level if elected.
Craddick had the name as the daughter of former Texas House speaker and current dean Tom Craddick. But she lacked the fire as a current statewide official who would not lose her job as a railroad commissioner if she lost the bid for a promotion in the primary. Hancock gave up a state Senate seat on the assumption that he couldn't lose if Abbott had his hand. But Abbott was the only obvious perk of incumbency - and the governor made his concerted effort yet on behalf of another candidate - giving Hancock hundreds of thousands in the final month of the contest. That's like throwing a bucket of water into the sea.
Abbott knows that the person who's the comptroller has countless ways to mess with him once in office. That's exactly what he will expect if Huffines beats State Senator Sarah Eckhardt of Austin as the Democratic nominee in the fall. Huffines - in the meantime - raised the bars on resiliency, perseverance and the burning desire and drive to do whatever it takes to win. In his case, that's drowning opponents in cash. Huffines dodged potential lightning near the end of the first round amid revelations that his family bought Jeffrey Epstein's ranch near Santa Fe several years after the dead pervert's death. But the Huffines family picked up the property at a public auction - and there was no evidence of relationships before that.
Huffines appeared to be in the 45 percent range based on polling a week to go before the primary vote. Then President Donald Trump endorsed him with glowing superlatives on the weekend before the election - and the only question at that point seemed to be whether Huffines could close it out without the need for overtime. It did so in style with 1,186,758 votes on election night - the second highest total behind Abbott, Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick and Democratic U.S. Senate nominee James Talarico.
Coming to Capitol Inside: Best of the Texas primary election all-star selections with installments for incumbents, challengers and candidates in open races and more ...
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