{"id":237,"date":"2026-06-05T21:41:46","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T21:41:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=237"},"modified":"2026-06-05T21:41:46","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T21:41:46","slug":"texas-will-soon-have-a-vacancy-in-a-crucial-election-role","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=237","title":{"rendered":"Texas Will Soon Have a Vacancy in a Crucial Election Role"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The secretary of state for Texas announced Tuesday she would step downwithout explanation just months before the midterm elections, and Texas Republicans are looking to the governor to decide on a replacement.<\/p>\n

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Gov. Greg Abbott will appoint a successor to Jane Nelson, but the timeline for filling the position is unclear. In the meantime, the November elections are quickly approaching, and several key races, like the race to replace Sen. John Cornyn, will be put to voters this fall.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think Greg Abbott is a smart governor and he\u2019ll know who to replace her with, and I think we\u2019ll be fine,\u201d Rep. Brandon Gill (R-Texas) told NOTUS. \u201cWhat I\u2019d like to see is somebody who\u2019s gonna fight for our election integrity and make sure that we\u2019ve got increased trust in our election system.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another Republican also deferred to Abbott.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s a decision the governor will make,\u201d Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas told NOTUS when asked what he is looking for in a replacement. \u201cI have confidence in the governor.\u201d<\/p>\n

Several House Republicans from Texas said they were unaware of Nelson\u2019s decision to leave her post. Reps. Michael Cloud, Dan Crenshaw and Nathaniel Moran declined to comment this week when asked by NOTUS about it, saying they had not seen the news.<\/p>\n

Abbott\u2019s replacement pick will serve until the Texas legislative session begins in January 2027, meaning they will be in place through the midterms.<\/p>\n

The governor did not respond to a request for comment from NOTUS about who would be appointed, or when.<\/p>\n

Nelson\u2019s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from NOTUS.<\/p>\n

In a news release on Tuesday announcing she would leave her position on July 17, she largely pointed to career accomplishments and did not provide an explanation for her abrupt exit.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has been an honor to serve the people of Texas in this role,\u201d Nelson said in the release<\/u><\/span>. \u201cMy time as Secretary came at an important moment for Texas, and I am proud of what we have been able to accomplish as an agency in under four years.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Her tenure was contentious: She faced lawsuits from her own party, which wanted closed primaries. The current system of open primaries allows voters to participate in any party\u2019s primary. But the GOP argued that Democrats use the open system to elect more moderate candidates in Republican primaries.<\/p>\n

Attorney General Ken Paxton took the side of the state Republican Party against Nelson, who argued a change would confuse voters.<\/p>\n

President Donald Trump continues to cast doubt on elections and is actively pushing legislation like the SAVE America Act that would require stricter voter identification. He has pushed states to seize ballots<\/u><\/span> and collect private information<\/u><\/span> from the voter rolls. They\u2019re issues that the chief election official would have a lot of power over, and there\u2019s concern Nelson\u2019s replacement could be overly political.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we really need, and what people like Greg Abbott have been so opposed to, is a secretary of state who\u2019s just going to administer the election, not be sending our voter rolls to the feds, not be participating in the conspiracy theories that Trump drums up,\u201d said Rep. Greg Casar (D-Texas). \u201cI hope that we can just get back to having someone who is just going to call balls and strikes and make sure that everybody\u2019s able to cast their ballot and that everybody\u2019s vote is legally counted.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is not the first time in recent history that Texas has found itself lacking a secretary of state right before a major election. In 2019, David Whitley was appointed after the previous secretary stepped down, and he used the role to try to purge<\/u><\/span> around 100,000 naturalized citizens from the voter rolls, an effort the courts halted<\/u><\/span>.<\/p>\n

Anthony Gutierrez, executive director of the voting rights group Common Cause Texas, said a change in leadership could have cascading effects on the nearing midterms.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we would like to see from the nominee is someone who really demonstrated a commitment to helping educate Texans about voting and who really wants to increase participation in our elections,\u201d Gutierrez told NOTUS. \u201cWe\u2019d also really like to see someone who doesn\u2019t have a long history of working closely with our governor on political things, which has been the case with a couple of our past appointees.\u201d<\/p>\n

A long-term replacement will have to be approved by the state Senate. Abbott has appointed six secretaries of state since entering office in 2015, only three of whom were confirmed by the state Senate.<\/p>\n

Read more Trump Is Talking With Tech Executives About Acquiring \u2018Pieces\u2019 of Major AI Companies<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One Republican said he hopes the secretary of state\u2019s replacement \u201cis somebody who\u2019s gonna fight for our election integrity.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":236,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-237","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-2026-election"],"yoast_head":"\nTexas Will Soon Have a Vacancy in a Crucial Election Role - Modern Home Journals<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=237\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Texas Will Soon Have a Vacancy in a Crucial Election Role - Modern Home Journals\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"One Republican said he hopes the secretary of state\u2019s replacement \u201cis somebody who\u2019s gonna fight for our election integrity.\u201d\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=237\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Modern Home Journals\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-05T21:41:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=237#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=237\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/533de239efc09a2ab59959cc1bff86d0\"},\"headline\":\"Texas Will Soon Have a Vacancy in a Crucial Election Role\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-05T21:41:46+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=237\"},\"wordCount\":813,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=237#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/94dd467243281301c66aa6a47578895c-scaled.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"2026 Election\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=237#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=237\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=237\",\"name\":\"Texas Will Soon Have a Vacancy in a Crucial Election Role - Modern Home Journals\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=237#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=237#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/94dd467243281301c66aa6a47578895c-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-05T21:41:46+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/533de239efc09a2ab59959cc1bff86d0\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=237#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=237\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=237#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/94dd467243281301c66aa6a47578895c-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/94dd467243281301c66aa6a47578895c-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1707,\"caption\":\"Gov. 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