The 2014 Texas gubernatorial election was held on November 4, 2014 to elect the Governor of Texas. Incumbent Republican Governor Rick Perry, who had served since the resignation of then-Governor George W. Bush on December 21, 2000, declined to run for an unprecedented fourth full term, making this the first open election for governor since 1990.
The election took place between nominees who were selected on March 4, 2014: Republican State Attorney General Greg Abbott and Democratic State Senator Wendy Davis. Also on the ballot were Libertarian Party candidate Kathie Glass and Green Party candidate Brandon Parmer. Abbott was projected to carry the election, and ultimately won handily with a 20 percentage point advantage. Exit polls showed Abbott winning Whites (72% to 25%), while Davis received majorities among African Americans (92% to 7%) and Hispanics (55% to 44%).
Abbott took office on January 20, 2015, as the 48th Governor of Texas.
Republican primary
Candidates
Declared
- Greg Abbott, Attorney General of Texas
- Lisa Fritsch, author and radio show host
- Larry Kilgore, perennial candidate
- Miriam Martinez, former Univision personality
Withdrew
- Tom Pauken, former Texas Workforce Commissioner and former chairman of the Republican Party of Texas
Declined
- David Dewhurst, lieutenant governor (ran for re-election and lost party primary runoff)
- Debra Medina, activist and candidate for governor in 2010 (running for Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts)
- Rick Perry, incumbent governor
Endorsements
Polling
Results
Democratic primary
Candidates
Declared
- Wendy Davis, state senator
- Ray Madrigal, perennial candidate
Declined
- Julian Castro, United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development and former mayor of San Antonio
- Kinky Friedman, singer, songwriter, novelist, humorist and independent candidate for governor in 2006 (candidate in May 27 runoff for Texas Commissioner of Agriculture)
- Annise Parker, Mayor of Houston
- Mike Villarreal, state representative
- Kirk Watson, state senator and former mayor of Austin
- Bill White, former Mayor of Houston and nominee for governor in 2010
Endorsements
Polling
Results
Libertarian nomination
Candidates
Declared
- Robert Bell, pharmaceutical executive and chemist
- Robert Garrett, veteran, helicopter mechanic and prison officer
- Kathie Glass, attorney
- Robert "Star" Locke, rancher, building contractor, veteran and perennial candidate
Withdrew
- Gene Chapman, candidate for President of the United States in 2008
- R. Lee Wrights, Vice Chair of the Libertarian National Committee and candidate for President of the United States in 2012
Results
Kathie Glass was nominated at the 2014 party convention.
Green nomination
Candidates
Declared
- Brandon Parmer, candidate for Texas's 6th congressional district in 2012
Independents
Candidates
Declared
- Sarah M. Pavitt, an Army veteran and cousin of former SOCOM commander William H. McRaven, ran as a write-in candidate.
Declined
- Debra Medina, activist and Republican candidate for governor in 2010 (ran unsuccessfully for Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts)
Primary analysis
In the primary election, Greg Abbott polled 787,766 more votes than Wendy Davis though both were considered certain winners of their party nominations. The Republican turnout overall exceeded the Democrat strength by 786,487, nearly the same gap as that between Abbott and Davis.
Both parties saw their turnout decline from 2010. The GOP had 151,101 fewer primary voters in 2014 than in 2010; the Democrats declined by 133,354. Republicans had a total turnout of 9.8 percent in 2014; the Democrats, 3.7 percent.
Political scientist Mark P. Jones of Rice University in Houston, declared that the primary returns "looks bad for Democrats. There also wasn't very much going on [for Democrats] in 2010, yet more people voted in 2010 than voted in 2014. ... Instead of moving toward turning Texas blue, they are moving back towards Texas as an even redder state."
Davis' intraparty rival and political unknown Ray Madrigal (born c. 1942) of Corpus Christi finished with nearly 21 percent of the vote, but he still outpolled the nominee in two high-profile South Texas counties with large numbers of Hispanic voters, Webb (56-44 percent) and Hidalgo (53-47 percent). In the smaller Willacy and LaSalle counties, Madrigal finished ahead of Davis with nearly 61 and 58 percent, respectively.
In the 1994 Democratic gubernatorial primary, a candidate similar to Madrigal, Gary Espinosa, polled 22.2 percent of the vote against incumbent Ann Richards, who was thereafter unseated by George W. Bush. Richards remains thus far the last Democrat to have served as governor of Texas. Despite the similarity with 1994, Davis told a candidate forum after the primary that she expected no difficulty in attracting large Hispanic support in South Texas in her campaign against Abbott.
Davis advisor Matt Angle said that he believed the Republicans performed poorly in the primary and would be damaged in the general election by rhetoric against illegal immigration in the heated primary race for lieutenant governor, which continued to a runoff between the incumbent David Dewhurst and the frontrunner, State Senator Dan Patrick, both of Houston. Conversely, Republican consultant Matt Mackowiak said that the Democrats missed an opportunity to bring voters to the polls in a show of strength: "If they think they can skip the primary and have a stunning victory [in the general election], that's extremely naïve."
General election
Debates
The first of two confirmed gubernatorial debates between Wendy Davis and Greg Abbott took place at the Edinburg Conference Center at Renaissance at 18:00 on Friday, September 19, co-hosted by KGBT-TV, The Monitor and KTLM-TV. KGBT-TV posted the complete video online. The debate took place in Edinburg, Texas, and it gave both candidates an opportunity to appeal to the large Hispanic community that is looked at as an "increasingly important voting bloc in Texas."
Polling
- * Poll for the Wendy Davis campaign
- ^ Poll for the Greg Abbott campaign
Results
See also
- United States gubernatorial elections, 2014
- United States House of Representatives elections in Texas, 2014
- United States Senate election in Texas, 2014
- Texas elections, 2014
References
External links
- Texas gubernatorial election, 2014 at Ballotpedia
- Greg Abbott for Governor
- Wendy Davis for Governor
- Kathie Glass for Governor
- Lisa Fritsch for Governor
- Larry Kilgore for Governor
- Miriam Martinez for Governor
- R. Lee Wrights for Governor
- Gene Chapman for Governor
- Campaign contributions at FollowTheMoney.org