State

Commissioner of Agriculture

Vote for: 1
Term: 4 years
Candidates: 3
Election: Nov 3, 2026

What this office does: The Agriculture Commissioner runs the Texas Department of Agriculture, which promotes farming and ranching, regulates pesticides and checks weights and measures such as gas pumps, and runs school nutrition programs.

Candidates Compare by issue

Nate Sheets

Republican

The gist

Pledges to clean up school lunches and the food supply.
Proposes giving Texas producers first shot at state food purchases.
Proposes revamping Go Texan to connect producers and buyers.
Supports treating livestock biosecurity as national security.
Supports scratch-cooking school kitchens and nutrition education.
Pledges to cut unnecessary taxes and regulations.

More about Nate

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Pledges to clean up school lunches and the food supply.
Q&A: Get to know the candidates running for Texas agriculture commissioner
Candidate questionnaire · Community Impact · communityimpact.com
“My top priorities are cleaning up school lunches and our food supply”
Proposes giving Texas producers first shot at state food purchases.
Q&A: Get to know the candidates running for Texas agriculture commissioner
Candidate questionnaire · Community Impact · communityimpact.com
“Texas producers should get the first shot at supplying schools, agencies and other taxpayer-funded institutions”
Proposes revamping Go Texan to connect producers and buyers.
Q&A: Get to know the candidates running for Texas agriculture commissioner
Candidate questionnaire · Community Impact · communityimpact.com
“I'll revamp the Go Texan program to connect local producers directly with consumers and retailers”
Supports treating livestock biosecurity as national security.
Q&A: Get to know the candidates running for Texas agriculture commissioner
Candidate questionnaire · Community Impact · communityimpact.com
“Biosecurity must be treated as a national security issue.”
Supports scratch-cooking school kitchens and nutrition education.
Q&A: Get to know the candidates running for Texas agriculture commissioner
Candidate questionnaire · Community Impact · communityimpact.com
“invest in scratch-cooking kitchens, and prioritize nutrition education”
Pledges to cut unnecessary taxes and regulations.
Q&A: Get to know the candidates running for Texas agriculture commissioner
Candidate questionnaire · Community Impact · communityimpact.com
“I'll cut unnecessary taxes and regulations while bringing greater transparency and accountability to the agency.”

Clayton Tucker

Democratic

The gist

Supports breaking up food production and distribution monopolies.
Supports banning surveillance pricing at grocery stores.
Proposes rebuilding the state's food inspection system.
Supports free school meals without ultra-processed foods.
Pledges to defend the Summer EBT food program.
Supports combining sterile insects with SWASS against screwworm.
Opposes hyperscale AI data centers' water and power use.

More about Clayton

View sources (1)

Supports breaking up food production and distribution monopolies.
Q&A: Get to know the candidates running for Texas agriculture commissioner
Candidate questionnaire · Community Impact · communityimpact.com
“Breaking up the monopolies with a death grip on food production, prices, and distribution.”
Supports banning surveillance pricing at grocery stores.
Q&A: Get to know the candidates running for Texas agriculture commissioner
Candidate questionnaire · Community Impact · communityimpact.com
“Forbidding surveillance pricing at grocery stores.”
Proposes rebuilding the state's food inspection system.
Q&A: Get to know the candidates running for Texas agriculture commissioner
Candidate questionnaire · Community Impact · communityimpact.com
“We will rebuild our food inspection system to ensure accountability in our food system.”
Supports free school meals without ultra-processed foods.
Q&A: Get to know the candidates running for Texas agriculture commissioner
Candidate questionnaire · Community Impact · communityimpact.com
“Our ultimate goal is for all school meals to be free and we would not have any ultra-processed foods in our schools.”
Pledges to defend the Summer EBT food program.
Q&A: Get to know the candidates running for Texas agriculture commissioner
Candidate questionnaire · Community Impact · communityimpact.com
“We will fight to defend Summer EBT.”
Supports combining sterile insects with SWASS against screwworm.
Q&A: Get to know the candidates running for Texas agriculture commissioner
Candidate questionnaire · Community Impact · communityimpact.com
“We'll need to use SIT in combination with SWASS to defeat the NWS”
Opposes hyperscale AI data centers' water and power use.
Q&A: Get to know the candidates running for Texas agriculture commissioner
Candidate questionnaire · Community Impact · communityimpact.com
“Stopping the invasion of hyperscale AI data centers”

Austin R. Kelly

Libertarian

The gist

Pledges to cut regulations and wasteful agency spending.
Supports loosening rules on direct and cottage food sales.
Supports sterile insect controls and early detection for screwworm.
Supports schools buying directly from Texas producers.
Supports voluntary rangeland conservation over mandates.

More about Austin

View sources (1)

Pledges to cut regulations and wasteful agency spending.
Q&A: Get to know the candidates running for Texas agriculture commissioner
Candidate questionnaire · Community Impact · communityimpact.com
“My top priorities are cutting burdensome regulations, defending property rights, and ending wasteful government spending.”
Supports loosening rules on direct and cottage food sales.
Q&A: Get to know the candidates running for Texas agriculture commissioner
Candidate questionnaire · Community Impact · communityimpact.com
“I will eliminate unnecessary red tape and protectionist rules that restrict direct-to-consumer sales, cottage foods and local processing.”
Supports sterile insect controls and early detection for screwworm.
Q&A: Get to know the candidates running for Texas agriculture commissioner
Candidate questionnaire · Community Impact · communityimpact.com
“By leveraging targeted sterile insect technique biological controls and streamlining producer reporting”
Supports schools buying directly from Texas producers.
Q&A: Get to know the candidates running for Texas agriculture commissioner
Candidate questionnaire · Community Impact · communityimpact.com
“I support incentivizing local school districts to partner directly with Texas agricultural producers”
Supports voluntary rangeland conservation over mandates.
Q&A: Get to know the candidates running for Texas agriculture commissioner
Candidate questionnaire · Community Impact · communityimpact.com
“encouraging voluntary rangeland conservation and voluntary stewardship models”

Challengers are listed first and incumbents last; otherwise candidates appear in ballot order. The Gist does not rank, rate or endorse candidates. Only positions backed by a cited source are shown; 6 issues covered in this race.