Texas election: Voters decide who oversees Texas’ multimillion-dollar agriculture budget
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Texas Agriculture Commissioner is tasked with the duties of overseeing a large budget at the Texas Department of Agriculture, which helps give financial assistance to farmers and ranchers, uses grants to attract development in rural Texas, and oversees the products that wind up in your grocery stores.
AUSTIN (KXAN) — Agriculture Commissioner incumbent Sid Miller is attempting to defend his seat from Democratic challenger Susan Hays.
Texas Agriculture Commissioner is tasked with the duties of overseeing a large budget at the Texas Department of Agriculture, which helps give financial assistance to farmers and ranchers, uses grants to attract development in rural Texas, and oversees the products that wind up in your grocery stores.
V. Alonzo Echevarria-Garza is also running as a Libertarian, but KXAN could not find a campaign website or contact information.
See the election results below after polls close at 7 p.m. CT
The two candidates have significant policy differences, but one area where their ideas overlap is marijuana. Both support the use of medical cannabis.
The topic of agriculture and water has renewed importance as Texas faces drought. Hays plans to “promote both economically and environmentally sustainable agriculture” and “will seek to bring the available federal funding to facilitate these practices to Texas and lead the way to the future of Texas Ag.”
Miller has acknowledged Texas’ water vulnerability and has previously stated, “While being your Texas Agriculture Commissioner gives me an important vantage point on this challenge, the Department of Agriculture lacks the authority to initiate such a program. It will require a broad public commitment and leadership from all branches of government, as well as the private sector.”