For the first time in eight years, the election for land commissioner is wide open, with the outgoing Commissioner George P. Bush running for attorney general against incumbent Ken Paxton. Bush has come under fire for not taking his post seriously, and treating it merely as an audition for more prestigious elected offices. In 2015, he infamously minimized the importance of the General Land Office (GLO) by comparing running for land commissioner to running for state “dog catcher.”
But Bush isn’t the only one: “So many people use the GLO as a political stepping-stone,” said Jim Blackburn, an environmental lawyer and professor at Rice University.
Now, four candidates are headed into runoff elections in hopes of succeeding Bush. On the Republican side, state Senator Dawn Buckingham—the presumed frontrunner—is running against former congressional candidate Tim Westley. On the Democratic side, family counselor Sandragrace Martinez of San Antonio is running against Austin-based environmentalist Jay Kleberg of the famous King Ranch family.
