Nelson gets Senate OK as voting chief
Abbott’s pick for secretary of state the first to be confirmed since 2017
The Texas Senate confirmed former state Sen. Jane Nelson as Texas’ top elections official Wednesday, marking the first time in six years that senators have approved Gov. Greg Abbott’s pick for secretary of state.
Abbott said he planned to appoint Nelson in December, a day after former Secretary of State John Scott announced he would resign and return to the private sector. At the time, Nelson was wrapping up a 30-year run in the Senate, where she represented a red-leaning district in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
She was also the first woman to chair the Senate’s powerful finance committee, which writes the state’s biennial budget during legislative session.
Nelson’s confirmation was not controversial. Her former colleagues — both Republicans and Democrats — praised her during a hearing in February and congratulated her after Wednesday’s floor vote.
In addition to her responsibilities as the state’s elections chief, Nelson also represents Texas in meetings with foreign government officials and serves as senior adviser to the governor on border affairs.
“I will work to safeguard honest and accurate elections in all 254 counties across our great state, while continuing to support business owners by ensuring that government moves at the speed of Texas business, not the other way around,” Nelson said after the vote. “I also look forward to strengthening relationships with all of our international partners and telling the great story of Texas’ economic prosperity to the world.”
The Senate last confirmed a secretary of state in 2017, when former Public Utility Commissioner Rolando Pablos was up for the job. He served for almost two years.
Senators declined to confirm Abbott’s next two nominees during legislative session, forcing them to leave office.
Former appointee David Whitley’s tenure was marked
by scandal, after his office oversaw a botched voter roll purge in 2019 that questioned the citizenship of tens of thousands of
Texas voters, using faulty data.
Whitley was succeeded by Ruth Hughs, who left office amid growing GOP distrust in election results. Though Republicans did not publicly express a lack of faith in her, Democrats said she was
pushed out after her office asserted that Texas had a “smooth and secure” election in 2020.
Scott, the most recent secretary of state, resigned before the Senate could consider his appointment.
Prior to joining the Senate, Nelson served on the State Board of Education for two terms from 1988 to 1992.
Among her legislative accomplishments are the creation of the Cancer Research & Prevention Institute of Texas, a state agency that funds cancer research, and the direction of state lottery revenue to public education.