The Texas Land Commissioner is a Race Nobody's Talking About

Most Texans couldn't pick the Land Commissioner out of a lineup if their property tax refund depended on it. That should probably change.

The Texas General Land Office manages over thirteen million acres of state property and funnels billions into public school funding through the Permanent School Fund. When hurricanes flatten coastal towns, this office distributes disaster recovery money. When veterans need housing assistance, this agency writes the checks. The commissioner decides who gets oil and gas leases on public land, how those revenues get allocated, and what happens to The Alamo's crumbling limestone walls.

Dr. Dawn Buckingham currently runs the show. A surgeon turned state senator turned first female Land Commissioner, she took office in 2023 with a platform heavy on border security and energy development. Buckingham bought land along the Rio Grande for wall construction. She cleared vegetation on border islands. She pushed carbon sequestration projects and orphaned oil well remediation while promising to restore The Alamo with new visitor centers and educational facilities.

Her tenure has been unmistakably Republican. Energy leases expanded. Border rhetoric intensified. The GLO website now prominently features sections on border operations alongside traditional land management responsibilities.

Two Democrats want her job in 2026: Jose Loya and Ben Flores.

Jose Loya immigrated from Chihuahua at twelve and spent his teens working Dumas slaughterhouses and fields. He enlisted in the Marines after September 11, served two tours in Iraq, then came home to organize oil refinery workers with the United Steelworkers. His wife teaches public school. Loya's campaign focuses on veterans programs that fewer than seven percent of Texas veterans use because nobody promotes them. A Bernie Sanders conversation pushed him into politics. He never planned to run.

Benjamin Flores immigrated from Mexico in the 1990s, worked hotel night shifts in California, then built a cybersecurity career. He moved from Austin to Bay City during the pandemic to raise heritage pigs. Bay City elected him to city council in 2023. Flores originally ran for governor before switching to Land Commissioner and endorsing Gina Hinojosa. His platform promises renewable energy leases alongside oil and gas, transparent land management, and affordable housing on state property.

The Democratic primary will determine which candidate gets steamrolled in November, because flipping this office blue requires overcoming Texas's entrenched Republican voting patterns and widespread public ignorance about what the position actually does.

The Land Commissioner doesn't just sell dirt. This office controls revenue streams that determine whether rural school districts can afford textbooks or air conditioning. Disaster recovery decisions made here shape whether communities rebuild after catastrophic flooding or languish in bureaucratic purgatory. Veterans' land and home loan programs operate under this agency's authority, serving the largest veteran population of any state in the nation.

The Permanent School Fund connection remains particularly obscure. Few Texans understand that oil and gas royalties from state lands flow directly into educational funding through mechanisms overseen by this office and the State Board of Education. Those lease decisions carry long-term consequences for both environmental policy and classroom resources.

Buckingham's approach emphasizes resource extraction and border militarization. Her successor, whether red or blue, will inherit management authority over an agency older than most Texas institutions, with discretionary power over land use that reverberates through education, disaster response, and economic development.

The general election will likely maintain Republican control. Buckingham's advantages include incumbency, party alignment with Texas's current electorate, and the office's historical Republican dominance. Loya and Flores face the challenge of explaining why voters should care about an agency most people forget exists, then convincing those same voters to break partisan habits for a down-ballot race.

The Land Commissioner controls more money and land than most state budgets justify, yet the office remains invisible until hurricanes hit or school districts run out of cash. Or until two Mexican immigrants take a shot at it.

@Santitos

@salinasmariasantos

Copyright © 2026 Maria Santos Salinas for FRONTeras.

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