Former U.S. Rep. Chris Bell is the latest Democratic candidate to join the 2026 race for Texas governor, a re-run after he lost his bid for the state’s highest office two decades ago.
“Nowhere is the corruption on more vivid display than the office of our governor, Greg Abbott,” said Bell, announcing his candidacy in front of the Texas Capitol. “It’s about the play to play culture that has engulfed almost every aspect of our state government.”
Bell on Tuesday slammed the school voucher program Abbott championed. Bell said the governor’s push for the program was not driven by “what’s best for our kids, but the desires of multi-billion dollar contributors.”
“Greg Abbott has never and will never have the same commitment to teachers or to public school students that I will,” Bell said.
Bell enters Democrats’ crowded, male-dominated primary field, which includes Andrew White, a Houston businessman and son of former Gov. Mark White; and Bobby Cole, a rancher and retired firefighter. State Rep. Gina Hinojosa, an Austin Democrat, is the sole major female candidate so far.
The candidate who secures the Democratic nomination will decidedly face an uphill battle against Abbott, who announced his reelection campaign Sunday. He had more than $87 million in his campaign account at the end of June and has won all three of his previous gubernatorial races by double digits.
Bell served one term in Congress before he fell prey to redistricting under then-U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Sugar Land. As a freshman, Bell broke a seven-year truce among House members and filed an ethics complaint against DeLay that led to Delay’s downfall.
The journalist-turned-lawyer largely has more experience running elections than winning them. In his 2006 gubernatorial bid, Bell placed second, taking 30% of the vote, behind Rick Perry’s 39%. It was the closest a Democrat had been to winning a gubernatorial bid since Ann Richards 16 years earlier. It was an unconventional race that also featured country singer Kinky Friedman and Carole Keeton Strayhorn, a trailblazing politician who ran as a second independent candidate with the campaign slogan “One Tough Grandma.”
Bell also ran for a Texas House seat in 1984, a Texas Senate seat in a 2008 special election runoff and for Houston mayor in 2001 and 2015.
