Huffines Leads Eckhardt in Texas Comptroller Race
ActiVote’s October 17, 2026 Texas Comptroller poll finds that Republican Don Huffines leads Democrat Sarah Eckhardt by 12.0%. The poll was in the field between September 25 and October 17 (median field date of October 6). The poll was among 400 likely midterm voters and has an average expected error of 4.9%.
Huffines leads among rural and suburban voters, voters aged 30 and older, men, White voters, voters at every level of income, and voters with a high school or college education. Eckhardt leads among urban voters, voters under 30, women, Black voters and graduate degree holders. Latino voters are evenly split. These group figures rest on subsamples for which the expected error is considerably larger than the 4.9% for the poll as a whole. Texas does not register voters by party, so we do not report a breakdown by party affiliation.
Political Spectrum
The following graph shows the support for Huffines and Eckhardt among left, moderate left, center, moderate right, and right voters. These groups are defined by splitting the Texas electorate in 5 equal sized groups of 20% each.
Both candidates hold their own side firmly. Eckhardt wins the left unanimously (100%) and takes 83% of the moderate left, while Huffines takes 95% of the right and 94% of the moderate right. The race is decided in the center, where Huffines leads by 76% to 24%.
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 | 400 LV | Unweighted | Weighted | Don Huffines | Sarah Eckhardt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| National | ±4.9% MoE | 100% | 100% | 56.0% | 44.0% |
| Political Spectrum | Left | 48% | 20% | 0% | 100% |
| Moderate Left | 24% | 20% | 17% | 83% | |
| Center | 7% | 20% | 76% | 24% | |
| Moderate Right | 9% | 20% | 94% | 6% | |
| Right | 12% | 20% | 95% | 5% | |
| Region | rural | 26% | 30% | 71% | 29% |
| suburban | 28% | 27% | 55% | 45% | |
| urban | 47% | 42% | 46% | 54% | |
| Age | 18-29 | 31% | 17% | 46% | 54% |
| 30-49 | 38% | 29% | 56% | 44% | |
| 50-64 | 20% | 23% | 56% | 44% | |
| 65+ | 11% | 30% | 62% | 38% | |
| Gender | F | 45% | 53% | 48% | 52% |
| M | 56% | 47% | 65% | 35% | |
| Ethnicity | White | 66% | 60% | 64% | 36% |
| Black | 8% | 8% | 30% | 70% | |
| Latino | 22% | 27% | 50% | 50% | |
| Income | Low | 22% | 21% | 51% | 49% |
| Middle | 33% | 26% | 53% | 47% | |
| High | 46% | 53% | 59% | 41% | |
| Education | HS | 19% | 22% | 52% | 48% |
| College | 67% | 64% | 59% | 41% | |
| Grad | 14% | 14% | 48% | 52% |
Every poll in this race
| Published | Huffines | Eckhardt | Gap | Sample | MoE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| October 17, 2026 | 56.0% | 44.0% | R+12.0% | 400 | ±4.9% |