Greg Abbott to appoint Sen. Jane Nelson secretary of state

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Gov. Greg Abbott stated Tuesday he’ll nominate retiring state Sen. Jane Nelson to be secretary of state. The announcement comes sooner or later after John Scott said he would step down from the position on the finish of the yr.

Nelson, R-Flower Mound, is retiring from the Senate this yr after 30 years within the Legislature. Her nomination to be the state’s high elections official will give Abbott a robust candidate for Senate approval after his final three nominees courting to 2018 have failed to be confirmed.

“I look forward to this new chapter of public service and appreciate the confidence Governor Abbott has placed in me to serve as Secretary of State,” Nelson stated in an announcement. “Voters expect fair elections with accurate, timely results, and I am committed to making that happen. Texans with all political views should have faith in our election system.”

In his assertion, Abbott thanked Scott for his “tireless work educating Texas voters how they can participate in the electoral process and safeguarding the integrity of our state’s elections” earlier than turning to Nelson’s sturdy resume for the job.

“Senator Nelson’s lifelong commitment to public service and deep understanding of state government will be assets in her new role ensuring the critical duties of Secretary of State are fulfilled,” Abbott stated. “Nothing is more important to a free society than fair elections, and the State of Texas will continue working to uphold and protect this right.”

Nelson will step into the position at a tough time for elections officers throughout the nation. Vocal supporters of former President Donald Trump who falsely declare there was widespread voter fraud within the 2020 presidential election have focused elections employees, subjecting them harassment and even threats. Scott, who briefly represented Trump in a lawsuit to overturn the 2020 election ends in Pennsylvania, was among the many election officers who acquired loss of life threats over the previous yr for his efforts to persuade voters that no widespread fraud occurred and that the state’s elections had been secure and safe.

After strain from Trump in 2021, Texas undertook election audits of 4 of the state’s largest counties. The first section of that audit was launched on New Year’s Eve 2021, and the complete report of the audit will probably be launched earlier than Scott’s departure.

Nelson’s nomination brings a longtime veteran of state politics to the position. She is the longest-serving Republican within the Texas Senate and has handed payments on adjustments to medical legal responsibility, property taxes, the state’s long-troubled foster care system, psychological well being care, home violence, sexual assault and human trafficking. She additionally was the primary girl to lead the highly effective Senate Finance Committee, which writes the state finances, and handed laws to create the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas.

In latest years, Nelson’s time on the Legislature has been centered on the state finances, and he or she has not been as concerned in elections laws. Like the remainder of her Senate Republican colleagues, she voted in favor of a sweeping elections invoice final session that tightened election legal guidelines within the state and that Democrats decried as voter suppression. The laws banned applications that expanded entry to voting like 24-hour voting and drive-thru voting and put limits on the quantity of hours counties might preserve polls open.

Her workplace didn’t instantly reply to an interview request about her nomination.

Nelson’s nomination is a strategic political transfer by Abbott, who has seen a revolving door of elections officers who had been unable to get by means of the affirmation course of.

Scott didn’t have to endure the Senate’s affirmation course of as a result of he’s resigning earlier than the Legislature’s biennial session to return to non-public observe. But Abbott’s final two nominees earlier than him, David Whitley and Ruth Ruggero Hughs, held out for many of their respective legislative classes ready for confirmations that didn’t come.

Whitley was derailed by Democrats’ opposition to him as a result of of his supervision of an try to purge the voter rolls of 100,000 voters, many of whom had Hispanic surnames and had beforehand not been U.S. residents however subsequently grew to become naturalized. Hughs’ affirmation course of flew beneath the radar, however activists who’ve solid doubt on the integrity of elections with out proof opposed her affirmation as a result of her workplace had claimed the 2020 elections had been “smooth and secure.” She resigned earlier than ever going through a listening to.

Nelson’s standing within the Senate’s Republican Caucus and her proximity to Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who leads the chamber, make her affirmation extra seemingly. And as a result of Scott has pledged to launch the outcomes of the audit beneath his tenure, any lingering points with that assessment won’t fall on Nelson.

State Sen. Paul Bettencourt, R-Houston, praised her effusively on social media after Abbott’s announcement.

“After a fabled 30 year career in the Texas Senate, @GovAbbott appoints Senator Jane Nelson as the new Texas Secretary of State. There is simply no one that the Texas Senate knows better than @SenJaneNelson, & she brings with her a vast understanding of State Gov as @TXsecofstate,” he wrote.

Disclosure: The Texas secretary of state has been a monetary supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news group that’s funded partly by donations from members, foundations and company sponsors. Financial supporters play no position within the Tribune’s journalism. Find an entire list of them here.