The Dallas Morning News Editorial Board
Oct 16, 2026

State Sen. Sarah Eckhardt is a serious person, a critical thinker, and a responsible steward of taxpayer money. We don’t share many of her views on social policy, but we readily recommend her over acting Comptroller Don Huffines to keep watch over the state’s finances.

We have recommended Republicans for this post in the past, particularly Glenn Hegar, who ran the office professionally and conservatively. We don’t have confidence that either value would mark a Huffines tenure.

Eckhardt’s social worldview is from the political left, but her fiscal conservatism and her ability to stay in her lane will benefit Texans. She’s the better choice.

San Antonio Express-News Editorial Board
Oct 8, 2026

We strongly recommend Eckhardt, a Democrat, who is supremely qualified for this office. She is also far superior to her Republican opponent, interim Comptroller Don Huffines, a former state senator appointed by Gov. Greg Abbott this past summer.

Eckhardt offers a compelling alternative vision for the state. She is in her second term as a state senator representing the Austin area. An attorney, she previously served as a prosecutor, county commissioner and county judge. She has a master’s degree in public affairs with a concentration in public finance and tax policy. As Travis County judge, she managed billions of dollars in public assets, dealt with natural disasters, and negotiated labor and employee health contracts.

During our candidate meeting, Eckhardt said she would be a watchdog of public dollars and government programs.

Houston Chronicle Editorial Board
Oct 8, 2026

Sen. Sarah Eckhardt knows a great deal about what it means to be a Texan. If you want to hear what politics used to sound like in our state, before online influencers and self-appointed pundits started setting the agenda, listen to her speak—not just because she has one of the best homegrown wits since Ann Richards. It’s because you’ll hear that she cares about fiscal responsibility, and fundamentally understands how our state and local tax system was originally designed to work. When she talks about keeping government efficient, it’s not just talk: As county judge of Travis County, she regularly cut property tax rates and kept a skinflint attitude about spending taxpayer dollars.

Austin American Statesman Editorial Board
Oct 7, 2026

“We will need to rebuild this plane while flying it into the legislative session,” Eckhardt told us.

Eckhardt brings brings budget and oversight experience from six years as a state senator and five years as a Travis County Judge, chairing the commissioner’s court in a county that had a more than $1 billion budget.

Eckhardt impressed us with her vision for a comptroller’s office that goes beyond just keeping the books, one that clearly lays out for lawmakers and taxpayers “who benefits most, least, and not at all” from state policies

Dallas Morning News
Oct 2, 2026

Democratic comptroller contender Sarah Eckhardt accused Republican Don Huffines of using the state’s financial agency to advance his own political agenda by ordering a review of fluoride in public drinking water.

“This is like that crazy uncle who likes to do research on crazy stuff and put it on the family Facebook,” Eckhardt said in an interview with The Dallas Morning News

San Antonio Express-News
Oct 14, 2026

“I would follow the law, but I would also follow the money vigorously” Eckhardt said.

Eckhardt said she met a mother in McAllen who said she couldn’t find a school within an hour drive that would educate her son with disabilities. The program’s promise to suport underserved groups isn’t panning out, Eckhardt said.

“The voucher program was sold as a way to create a choice for lower income families and most especially families that had children with dissabilites,” Eckhardt said. “I think that we need to take an honest and vigorous lok at whether that ends up being the case.”

Rio Grande Guardian
Sept 29, 2026

“We need a watchdog, not just over our money,” Eckhardt said. “We need a watchdog over a one-party rule that thinks it is a proper way. We need watchdogs all across the state, up and down this ticket.”

Daily Texan
Sept 28, 2026

“While the elected officials are hugging it out so that they can hold on to power, the rest of Texans are saying, ‘Holding on to power? You have forgotten what your job is,’” Eckhardt said. “And they’re sick of it. And that’s why we are in a realignment election now.”

Eckhardt said she rejected the idea that Democrats will have to moderate their messaging to win in Texas because of what she perceives as a growing distaste for Republican politicians among the electorate.

“There are no reasonable candidates on the Republican side anymore, and there’s nothing but reasonable candidates on the Democrat side,” Eckhardt said. “I don’t think we need to modulate. We’re the reasonable choice in this environment.”

Texas Tribune
Sept 15, 2026

Noah Betz’s appointment as chief clerk — commonly referred to as deputy comptroller — comes as dozens have left or been pushed out, representing the loss of hundreds of years of institutional knowledge and experience at the agency, in what five former employees described as a chaotic start to Huffines’ temporary tenure. Those workers spoke on the condition of anonymity, out of fear they could be reprimanded by their new employers or that speaking publicly can affect their job prospects.  

“The office is being weaponized,” Eckhardt said. “My concern here is we are seeing the depth of knowledge being routed out of the comptroller’s office.”

Midland Reporter-Telegram
Sept 4, 2026

“If you are serious about being a watchdog for the state taxpayers, you don't fire the top watchdogs in the agency with the expertise to go after corporate tax cheat and uh pay to play contracts in the state of Texas in your first 10 days in office, which is exactly what Don Huffines did,” Eckhardt further criticized. “(But) that’s not surprising from the guy who secretly purchased the Epstein ranch. He is looking to bury the truth in the comptroller's office, similar to burying the truth on a ranch in New Mexico.”

Beaumont Enterprise
Aug 27, 2026

Eckhardt visited Beaumont on Aug. 20 as a guest speaker at the Golden Triangle Minority Business Council’s Building Your Dream Expo, where she outlined her priorities for the comptroller’s office. She said that if elected, her first priorities would include what she called stabilizing the comptroller’s office, auditing the state’s school voucher program and reviewing corporate tax breaks and no-bid contracts.

KVUE
Aug 9, 2026

“He keeps saying he wants to “DOGE Texas,” but I think he really means “dodge taxes,” said Eckhardt. “That means the rest of us are going to pay more while corporate Texans are not going to be paying their fair share. And, he wants to take retribution and build propaganda, much like Ken Paxton did in the AG’s office.” Eckhardt stressed the need for the Comptroller to be a “watchdog, not a lapdog for the rich and powerful” as she described Huffines’ appointment to the Comptroller’s office as an asset instead of a liability for her campaign.

Lone Star Politics
June 30, 2026

Lone Star Politics speaks with Texas Sen. Sarah Eckhardt, D – Austin, about her run for Texas Comptroller. She’s running against conservative businessman and former State Sen. Don Huffines in November. NBC DFW talks to her about her quest to end one-party rule in Texas and the difficulties in separating this race from a more well known race for U.S. Senate.

Mission:Texas Podcast
June 4, 2026

Sarah Eckhardt joined Kate Rumsey, former DOJ prosecutor and Air Force veteran, for the Mission:Texas podcast to discuss what’s at stake for Texas schools and communities with Don Huffines, owner of the Epstein Ranch and MAGA Millionaire who ran to the right of Greg Abbott, on the ballot in November.

Texas Tribune
April 28, 2026

Sarah Eckhardt joined Texas Tribune’s Editor-in-Chief Matthew Watkins for a conversation about the race for Texas Comptroller. Watch her discuss auditing the voucher scheme, standing up for Texas Comptroller employees, and delivering affordability for Texans.

The Daily Texan
March 6, 2026

The comptroller’s office has watchdog functions that can counteract “one-party dictatorship,” she said at the conversation hosted by Evan Smith, a journalist and professor at the LBJ School of Public Affairs. The comptroller functions as the state’s chief financial officer, reporting on economic trends, monitoring appropriations and collecting taxes.

Houston Chronicle Editorial Board
Feb 14, 2026

The Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts, says candidate Sarah Eckhardt, 61, is supposed to be a watchdog, protecting Texas taxpayers’ precious dollars. Instead, it’s been a lapdog, snuggling up to the state’s Republican powers-that-be.

We agree. No Democrat has been elected to statewide office since 1994. And it’s been decades since conservative Democratic comptrollers such as John Sharp and Bob Bullock wrote smart reports about Texas money matters, showing strong fiscal leadership independent of the governor’s office and reshaping our state for the better. These days, the comptroller makes news mainly by amplifying the governor’s culture-war hoo-ha.

Texas Tribune
Dec 8, 2025

State Sen. Sarah Eckhardt, D-Austin, on Monday announced she was no longer running for Congress and would instead run for state comptroller.

The pivot, coming on the last day to file for Texas’ 2026 primaries, ends Eckhardt’s roughly monthlong campaign for the 10th Congressional District, a Republican-leaning seat that is being vacated by Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Austin. Eckhardt has served in the Texas Senate since 2020 and was reelected in 2024, meaning she will retain her seat if she loses the comptroller race. Democrats have not won a statewide election in Texas since 1994.