Reasons for Choices of Otis Shearer
PO Box 520, Booker TX 79005
US Senator
Incumbent John Cornyn voted 93% of the time for Trump’s first term positions and for all second term Trump appointments. He is a modern master of the Senate who has sponsored twice as many bills as the average Senator and gotten nearly ten times as many passed into law. In his career he has also raised more than $400 million for the Republican party .
Senator Tommy Tupermville is leaving the Senate after one term because “…if you don’t have a lot of seniority, you don’t have a lot of say. I would have to be up for a couple more terms where you really had any kind of situation where you could make a difference .” Cornyn has that kind of seniority, and his valuable relationships with other Senators cannot be duplicated any opponent.
The opposing candidacy of Ken Paxton should be rejected for many other reasons. He used his power as Texas Attorney General to favor a political supporter who employed Paxton’s then mistress and facilitated Paxton’s extra-marital meetings. After four Paxton assistants reported Paxton’s conduct to proper investigators, Paxton fired them. They filed suit under the Whistleblower’s Act. Paxton offered to settle with them for $3.3 million with taxpayer money, but the Texas Legislature refused to allow such payment.
The attorneys of the fired employees then tried to depose Paxton, which is a common and expected part of litigation. Paxton refused to be deposed, and in the limited appeal of that issue, the Texas Supreme Court required Paxton to submit to questioning under oath in a deposition. Paxton next filed an amended answer in the Whistleblower suit admitting the factual allegations of the fired assistants, leaving it to the presiding judge to award damages.
Before the Supreme Court decision, Paxton was impeached in 2023 by the Texas House for this and other misconduct. Four thousand pages of evidence was marshaled against Paxton in the trial before the Texas Senate . The majority were fellow Republicans with Paxton’s wife being one Senator. Paxton chose not to testify, and only two Republican Senators voted to convict on some counts. The number of the senators who voted to convict him was thus less than the required two thirds.
When Paxton changed later his answer to the Whistleblower suit, the House prosecutor for impeachment announced that Paxton had admitted to what many in the Texas House had known in their heart to be true. It was that Paxton flagrantly broke the law, violated the Whistleblower Act and betrayed the trust placed in him by retaliating against his own team, those who bravely reported his illegal actions.
In 2025 the judge awarded the fired assistants $6.6 million dollars plus 7.5% interest compounded annually. Taxpayers are on the hook to pay it, but the Texas legislature has not yet approved the payment. Paxton vowed to appeal, but by early July of 2025, Paxton had abandoned his frivolous appeal. Also, that month, his wife filed for divorce because of Paxton’s continued adultery; they had not lived together since June of 2024.
Paxton was also subject to a state prosecution for soliciting investors in a technology company without disclosing that the firm was paying him to promote its stock. Prosecution was dropped when Paxton agreed to 100 hours of community service and to pay $271,000 in restitution to those harmed by his actions .
Paxton has won prior Texas races with financing from Tim Dunn who reportedly did not want Paxton to run against Corwyn. Dunn has not seen a reason to spend heavily to oust the incumbent .
Should Paxton obtain the Republican nomination, the Democrat nominee will have a much better opportunity to win in November than against Corwyn who does not carry such baggage. The Emerson poll found that Paxton would be in a theoretical dead heat with any Democratic candidate, but that Corwyn would lead over them. The Houston Chronicle article reporting the poll also observed that Paxton is waiting to spend most of his campaign money for the runoff. If Corwyn is not in the runoff, I will vote for the opponent of Paxton
Texas Attorney General
I support State Senator Joan Huffman who focuses on rebuilding trust and making the attorney general’s office a resource local officials want to reach out to. She’d like to better equip the office to help local agencies handle more complex crimes, like financial fraud or transnational gangs, and create regional task forces to enhance communication between the state and local governments .
Is Huffman does not make the runoff and Congressman Chip Roy does, I would support him. He is concerned about the government’s growing power over people and wants government itself to operate within the law. Should Roy also not make a runoff, I will not vote for any candidate endorsed by current AG Ken Paxton for the reasons stated above.
Controller of Public Accounts
Republican Kelly Hancock, a former state senator, became the acting comptroller in 2025 by appointment of our Texas governor; he is running to keep the position. Hancock is opposed by Texas Railroad Commissioner Christi Craddick, former state Sen. Don Huffines and Michael Berlanga.
I support West Texan Craddick who should be more independent of the establishment than the other candidates. You can learn more about her at her website (see footnote ). She has been endorsed by Ross Perot, Jr., a real estate developer from Dallas and Woody Hunt, an El Paso real estate developer.
Agriculture Commissioner
Incumbent Sid Miller is opposed by Nate Sheets; Sheets has my vote. After graduating from Kyle High School near Austin, he served in the Navy for six years and then worked his way through Texas State University, obtaining a bachelor’s degree of Business Administration in Marketing.
Miller hired as his chief of staff Todd Smith shortly after Smith pled guilty to commercial bribery .
In January of 2026, Governor Abbott endorsed challenger Sheets, as reported in the following excerpt from the Texas Tribune. Abbot said the quoted part:
Abbott, who is seeking a record fourth term and is heavily favored in the upcoming primary, said on social media that he is backing political newcomer Nate Sheets, because he is "committed to fighting for the best interests of Texas agriculture, upholding the rule of law, and restoring integrity" to the office Miller has held since 2015.
"Texans deserve an Agriculture Commissioner who is focused on promoting Texas Agriculture, with zero tolerance for criminality," Abbott said in the post. "Nate Sheets is the true conservative champion for the job and is the leader we need to keep Texas the global powerhouse in agriculture
Sheets, a beekeeper who founded and operates a honey company, said in a statement that Abbott's endorsement "reflects shared priorities rooted in conservative leadership, accountability, and proactive governance." He also noted that he's backed by such organizations as the Cattle Raisers PAC, Texas Cattle Feeders Association BEEF PAC, Make Texans Healthy Again and the Texas Wildlife Association. . Also endorsing Sheets are Senator Angela Paxton (being divorced from Ken), former Agriculture Commissioner Susan Combs who is a West Texas rancher, the Texas Farm Bureau’s political arm, the Texas Wildlife Association and Veterans for Trump .
Further endorsing Sheets are the Texas Farm Bureau and the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association . As of the second half of 2025, Sheets had raised $506,000 as compared to $$291,000 for Miller. , Our State Senator, Kevin Sparks of Midland, donated $13,000 to the Sheets campaign. Sheets is also endorsed by State Senator Charles Perry of Lubbock.
Nature Nate’s Honey became famous for its raw and unfiltered honey. Sheets and his wife sold the company in 2021, according to the article in the Chronicle in the fifth footnote below.
Railroad Commissioner
Incumbent and Commissioner President Jim Wright has four opponents. I support Hawk Dunlap, a college educated worker in the industry who pledges to take a stronger stance on the plugging of abandoned wells.
Bo French is an energy trader and former chairman of the Tarrant County Republican Party. A Ft. Worth based political consultant argues that French is seeking this position as a bigger platform for his extreme vision and hateful rhetoric and that one constant in French’s political career is an attack on people of color and from outside our country .
I also looked at the websites of the other two candidates, Katherine Culbert and James Matlock.
Appellate Court Races
No Supreme Court races are contested in the Republican Primary.
Place 3 of the Court of Criminal Appeals has four candidates. Alison Fox is currently chambers attorney for that court after serving in the District Attorney office in San Antonio . She and her husband of 17 years have five children. She has been endorsed by the Houston and San Antonio newspaper. I have reviewed the web postings for opponents Lesli Fitzpatrick , Thomas Smith and Brent Coffee , a Pampa native. I favor Fox and if she does not make a runoff then Coffee or Fitzpatrick in that order.
Place 9 of the Court of Criminal Appeals has two candidates. John Messinger is a prosecutor who has actively practiced before criminal appellate courts. He chairs the State Bar’s Pattern Jury Charges—Criminal Committee. He is a frequent speaker at the State Bar Advanced Criminal Law Course (2016-2024) and the Robert O. Dawson Conference on Criminal Appeals (2011, 2019, 2021), among other conferences. I will vote for him. Opponent Jennifer Balido served a term as a Dallas Criminal District Judge after a general, criminal law practice.
Lipscomb County Sheriff
I favor Jimmy Burt over incumbent Ben Eggleston to obtain better law enforcement in our county
