Texas is on the verge of gaining a new top election official who would represent a sharp departure from the recent institutionalist approach to running elections in the state. State Rep. Nate Schatzline, a 34-year-old conservative pastor from Fort Worth with ties to Christian nationalism, is widely considered the frontrunner to succeed Secretary of State Jane Nelson, who announced her resignation earlier this month.
The expectation, reported by NPR, is based on signals from the office of Gov. Greg Abbott, who has sole authority to appoint the secretary of state. Abbott has not made a formal announcement; an Abbott spokesperson said only that “an announcement on an appointment will be made at a later date.” Nelson is expected to stay in office until July 17.
In preparation for Schatzline’s possible appointment, Chris McGinn, executive director of the Texas Association of County Election Officials, prepared an analysis report for his members. The report noted that previous secretaries of state, including Nelson, were institutionalists who “prioritized stabilizing relationships with county officials, providing bipartisan-friendly training resources, and shielding local administrators from overt partisan warfare.”
Schatzline would present a different model, McGinn wrote. “It is believed that Schatzline would represent a disruptor model of secretary of state leadership: highly ideological, responsive to grassroots activist demands, and comfortable using the office as an active enforcement agency.”
Schatzline, who is not seeking reelection for his state House seat, did not respond to a request for comment. He has no election administration experience. “He has never run an election, managed a polling place, or operated a county voter registration database,” McGinn’s report noted, adding that this could lead to the secretary of state’s office issuing “administrative directives that are logistically impossible or highly disruptive on the ground.”
In the 2025–2026 legislative session, Schatzline authored or co-authored at least five election-related bills after authoring none in his first session. He has publicly aligned himself with former President Donald Trump’s false claims about election fraud. “It’s not even debatable the amount of election fraud we had through mail-in ballots. It’s not even debatable that the machines were screwed up and that we’ve seen unbelievable amounts of election fraud,” Schatzline said in a 2025 interview with John Herold, an election-denial influencer.
Schatzline is a close ally of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, the Republican nominee for U.S. Senate. Schatzline voted against impeaching Paxton in 2023, and Paxton later said he is “a great friend” of Schatzline. The appointment would take place in an election year where Texas has several competitive congressional races that could decide control of the House.
Anthony Gutierrez, executive director of Common Cause Texas, expressed concern about accountability. “We don’t get to see if this person is qualified to do the job and do an actual job interview until they’ve gotten to do the most single most important function of this job,” Gutierrez said. He noted that because state lawmakers are out of session, an appointee can serve in an acting capacity for months before confirmation, reducing accountability.
“This job is incredibly important,” Gutierrez said. “There’s just a really long list of things that someone in that position could do if they saw their job as being more political than just … supportive.”