Texas Secretary State Jane Nelson Resigns Before Midterms

Texas Secretary of State Jane Nelson announced Tuesday that she will leave her position on July 17, creating a vacancy at the helm of the state’s election administration just months before a high-stakes midterm cycle. Nelson, who was appointed by Governor Greg Abbott and unanimously confirmed by the state Senate in 2023, did not provide a reason for her departure.

Her resignation comes as Texas prepares for a series of closely watched races, including a U.S. Senate contest and the governor’s own reelection bid. Nelson oversaw seven statewide elections during her tenure, a period in which she described her goal as ensuring voting in Texas is secure, accessible, and fair.

A central initiative of her time in office was the decision to use the federal Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements, or SAVE, database to check the citizenship status of registered voters. Her office flagged more than 2,000 names through the system. That effort, however, drew immediate legal challenges. Two federal lawsuits allege the database is inaccurate, and county election officials reviewing the flagged names found that hundreds of the individuals were in fact eligible voters.