This text was initially revealed by the Texas Observer, a nonprofit investigative information outlet and journal. Join their weekly publication, or comply with them on Fb, X, and Bluesky.
On the Friday earlier than the Texas major election day (with early voting all however over), Donald Trump visited Corpus Christi and—amongst different issues—dished out a protracted record of last-minute endorsements for his most popular GOP candidates mired in aggressive races.
One shocking title on that record was Sid Miller. Stunning as a result of one would have anticipated Trump to throw his weight behind Miller, the bombastic Texas Agriculture Commissioner and one of many president’s most steadfast champions within the state (Trump as soon as known as him his “man in Texas”), a lot sooner. For months, Miller had discovered himself as one thing of an underdog within the hardest major battle of his profession, up towards a powerful challenger totally backed by his highly effective political nemesis, Gov. Greg Abbott.
However, Miller tried to squeeze all of the juice from that endorsement that he might within the remaining stretch earlier than Tuesday, saying it was proof that Republicans merely must “Stick to Sid.”
However early Tuesday evening, it was clear that this was all too little, too late. Miller was getting his cattle rousted by his challenger, Nate Sheets, a businessman who purveys a profitable line of honey merchandise.
As of 11:00 pm, Sheets was beating Miller by 5 factors. Sheets declared victory—as did Abbott.
Miller’s obvious defeat marks one of many very uncommon situations of a statewide executive-branch Republican incumbent getting toppled in a Texas major. Other than an upset defeat of one-term Railroad Commissioner Ryan Sitton again in 2020, the final time an incumbent misplaced was again in 2014 when tea-party rebel state Senator Dan Patrick toppled his weakened boss, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst.
That Trump’s endorsement solely got here in on the final second for Miller wasn’t the primary signal that the rancher and former rodeo roper from Stephenville was in hassle. In current periods, he’d allegedly discovered himself at growing odds with Republican leaders within the Legislature—seeing his authority on the Ag Division clawed again.
He’s additionally been in a little bit of a political chilly struggle with Abbott since no less than 2020, when he joined a lawsuit towards the governor over his COVID-19 pandemic restrictions and briefly thought of waging a major problem towards him in 2022 — and took pictures at Abbott over the governor’s dealing with of the facility grid and choice to provoke state inspections of vans on the U.S.-Mexico border, amongst different issues.
Heading into his bid for reelection to his fourth time period as Texas’ high ag man, Miller appeared unbothered by the menace posed by Sheets—who has billed himself on his marketing campaign web site as a “veteran, agriculture entrepreneur, household man, and Trump conservative.”
Miller stated: “Texas is plagued by the political our bodies of my earlier opponents.” That’s maybe a little bit of an overstatement—however he did beat his final major challenger, conservative state Rep. James White, by almost 30 factors in 2022. His opponent this time round was certainly no match both — Miller stated Sheets had “by no means milked a cow, sheared a sheep, or shod a horse.”
And it’s not like Miller hasn’t had any vulnerabilities. In his second time period in workplace, Miller’s political advisor was indicted for bribery for making an attempt to promote hemp licenses that had been managed by Miller’s workplace. (The ag commish was by no means implicated himself, however he did later rent the advisor on because the company’s chief of employees.)
When Abbott introduced his endorsement of Sheets, he zeroed in on Miller’s ethics issues. “Texans deserve an Agriculture Commissioner who is concentrated on selling Texas Agriculture, with zero tolerance for criminality,” Abbott stated. “Nate Sheets is the true conservative champion for the job and is the chief we have to hold Texas the worldwide powerhouse in agriculture.”
Abbott additionally took goal at a vote Miller took nicely a quarter-century in the past as a state consultant in favor of the Texas Dream Act to offer in-state tuition for undocumented college students. That legislation was killed, with Abbott’s approval, final yr by a joint authorized maneuver between the state and Trump’s DOJ.
Within the remaining stretch, Miller started to go scorched earth. A few of his allies created an opposition web site dubbed “Dirty Sheets” that detailed Sheets’ professed struggles with marital constancy, pornography, and alcohol. He additionally posted assaults on social media maligning the supposed purity of Sheets’ “uncooked” honey merchandise—and extra.
“He’s a grifter and a conman. His honey is fraud. His marketing campaign is fraud,” Miller posted. “He has proven again and again that he can’t be trusted with the reality so he must not ever be trusted with energy.”
Ultimately, nonetheless, it was Miller who seems to have electorally dirty himself. Thanks for the reminiscences.
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