From the inbox:
Chris Bell
Chris Bell, former U.S. Congressman, launched his Texas Gubernatorial campaign Monday, November 10, 2025, at the Texas Capitol in Austin. Bell enters the Texas Governor’s race with years of public service
experience and a successful record of winning landmark ethics reform legislation.“Today, I am announcing my candidacy for Governor of Texas, offering a clear alternative who cares about all Texans, not just the privileged few. Sitting on the sidelines while corruption in the office of the Governor’s office is on vivid display isn’t an option,” announced Bell. “Texans are saying enough is enough. Those of us with experience and know how government works must step up to lead,” Bell stated.
Link to Video of Chris Bell’s Full Announcement (link expires on 11/13/25):
Bell’s campaign will focus on ethics reform, education, and affordability, livability, and opportunity for all Texans while promising a more positive direction for Texas without taking directives from Washington D.C.
Voters may select Bell as the Texas Democratic Gubernatorial candidate in the March 3, 2026 Democratic primary. The 2026 Texas Gubernatorial election is November 3, 2026.
Campaign Website: https://chrisbelltexas.com
More about Chris Bell:
Chris Bell’s values and enthusiasm for public service were instilled by his parents, a journalist and Marine Corps veteran from the “Greatest Generation.” A lifelong Texan, and longtime champion of human rights and freedoms, Bell sees the primary value of politics as making life better, particularly for those less fortunate individuals, families, and communities struggling with it. He understands what power, greed, and ambition can lead to, has battled political corruption at its highest levels, and has won those fights.Bell is an attorney, former Houston City Council Member, former Congressman, and the 2006 Democratic nominee for Governor of Texas. He is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin and South Texas College of Law Houston. Bell is a civil rights champion, two-time Human Rights Campaign award winner, NAACP “A” rated congressman, former national NARAL Pro-choice America Board member, and former chair of Clean Energy Fund Texas. He now makes his home in Chappell Hill, Texas.
I hadn’t realized he had moved to Chappell Hill. I’m sure we’ll be seeing more of him around here in the next couple of months. Bell joins Gina Hinojosa, Andrew White, Bobby Cole, and Benjamin Flores. Seems pretty likely at this point that this will go to a runoff. I’ll be very interested to see what the January finance reports look like.
I will say this much: Chris Bell got screwed in 2006, and I will die on that hill. VaLinda Hathcox, Hank Gilbert, and Dale Henry all got more votes in that election than Rick Perry did. If the people who were Democratic enough to vote for those folks also pushed the button for Chris Bell, well, the last 20 years would have been at least a little different. We’ll see what he can bring in 2026. The Trib, the DMN and KVUE have more.
Did Chris Bell get screwed or was Chris Bell such an unappealing candidate that he lost winnable votes to Carol Keeton Crazy and a guy named Kinky? Given Bell’s epic, record setting track record for losing elections, the latter seems more likely. This guy is a perennial candidate and is not worth anybody’s time.
Not a good look for Dems that they have multiple candidates for Senate that are more appealing than any for Governor. While Paxton might tip the equation this year, generally speaking minority parties have better chances of winning a Governor’s race than the federal race for Senate.
I will say something similar to what I commented on BOR (who really wanted John Sharp to run for governor to the point of obnoxiousness) back in the day (I think 2010?).
What has Bell done in the past 20 years to lead or fight or even just position himself to become governor? As best as I can tell, he ran for State Senate once and lost, then the only thing I’ve seen on him since is a billboard around Brenham advertising his law firm. To be fair, that could be because he did a lot of behind the scenes work that was not publicized, but if so, I would like to know. A lot has changed in the past two decades. As it stands, though, if the primary election were tomorrow, I’d vote for Hinojosa (and we have campaigns for a reason; the primary is not tomorrow).