Hegar was elected to the Texas House in 2002 and served in District 28. He won re-election in 2004. He was elected to the Texas Senate in 2006 and was re-elected in 2010 and again in 2012. Hegar serves as chairman of the Senate Committee on Nominations and as a member of the Committees on Finance, Natural Resources and Agriculture, Rural Affairs and Homeland Security. Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst's appointment of Hegar as vice chairman of the Sunset Advisory Commission made Texas history, marking the first time that a freshman member of the legislature has been appointed to a leadership position of chairman or vice chairman of that commission. Hegar resigned from the Senate on December 5, 2014 after his election as Texas Comptroller. A special election was held the next day to choose his successor, Lois Kolkhorst.
Texas State Comptroller
2014 election
Hegar handily led three opponents in his bid on March 4, 2014, for the Republican nomination for state comptroller: State Representative Harvey Hilderbran of Kerrville, Debra Medina of Wharton, an activist with the Tea Party movement who also ran for governor in the 2010 Republican primary but lost to Rick Perry, and the former State Representative Raul Torres of Corpus Christi. With 610,512 votes, Hegar appears to have fallen just short of the 50-percent-plus-one-vote threshold required for nominations in Texas. The counting of provisional ballots could have altered Hegar's 49.99 percent total. However, the second-place candidate, Harvey Hildebran, announced on March 7 that he would not contest Hegar in a May 27 runoff election. Hilderbran polled 317,731 votes. Debra Medina finished third with 235,713 votes, and Raul Torres polled 57,255 votes. Hegar, with 58.4 percent of the vote, defeated the Democratic nominee Mike Collier, a businessman from Houston, in the November 4 general election.
2018 election
Hegar won election to a second term in the 2018 general election.
Political positions
Hegar is a conservative, who says he seeks to defend "the values of faith, family, and freedom." Hegar is a gun rights supporter. In 2009, the Texas State Rifle Association awarded Hegar the Doc Brown Legislator of the Year Award. Texans for Lawsuit Reform recognized him with the Civil Justice Leadership Award for his work on tort reform in Texas. In prior sessions, he was recognized as "Best Legislator" and the "Rookie of the Year" for the 80th Session by Capitol Inside, received the Legislative Excellence Award from the Texas Municipal Police Association, and "Star for Rural Texas" from the Texas Farm Bureau. Hegar is pro-life. Previously, Texas Right to Life has given him the "Perfectly Pro-Life Award". In the 83rd Legislative Session in 2013, Hegar was the author of Texas Senate Bill 5 and introduced the bill into the Senate. The Texas House passed the bill on July 10, 2013, by a 96–49 margin and sent the measure to the Texas Senate. The Texas Senate passed the bill on July 13, 2013, with a bipartisan vote of nineteen to eleven. The bill was signed by Gov. Rick Perry on July 18, 2013. The bill was a list of measures that would add and update abortion regulations in Texas. Major sections of the law were struck down in the United States Supreme Court case Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt.
Election history
2018
2014
2010
2006
Personal life
Hegar is a sixth-generation Texan who farms on land that has been in his family since the mid-19th century. He grew up in Hockley, also in Harris County. Hegar, his wife Dara, and their children, Claire, Julia, and Jonah, live in Katy, where they attend St. Peter's United Methodist Church. Hegar highlighted his wife and children in most of his television commercials in the race for comptroller.
