Texas's governor's race is officially set for the Nov. 3 general election, and while most coverage — including our own report on the March primaries — has framed it as a three-way contest between Gov. Greg Abbott, state Rep. Gina Hinojosa, and independent candidate Jenn Mack Raphoon, the full ballot picture is slightly more crowded. Libertarian Party nominee Pat Dixon, selected at the party's April 12 state convention, will also appear on the printed ballot, making this a four-candidate field for voters who look past the top two names.
Abbott and Hinojosa need little introduction to regular readers at this point: Abbott secured the Republican nomination for a fourth term with roughly 82% of the primary vote, while Hinojosa emerged from a genuinely competitive nine-way Democratic primary. Both will appear on the printed ballot as their party's nominee, as will Dixon for the Libertarians — a party that, under Texas's ballot-access rules, earns automatic placement through its convention nomination process rather than needing to petition onto the ballot the way independents do.
Mack Raphoon's path to the ballot works differently, and it's worth explaining clearly since it affects how her name will actually appear come November. Texas makes it difficult for independent candidates to qualify for a printed ballot line — the state requires a substantial petition-signature threshold that must be gathered in a narrow window after the primary. Mack Raphoon's campaign instead filed a declaration of intent to run as a write-in candidate, a process tracked by the Texas Secretary of State's office. That means her name will not be preprinted on the ballot; voters who want to support her will need to physically write in "Jenn Mack Raphoon" in the space provided, and only correctly cast write-in votes for declared write-in candidates are counted under Texas election law. Her campaign describes her as a "Constitutional Independent" running to "restore the Republic" and "return power to the people," with a platform built around border security, limited government, and what she describes as protecting Texas's traditional culture and values — themes aimed at voters who feel underserved by both major parties.
Dixon's Libertarian candidacy offers Texas conservatives frustrated with the size of state government, occupational licensing, or certain law-enforcement practices a printed-ballot alternative to the two major parties without the write-in hurdle. Libertarian candidates in Texas governor's races have historically drawn low single-digit vote shares, but they remain a consistent factor in a state where a meaningful bloc of voters — particularly younger and rural conservatives skeptical of both parties' spending records — has shown some willingness to protest-vote third party in statewide races that aren't considered competitive.
And by most measures, this one isn't considered competitive in the traditional sense: national forecasters and prediction markets continue to rate the Texas governor's race "Safe Republican" or "Solid Republican," reflecting Abbott's incumbency, fundraising advantage, and the state's recent record of statewide Republican wins — even as polling described in our earlier coverage shows the margin narrowing meaningfully from where it stood earlier this year. For conservative voters using this site's candidate checklist to evaluate the ballot, the practical takeaway is straightforward: Abbott and Hinojosa remain the two candidates capable of winning outright, Dixon offers a printed-ballot protest option, and Mack Raphoon's write-in bid — however sincere — faces a structurally higher bar to register in the official count no matter how many Texans might agree with her platform.