About this office
There are only 31 State Senators for all of Texas, and every bill has to get past them. Who you elect as your State Senator can be the difference between a bill becoming a law that changes lives for the better — or being left to die. Yours represents Hays County and the counties around it, and once elected, sits for four years. It's a small club with a lot of quiet power, and this is one of the few times you get a say in who's in it.
Candidates
Bobby TillmanBobby Tillman spent 40 years in the commercial flooring business before spending the last 15 years raising beef cattle in East Texas.
About Bobby
Tillman, a sixth-generation Texan, is the lone Democrat running for the open Texas Senate District 3 seat, an East Texas district stretching from the Pineywoods down through the Sabine region. His campaign focuses on rural healthcare access, saving rural hospitals, opposing private-school vouchers, and cutting residential property taxes while restricting corporate purchases of family homes.
Trent AshbyTrent Ashby ran a Lufkin title insurance company and worked as a bank senior vice president before he ever ran for office.
About Trent
Ashby has represented East Texas in the state legislature since 2013, most recently as the Texas House member for District 9, and now he's running to move up to the State Senate seat being vacated by retiring Senator Robert Nichols. He's made property tax relief his signature issue on the campaign trail, pointing to the 2023 tax-cut package he helped pass. He won the Republican primary for Senate District 3 in March 2026 with 62 percent of the vote.