Scott resigns as secretary of state

  • Gov. Greg Abbott intends to appoint Sen. Jane Nelson from Flower Mound as the new Secretary of State after accepting the resignation of John Scott, who plans to return to private practice. Nelson has served in the Texas Senate for 30 years and did not run for re-election this term.
    Gov. Greg Abbott intends to appoint Sen. Jane Nelson from Flower Mound as the new Secretary of State after accepting the resignation of John Scott, who plans to return to private practice. Nelson has served in the Texas Senate for 30 years and did not run for re-election this term.

    Gov. Greg Abbott accepted the resignation of Texas Secretary of State John Scott and announced his intent to appoint Senator Jane Nelson to fill the role as the 115th Secretary of State for Texas.

    Scott announced he will be stepping down from his roll as the state’s top elections official at the end of the year. Scott was appointed by Gov. Greg Abbott in October 2021 but has opted to return to private practice.

    Scott oversaw four statewide elections during his time as secretary of state and supervised an audit of the 2020 elections in four of the state’s largest counties. Critics have falsely said those elections included outsized voter fraud and irregularities. The first phase of the audit was released on New Year’s Eve 2021 and found no significant evidence of widespread fraud.