Texas Land Commissioner

Dawn Buckingham is a physician who has served as Texas Land Commissioner since January 2023 and is seeking a second term¹. She represented Texas Senate District 24 from 2017 to 2023 and won the 2022 land commissioner race with 56.2 percent of the vote¹. She was unopposed in the March 2026 Republican primary⁶.

Where they stand

• Immigration: Secure the border first; deport those with criminal records; keep legal immigration steady Official action · low confidence
  • As land commissioner, Buckingham offered the incoming Trump administration more than 1,400 acres of state land in Starr County for deportation facilities and staging areas; her office's release said the land would support the administration's plans to deport illegal immigrants. (2024-11-20) source
  • In her letter she wrote that her office was prepared to allow a facility for the processing, detention and coordination of what she called the largest deportation of violent criminals in the nation's history. (2024-11-19) source
  • ABC News reported that she said in a Fox News interview she was fully on board with the incoming administration's promise to deport criminals. (2024-11-20) source
  • Her office signed an agreement with the Texas Facilities Commission authorizing state border wall construction on the Starr County ranch. (2024-10) source
  • Local coverage reports she launched an initiative to set aside state land the federal government could use for mass deportation and detention facilities. (2026-09-14) source
  • Her 2022 campaign website said she would work to finish the border wall on state-controlled lands and cited her Senate work to make sanctuary city policies illegal in Texas. (2022) source
• Energy and climate: All of the above: oil, gas, nuclear and renewables, and let markets pick Official action · low confidence
  • Buckingham announced that the General Land Office would explore developing geothermal, natural gas and small nuclear power plants on state land. (2026-09-15) source
  • She said geothermal, advanced nuclear and natural gas plants are different approaches to producing dependable power in Texas. (2026-09-15) source
  • Ahead of an August 2023 federal offshore wind lease sale in the Gulf, she said her office would not grant the approvals needed for offshore wind construction, according to Inside Climate News. (2023) source

No public position found on: Housing and growth.

Record

• Served in the Texas Senate for District 24 from 2017 to 2023¹.
• Elected Texas Land Commissioner in November 2022, defeating Democrat Jay Kleberg and two others¹.
• In November 2024 offered more than 1,400 acres of General Land Office land in Starr County to the incoming Trump administration for deportation facilities²³.
• Sent a cease-and-desist letter to U.S. Customs and Border Protection over clearing of state land for border wall work in the Big Bend region, according to local news coverage⁷.
• In September 2026 announced the General Land Office would explore building geothermal, natural gas and small nuclear power plants on state land⁴.