Texas State Senator, District 14

Sarah Eckhardt is a Democratic state senator from Austin in her third term, representing Senate District 14¹⁵⁴. She previously served as an assistant Travis County attorney, a Travis County commissioner from 2006 to 2013, and Travis County Judge from 2015 to 2020². She won the Democratic nomination for comptroller in the March 3, 2026 primary¹.

Where they stand

• School choice: No, keep public money in traditional public schools Voted · medium confidence
  • Voted no on final Senate passage of SB 2, which created a state education savings account program to help pay for private school; it passed 19 to 12. (2025-02-05) source
  • Voted no on SB 8, an earlier education savings account bill that passed the Senate 18 to 13. (2023-04-06) source
  • Called the education savings account program a "$1 billion private school voucher program" and said she would report who benefits from it compared with the needs of public schools. (2026-09-10) source
  • Her campaign website lists "Protect Public Schools" and "Audit the Voucher Scheme" as priorities. (2026) source
• Energy and climate: A gradual shift to cleaner energy, driven by incentives Said · medium confidence
  • Said Texas should use its rainy day fund to speed water projects and "encourage the cleanest and most reliable energy and protect the ratepayer." (2026-09-10) source
  • In 2022 said climate change requires rapid innovation that markets will not produce without government involvement, and called for more renewable energy generation. (2022) source
  • Voted no on SB 819, a bill on renewable energy generation facilities that authorized new fees; it passed the Senate 22 to 9. (2025-04-15) source
  • Voted no on SB 388, setting legislative goals for electric generation capacity; it passed the Senate 18 to 13. (2025-03-19) source
• Property taxes: Position does not fit our answer choices; see evidence. Voted · medium confidence
  • Voted yes on SB 4, which raised the school homestead exemption; the final version passed 31 to 0. (2025-05-29) source
  • Voted yes on SB 23, which raised the school homestead exemption for older and disabled homeowners; it passed 30 to 1. (2025-05-29) source
  • Voted no on SB 10, which lowered the voter-approval tax rate limit for certain local taxing units; it passed the Senate 18 to 12. (2025-08-19) source
  • Said that as Travis County Judge she lowered property taxes three times. (2026) source

No public position found on: Business regulation, AI data centers.

Record

• Assistant Travis County Attorney for eight years after earning law and public affairs degrees from the University of Texas at Austin in 1998².
• Travis County Commissioner, 2006 to 2013².
• Travis County Judge, 2015 to 2020, the first woman in that office²¹.
• Texas Senate, District 14, now in her third term¹⁴.
• Won the March 3, 2026 Democratic primary for comptroller with 64.1%, defeating Savant Moore and Michael Lange².