Ben Sanders
Ben Sanders (Libertarian Party) ran for election forTexas Comptroller of Public Accounts. Sanders lost in the general election on November 6, 2018.
Biography
Sanders was born on July 28, 1976, in Columbus, Ohio. At the time of his candidacy, Sanders lived in Irving, Texas, where he served as Program Manager and Subject Matter Expert for a privately held commercial software firm. Previously, he has worked for NASA and the US Army Contracting Command HQ. Sanders identifies as Christian.[1]
In a biographical information submission to Ballotpedia, Sanders identified several key biographical points of interest:[1]
- He is a member of the NASA Johnson Space Center Information Technology Working Group.
- In 2011, he was appointed as the Information Technology Governance Counsel for NASA, under the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).
- He sat on the Budget Line of Business Collaboration Workgroup for NASA and the DoD.
- He is a former contributing member of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) professional collaboration group.
- He received the coveted “I am an Innovator” award from NASA, for creating NASA’s Real-Time Financial Project Management System that upon implementation saved the almost 4% in budget over-runs.
- He holds five US Patents in Science and Technology
- A draft of his doctoral thesis was the core foundation of the25 Point Plan to Reform Federal Information Technology.
- He is a Freemason and an ordained minister.
Education
- B.S., chemistry
- M.S., computer science
- Doctor of Business Administration in Applied Computer Science[1]
Elections
2018
- See also:Texas Comptroller election, 2018
General election
General election for Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts
IncumbentGlenn Hegar defeatedJoi Chevalier andBen Sanders in the general election for Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts on November 6, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Glenn Hegar (R) | 53.2 | 4,376,828 |
 | Joi Chevalier (D) | 43.4 | 3,570,693 | |
 | Ben Sanders (L) | 3.4 | 281,081 | |
| Incumbents arebolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source | Total votes: 8,228,602 (100.00% precincts reporting) | ||
 = candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts
Joi Chevalier defeatedTim Mahoney in the Democratic primary for Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts on March 6, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Joi Chevalier | 51.9 | 483,276 |
 | Tim Mahoney | 48.1 | 448,468 | |
| There were noincumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source | Total votes: 931,744 | ||
| = candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Republican primary election
Republican primary for Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts
IncumbentGlenn Hegar advanced from the Republican primary for Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts on March 6, 2018.
Candidate | ||
| ✔ | | Glenn Hegar |
| Incumbents arebolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source | |||
| = candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you,complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
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2014
Sanders ran forelection to the office ofTexas Comptroller of Public Accounts. Sanders received theLibertarian nomination at the convention on April 12, 2014, where he was unopposed.[2][3] The general election took place on November 4, 2014.
Results
General election
| Texas Comptroller, 2014 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Republican |  Glenn Hegar | 58.4% | 2,697,877 | |
| Democrat | Mike Collier | 37.7% | 1,742,119 | |
| Libertarian | Ben Sanders | 3% | 136,869 | |
| Green | Deb Shafto | 1% | 44,981 | |
| Total Votes | 4,621,846 | |||
| Election results viaTexas Secretary of State | ||||
Issues
Marijuana Legalization
In an email to Ballotpedia, Sanders clarified his stance on the legalization of marijuana:
| “ | As much as citizens in any state wish to move to do away with ineffective legislation, there are two critical reasons to be deliberate. First, as intended by the Founders, the laboratory of democracy is working well. We can learn from the mistakes that Colorado makes in implementing decriminalization, and spare our citizens and neighbors the unintended harm of injudicious action. Secondly, the real act of decriminalization will occur at the federal level. Many thought our current President would ease regulations on marijuana, but he has only stepped up enforcement. Enacting legislation that decriminalizes marijuana would put Texans in the uncomfortable position of being further subject to federal scrutiny. When federal agencies are wielded as blunt instruments to harass citizens and infringe upon their liberties, we must push reforms in Washington first. As public servants, our primary duty is to those who have trusted us with elected office. To put them, needlessly, in Washington's cross hairs is an abrogation of that sacred trust.[4] | ” |
| —Ben Sanders,Email communication with Ballotpedia[5] | ||
Property tax reforms
In an article written for "TribTalk," a publication ofThe Texas Tribune, Sanders outlined his views on the Texas property tax system.[6] He highlighted two key problems in his view: the property tax burden on retired homeowners and the ambiguous assessment process for residential properties. To alleviate the first problem, he proposed "a homestead exemption increase for seniors 65 and over to $150,000." To make the assessment process more transparent, Sanders proposed two reforms: to "tighten the definition of 'comparable property' when appraising the value of a home" and to "mandate price disclosure on commercial property to enable 'apples to apples' evaluation." He promised to pursue these policies if elected comptroller.[6]
Campaign finance summary
Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf.Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at theFEC website. Clickhere for more on federal campaign finance law andhere for more on state campaign finance law.
| Year | Office | Status | Contributions | Expenditures |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Texas Comptroller | Lost | $3,669 | N/A** |
| Grand total | $3,669 | N/A** | ||
| Sources:OpenSecrets, Federal Elections Commission ***This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC). | ||||
| ** Data on expenditures is not available for this election cycle | ||||
| Note: Totals above reflect only available data. | ||||
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑1.01.11.2Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedsubmit - ↑Politics1, "Texas," accessed November 12, 2013
- ↑Independent Political Report, "Texas, Wisconsin Libertarian Conventions This Weekend," 4/11/2014
- ↑Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑Email communication with Ballotpedia, Email toKristen Mathews, January 27, 2014
- ↑6.06.1TribTalk, "A Libertarian's take on property taxes," July 6, 2014
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- 2018 challenger
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- 2014 State executive challenger
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- 2014 State executive primary (winner)
- 2014 State executive general election (defeated)
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- State executive candidate, 2018
- 2018 State executive primary (winner)
- 2018 State executive general election
