Benjamin Flores

Benjamin Flores

Democratic Party

Candidate, Texas Land Commissioner

Elections and appointments

Last election

March 3, 2026

Next election

November 3, 2026

Personal

Profession

City council member

Contact

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Benjamin Flores (Democratic Party) (also known as Ben) is running for election for Texas Land Commissioner. He is on the ballot in the general election on November 3, 2026. He advanced from the Democratic primary on March 3, 2026.

Flores completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2026. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

Benjamin Flores studied geography at Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México in Mexico City. His career experience includes working in cybersecurity and starting a family business raising pigs. Flores has served on the Bay City City Council, the Bay City Development Corporation, and the Houston‑Galveston Area Council.

Elections

2026

See also: Texas Public Lands Commissioner election, 2026

General election

The general election will occur on November 3, 2026.

The candidate list in this election may not be complete.

General election for Texas Land Commissioner

Incumbent Dawn Buckingham (R) and Benjamin Flores (D) are running in the general election for Texas Land Commissioner on November 3, 2026.

		Candidate
		Dawn Buckingham (R)
		Benjamin Flores (D)

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined.
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary

The candidate list in this election may not be complete.

Democratic primary for Texas Land Commissioner

Benjamin Flores (D) defeated Jose Loya (D) in the Democratic primary for Texas Land Commissioner on March 3, 2026.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Benjamin Flores	55.8	1,082,471
		Jose Loya	44.2	858,922

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	There were no incumbents in this race. Source 1 Source 2	Total votes: 1,941,393
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia 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.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Jinny Suh (D)

Republican primary

The candidate list in this election may not be complete.

Republican primary for Texas Land Commissioner

Incumbent Dawn Buckingham (R) advanced from the Republican primary for Texas Land Commissioner on March 3, 2026.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Dawn Buckingham	100.0	1,750,892

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. Source 1 Source 2	Total votes: 1,750,892
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia 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.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Davy Hobson (R)

Endorsements

Flores received the following endorsements. To send us additional endorsements, click here.

• Austin American-Statesman
• Liberal Austin, Texas, Democrats
• Texas Progressive Caucus

Campaign themes

2026

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Benjamin Flores completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2026. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Flores' responses.

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Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

I'm Benjamin Flores, a Democratic candidate for Texas Land Commissioner. I came to the US from Mexico City in 1996 with two small bags and a big dream. I worked whatever jobs I could find while earning my citizenship and building my skills. My mother taught me "nunca seas agachado," never bow down, and that mindset carried me through a 30-year career in cybersecurity and risk management, protecting banks, government agencies, and large organizations from failures.

A few years ago, my family and I left the corporate world behind and moved to Bay City, where we raise heritage pigs on a small homestead in Matagorda County. I got involved in local government and now serve on the Bay City Council, the Bay City Development Corporation board, and the Houston-Galveston Area Council. Living on the Texas coast, I see every day how much our communities depend on the General Land Office for storm protection and disaster recovery.

I'm running because the GLO needs competent management, not political theater. I know how to spot problems before they turn into disasters, and I know how to make complex systems work better. That's what I'll bring to this office. Texans First. Always.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

• The Texas General Land Office generates revenue from state lands that flows into the Permanent School Fund, supporting Texas public schools. As Land Commissioner, I'll make sure we're getting maximum value from every lease and every acre. That means embracing innovation, welcoming renewable energy producers alongside oil and gas, and running tighter operations. More revenue for the Permanent School Fund means more money flowing to school districts, which helps them lower your property taxes.
• Texas has 1.7 million veterans, and too many don't know about the Veterans Land Board programs they've earned. As Land Commissioner, I'll direct the Veterans Land Board to provide our veterans and their families more of the services they need and deserve, more easily, and more quickly. That means expanding outreach so every Texas veteran knows what's available through the VLB, from home loans to long-term care, and bringing services closer to where they live.
• I'm the only Democratic candidate for Texas Land Commissioner who's served in Texas government and who lives in a coastal community that depends on GLO programs. Living in Matagorda County, coastal protection isn't abstract for me. I'll strengthen the GLO's storm protection programs and fix the disaster recovery system so help reaches the people who need it most, quickly and fairly. The federal government found that Hurricane Harvey recovery funds were distributed in a discriminatory way. That's a systems failure. Preventing systems failures is what my career prepared me to do.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

Disaster preparedness and emergency management. It's personal for me. I've completed CERT training and EMT academy in the past because I wanted to be useful when things go wrong. When Hurricane Beryl hit Matagorda County in 2024, I was out helping my neighbors. The Texas General Land Office plays a major role in disaster recovery, and I've seen how much it matters when that system works.
Government accountability is the other area. My career was about protecting organizations from failures. Most failures aren't surprises. They're predictable if you're paying attention. I want government to work the same way: transparent, accountable, and focused on preventing problems.

What organizations or individuals have endorsed your campaign?

Liberal Austin Democrats, Preston Hollow Democrats, Stonewall Democrats of Dallas. Jordan Villareal, Julio Salinas, Celina Vasquez, Meri Gomez, Danny Tejada, Lesly Molina-Poer, Sophia Anwar, Peter Mungiguerra, Roberto Alonzo, Martin Saenz..

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

Campaign finance summary

Campaign finance information for this candidate is not yet available from OpenSecrets. That information will be published here once it is available.

See also

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