Paul Bettencourt
Paul Bettencourt (Republican Party) is a member of the Texas State Senate, representing District 7. He assumed office in 2015. His current term ends on January 9, 2029.
Bettencourt (Republican Party) ran for re-election to the Texas State Senate to represent District 7. He won in the general election on November 5, 2024.
Biography
Bettencourt's earned his B.S. in Industrial Distribution from the Texas Agricultural and Mechanical University. His professional experience includes working as the CEO of Bettencourt Tax Advisors, LLC, which was formed in 2009, and as a tax assessor-collector for Harris County.[1]
Committee assignments
2023-2024
Bettencourt was assigned to the following committees:
- Committee of the Whole Senate
- Criminal Justice Committee
- Education Committee
- Finance Committee
- Local Government Committee, Chair
- Senate State Affairs Committee
2021-2022
Bettencourt was assigned to the following committees:
2019-2020
Bettencourt was assigned to the following committees:
- Education Committee
- Finance Committee
- Senate Higher Education Committee
- Property Tax Committee, Chair
2017 legislative session
At the beginning of the 2017 legislative session, this legislator served on the following committees:
| Texas committee assignments, 2017 |
|---|
| • Education |
| • Finance |
| • Higher Education |
| • Intergovernmental Relations, Vice chair |
2015 legislative session
At the beginning of the 2015 legislative session, Bettencourt served on the following committees:
| Texas committee assignments, 2015 |
|---|
| • Education |
| • Finance |
| • Higher Education |
| • Intergovernmental Relations, Vice-Chair |
Sponsored legislation
The following table lists bills this person sponsored as a legislator, according to BillTrack50 and sorted by action history. Bills are sorted by the date of their last action. The following list may not be comprehensive. To see all bills this legislator sponsored, click on the legislator's name in the title of the table.
Elections
2024
See also: Texas State Senate elections, 2024
General election
General election for Texas State Senate District 7
Incumbent Paul Bettencourt defeated Michelle Gwinn in the general election for Texas State Senate District 7 on November 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Paul Bettencourt (R) | 63.4 | 251,489 |
| Michelle Gwinn (D) | 36.6 | 145,100 | ||
| Total votes: 396,589 | |||
 = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for Texas State Senate District 7
Michelle Gwinn defeated Nasir Malik in the Democratic primary for Texas State Senate District 7 on March 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | Michelle Gwinn | 55.7 | 12,707 | |
 | Nasir Malik | 44.3 | 10,122 | |
| Total votes: 22,829 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Republican primary election
Republican primary for Texas State Senate District 7
Incumbent Paul Bettencourt advanced from the Republican primary for Texas State Senate District 7 on March 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Paul Bettencourt | 100.0 | 62,230 |
| Total votes: 62,230 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Michael Pratt (R)
Campaign finance
Endorsements
Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Bettencourt in this election.
2022
See also: Texas State Senate elections, 2022
General election
The general election was canceled. Incumbent Paul Bettencourt won election in the general election for Texas State Senate District 7.
Republican primary election
Republican primary for Texas State Senate District 7
Incumbent Paul Bettencourt advanced from the Republican primary for Texas State Senate District 7 on March 1, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Paul Bettencourt | 100.0 | 58,512 |
| Total votes: 58,512 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Campaign finance
2018
- See also: Texas State Senate elections, 2018
General election
General election for Texas State Senate District 7
Incumbent Paul Bettencourt defeated David Romero and Tom Glass in the general election for Texas State Senate District 7 on November 6, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Paul Bettencourt (R) | 57.8 | 177,864 |
 | David Romero (D) | 40.3 | 124,232 | |
 | Tom Glass (L) | 1.9 | 5,878 | |
| Total votes: 307,974 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for Texas State Senate District 7
David Romero advanced from the Democratic primary for Texas State Senate District 7 on March 6, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | David Romero | 100.0 | 22,989 |
| Total votes: 22,989 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
Republican primary election
Republican primary for Texas State Senate District 7
Incumbent Paul Bettencourt advanced from the Republican primary for Texas State Senate District 7 on March 6, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Paul Bettencourt | 100.0 | 44,950 |
| Total votes: 44,950 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
Libertarian primary election
Libertarian primary for Texas State Senate District 7
Tom Glass advanced from the Libertarian primary for Texas State Senate District 7 on March 6, 2018.
Candidate | ||
| ✔ | | Tom Glass |
| ||||
| = 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. | ||||
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2014
- See also: Texas State Senate elections, 2014
Elections for 15 of the 31 seats in the Texas State Senate took place in 2014. A primary election took place on March 4, 2014. The general election was held on November 4, 2014. The signature filing deadline for candidates wishing to run in these elections was December 9, 2013. Paul Bettencourt defeated James Wilson in the Republican primary. Jim Davis ran unopposed in the Democratic primary. Bettencourt defeated Davis and Whitney Bilyeu (L) in the general election.[2][3][4]
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican |  Paul Bettencourt |
71.8% | 123,551 | |
| Democratic | Jim Davis | 26.3% | 45,230 | |
| Libertarian | Whitney Bilyeu | 1.9% | 3,244 | |
| Total Votes | 172,025 | |||
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 the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.
Endorsements
2014
In 2014, Bettencourt’s endorsements included the following:[5]
- Steven F. Hotze, President, Conservative Republicans of Harris County
- Terry Lowry, Host, What’s Up Radio Program Editor, The Link Letter
- Gary Polland, Editor, Texas Conservative Review
- Richard J. Trabulsi, Jr., Texans for Lawsuit Reform PAC Chairman
- Pastor Rick Scarbough, Vision America
Campaign themes
2024
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Paul Bettencourt did not complete Ballotpedia's 2024 Candidate Connection survey.
2022
Paul Bettencourt did not complete Ballotpedia's 2022 Candidate Connection survey.
2014
Bettencourt’s website highlighted the following campaign themes:[6]
- Voter ID
- Excerpt: "While Texas has a Photo ID law that took three sessions to pass, the Democratic Party and its plaintiff’s should now drop their lawsuit blocking its implementation. Without a US Citizenship list there is still no ‘positive lock” on whose ID it really is and it’s all so simple to implement!"
- Property Tax
- Excerpt: "Next year, due to a record 28 Months of Market Sales Activity, Houston Home values will explode 10% or more almost wherever you own a home in the Greater Houston Area. At that point I expect the public to take this issue seriously, and alot [sic] more members of Houston City Council should be willing to listen to the message to cut property tax rates!"
Scorecards
A scorecard evaluates a legislator’s voting record. Its purpose is to inform voters about the legislator’s political positions. Because scorecards have varying purposes and methodologies, each report should be considered on its own merits. For example, an advocacy group’s scorecard may assess a legislator’s voting record on one issue while a state newspaper’s scorecard may evaluate the voting record in its entirety.
Ballotpedia is in the process of developing an encyclopedic list of published scorecards. Some states have a limited number of available scorecards or scorecards produced only by select groups. It is Ballotpedia’s goal to incorporate all available scorecards regardless of ideology or number.
Click here for an overview of legislative scorecards in all 50 states. To contribute to the list of Texas scorecards, email suggestions to editor@ballotpedia.org.
2024
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2024, click [show]. |
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In 2024, the Texas State Legislature was not in session. |
2023
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2023, click [show]. |
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In 2023, the Texas State Legislature was in session from January 10 to May 29.
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2022
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2022, click [show]. |
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In 2022, the Texas State Legislature was not in session. |
2021
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2021, click [show]. |
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In 2021, the Texas State Legislature was in session from January 12 to May 31.
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2020
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2020, click [show]. |
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In 2020, the Texas State Legislature was not in session. |
2019
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2019, click [show]. |
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In 2019, the Texas State Legislature was in its 86th legislative session from January 8 through May 27.
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2018
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2018, click [show]. |
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In 2018, the Texas State Legislature did not hold a regular session. |
2017
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2017, click [show]. |
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In 2017, the Texas State Legislature was in its 85th legislative session from January 10 through May 29. A special session was held from July 18 to August 15.
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2016
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2016, click [show]. |
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In 2016, the Texas State Legislature did not hold a regular session. |
2015
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2015, click [show]. |
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In 2015, the Texas State Legislature was in its 84th legislative session from January 13 through June 1.
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Personal
Note: Please contact us if the personal information below requires an update.
Bettencourt and his wife, Susan, have two children.[1]
See also
2024 Elections
External links
|
Candidate Texas State Senate District 7 |
Officeholder Texas State Senate District 7 |
Personal |
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 paulbettencourt.com, "About Paul," accessed February 19, 2014
- ↑ Texas Secretary of State, "1992 - Current ELECTION HISTORY," accessed December 2, 2014
- ↑ Green Party of Texas, "Greens Release Candidate List," accessed July 26, 2014
- ↑ The Libertarian Party of Texas, "2014 Texas Senate Candidates List," accessed July 26, 2014
- ↑ paulbettencourt.com, "Endorsements," accessed February 19, 2014
- ↑ paulbettencourt.com, "Issues," accessed February 19, 2014
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by - |
Texas State Senate District 7 2015-Present |
Succeeded by - |
