Brandon Gill
RIncumbentFEC H4TX26149
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Raised this cycle$7.9M
Cash on hand: $2.1M
2026 race
TX-26 — U.S. House
3 candidates on the November ballot. Incumbent: Brandon Gill.
Read the record. Not the rhetoric.
See where these candidates stand — and who's funding them.
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How we got here · 2 earlier contests
Election held
Counting
Tuesday, November 3, 2026
Results appear here once a race is called and verified. Official returns from the Texas Secretary of State.
Make sure you can vote
Disclosed money in race
$8.1M
Candidate + outside spending. See finance breakdown below.
Incumbent
Currently in office
Challengers
Sorted by fundraising
Steven Shook
DChallengerFEC H6TX26144
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Raised this cycle$36K
Cash on hand: $6K
Phil Gray
IChallengerFEC H6TX01261
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Raised this cycle$0
Cash on hand: $0
1 defeated candidate — show
Ernest Robinson Lineberger
DDefeatedChallengerFEC H4TX26172
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Raised this cycle$122K
Cash on hand: $3K
Local signal
Early read on TX-26 — U.S. House
A directional read on where this seat is trending, from the signals we have so far. This is an early scaffold — more inputs light up as coverage and constituent activity accrue.
Coverage tone · the matchup
Recent news coverage of the nominees heading to the general election.
Brandon Gillleans negative
3 pos16 neutral7 neg26 articles
Steven Shooklimited coverage
No coverage in our tracked outlets in the last 90 days.
A media signal, not a poll of the district.
Constituent stakes
No one here has staked a position on a tracked vote yet. As neighbors weigh in on /pressure campaigns, the district's lean will show up here.
Money in the race
Finance breakdown
Disclosed funding shaping this race — both the money candidates raise themselves and the outside spending dropped by independent groups. Issue-ad spending by 501(c)(4) groups is excluded; the FEC doesn't require disclosure of it. See the note below for details.
Candidate fundraising: FEC reports through October 14, 2026 · 2025–26 cycle
Total disclosed
$8.1M
Candidate fundraising + independent expenditures (FEC).
Candidate-direct (Schedule A)
$8.1M
Raised by candidate committees themselves.
Outside spending (Schedule E)
$3K
$3K for · $0 against
| Candidate | Raised directly | Outside for | Outside against | Net in corner |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Brandon Gill(R)incumbent + FREEDOM CAUCUS FUND $2K + SENATE CONSERVATIVES FUND $1K + TEXAS ALLIANCE FOR LIFE FED PAC $54 | $7.9M | $3K | — | $7.9M |
Steven Shook(D) | $36K | — | — | $36K |
Phil Gray(L) | $0 | — | — | $0 |
1 defeated candidate — show finances
| Candidate | Raised directly | Outside for | Outside against | Net in corner |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Ernest Robinson Lineberger(D)defeated | $122K | — | — | $122K |
Where the money comes from
In-state vs out-of-state
Share of each candidate's itemized individual contributions from donors inside TX versus the rest of the country. Excludes sub-$200 unitemized donations (no geography on file) and PAC money — see note below.
Brandon Gill(R)48% in-state · $2.0M itemized
$949K in-state$1.0M out-of-state
Steven Shook(D)92% in-state · $19K itemized
$17K in-state$2K out-of-state
1 defeated candidate — show
Ernest Robinson Lineberger(D)defeated85% in-state · $46K itemized
$39K in-state$7K out-of-state
What's counted, what isn't
Candidate-direct is each campaign's reported receipts on FEC Schedule A — individual contributions plus PAC contributions to the candidate's own committee — through the most recent filing.
Outside spending is independent expenditures on FEC Schedule E: money spent by PACs, super PACs, and party committees for or against a candidate, without legal coordination with the campaign. The committees listed under each candidate are the largest disclosed spenders on either side.
In-state vs out-of-state covers only itemized individual contributions — donations over $200, which are the only ones that carry a contributor address at the FEC. Sub-$200 unitemized donations (often a large share for grassroots campaigns) have no geography on file and are excluded, as is PAC money. So the percentages describe where a candidate's itemized individual money comes from, not where every dollar raised comes from.
Not counted: 501(c)(4) "social welfare" organizations run issue ads that frequently mention candidates by name but aren't classified as express advocacy under FEC rules — they file no Schedule E and don't appear in this breakdown. Press reporting on a race may cite figures that include this dark-money spending; ours doesn't.
Where they stand
Issue-by-issue comparison
Positions extracted from each candidate's campaign issues page by AI. Contested rows — where candidates disagree with each other — appear first.
| Statement | Gill | Shook | Gray | You |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Agriculture SNAP (food stamp) eligibility and benefit levels should be expanded. | — | |||
Criminal Justice The federal government should send more money to local police departments. | — | |||
Education Parents should be able to use public funds — through vouchers — to send their kids to private or charter schools. | — | |||
Guns All gun sales — including private ones — should require a background check. | — | |||
Guns Federal law should authorize court-issued red-flag orders allowing temporary firearm removal from people deemed a danger. | — | |||
Healthcare The government should provide healthcare for everyone. | — | |||
Healthcare Medicare should be allowed to negotiate lower prescription drug prices. | — | |||
Labor Federal labor law should make it easier for workers to form unions (PRO Act-style reforms). | — | |||
Social Security High earners should pay Social Security taxes on more of their income. | — | |||
Social Security Future workers should have to wait longer to collect full Social Security. | — | |||
Social Security Workers should be able to invest part of their Social Security in the stock market. | — | |||
Taxes People making over $400,000 a year should pay higher taxes. | — |
SupportsOpposesNo public positionRinged = confirmed by the campaign
About this race page
Candidate roster is sourced from the FEC's active-candidate list for the 2026 cycle. Fundraising totals reflect committee filings through the last reporting period.
Alignment % compares the candidate's extracted policy positions against your quiz answers. Positions are pulled from the candidate's campaign issues page by AI; we save the source quote for each position so you can verify the extraction. Candidates without a campaign issues page show position data pending — we're working through the roster and re-checking stale extractions every 90 days.
News coverage is from the GDELT 2.0 global news feed, filtered to a curated list of national, political, and regional outlets.