About Susan Combs

Susan Combs, Who She is.... Proven conservative and leader on statewide issues important to Texas First Woman ever elected Texas Agriculture Commissioner Oversees $2 billion stat-agency budget Trimmed personnel in 6 years by 8% Reduced state agency budget Created or retained 6,000 jobs through economic development Former Prosecutor, Dallas County Helped rewrite juvenile justice code as member of Texas House of Representatives Named Legislative Crime Fighter of the Year in 1993 Wrote and passed Texas' private property rights law Inducted into Texas Women's Hall of Fame of 2004 Lifetime NRA member Wife of 30 years and proud mother of three sons Susan is a small business owner running a successful cow-calf operation

Viewing public office as a solemn bond with the people she serves, Susan Combs was sworn in as Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts on Jan. 1, 2007. Texans elected her to the office by an overwhelming majority on Nov. 7, 2006.

As Agriculture Commissioner, Susan Combs built a strong record of fiscal conservatism and is an innovator in public policy. She lowered her agency’s budget by 18 percent without reducing essential services and trimmed staff while taking on more responsibility. An innovator, Combs is focused on providing better access to government services, minimizing costs and justly applying tax and fiscal laws as Comptroller of Public Accounts. She is known for her limitless energy and unparalleled commitment to excellence, which she has applied throughout her career working for Texas.

Combs previously won back-to-back elections in 1998 and 2002 to serve as Texas Agriculture Commissioner, blazing a trail as the first woman elected to the office, re-engineering the Texas Department of Agriculture’s electronic information systems for greater efficiency and launching the unparalleled GO TEXAN marketing campaign for Texas-made products. Her initiatives and programs boosted economic development and ignited revitalization across the state. With a special emphasis on rural Texas, her efforts helped to create and retain jobs for thousands of Texans, in turn building a stronger economy for the state. Her work to ensure Texas schoolchildren had access to healthy food at school served as a national model for other states to follow.

In recognition of her work for the agriculture community, The Progressive Farmer magazine named her Leader of the Year in Texas Agriculture for 2002. The Governor’s Commission for Women inducted Combs into the Texas Women’s Hall of Fame in 2004 for her dedication and commitment to providing healthy food for Texas schoolchildren and for her high-profile efforts to enhance rural economic development. That same year, Combs was invited to participate in the Time-ABC News Summit on Obesity, where she was recognized for her work on childhood nutrition and named as one of six national heroes in the fight against obesity. In March 2006, the American Medical Association presented Combs with the Dr. Nathan Davis Award for Outstanding Government Service, the highest award the AMA can bestow on a public official, for her leadership in tackling the state’s obesity crisis and championing a groundbreaking public school nutrition policy to address it.

Prior to her election as Texas Agriculture Commissioner, Combs served two terms in the Texas House of Representatives, where she successfully sponsored and passed landmark private property rights legislation. Working side by side with then Governor George W. Bush, Combs worked to rewrite the Juvenile Justice Code in 1995. She also wrote and passed legislation establishing an accountability system for our state’s public schools, as well as legislation to make state agencies more fiscally responsible. She authored additional legislation on tort reform, vital to the state’s business community.

Susan Combs graduated from Vassar College and worked in international advertising in New York, in the financial markets on Wall Street and for the federal government. She returned to Texas and received her law degree from The University of Texas School of Law. Upon graduation, Combs served as an Assistant District Attorney in Dallas handling child abuse cases, where her performance as a tough prosecutor earned her widespread respect. Throughout her career, Combs has had a deep interest in children and their welfare and education. She has served as president and board member of a private parochial school, and she has also served on the board of an agricultural lending institution.

Combs was born in San Antonio and has a cow-calf operation in Brewster County on the same ranch established by her great-grandfather more than a century ago. She lives in Austin with her husband, Joe, and is the proud mother of three sons.