Taxes and Budget

State government spending

42 public statements from 2026 candidates

§1The range of views

Why this matters: The state budget pays for schools, roads, prisons, Medicaid and more, and choices about spending go hand in hand with choices about state taxes.

Drafted by AI, then checked for neutral wording in a separate AI review. It describes the question and the main positions, not any candidate's view. Facts link to their sources.

How much a state spends overall from its budget each year.

Cut state spending and return the savings through tax cuts or rebates
Hold spending near current levels
Spend more on state services such as schools and health care

These options describe policies, not people. The order is not a ranking.

§2What candidates have said

Why this matters: Statements candidates made publicly, summarized in plain words with a link to where they said it. Candidates who haven't spoken publicly on this issue aren't listed.

Drafted by AI from the public sources cited. Each sentence links to its source.

Cut state spending and return the savings through tax cuts or rebates (11)

Scott Eckhard Jewett FL Governor
His campaign website says state and local governments should cut waste and live on tighter budgets alongside lower taxes, and that eliminating homestead property taxes would mean government spending less.¹
Charles Burkett FL Governor
His campaign website says he would cut government spending, including school and municipal budgets by at least 5%, and use the savings to lower property taxes.²
Pro-Life ID Governor
His campaign website says that as governor he would veto all bills that expand government, and that spending on education, welfare, health and recreation should be cut along with taxes, leading to the phasing out of those state functions.³
Paul Sand ID Governor
His campaign website says he strongly supports substantial reductions in state agencies and state taxes.⁴
Michael Roger Minogue MA Governor
His campaign website says he would cut taxes and spending by eliminating waste and fraud through audits, and use the state's 62F law to return surplus revenue to taxpayers.⁵
Dan Cox MD Governor
His campaign website says he would hold spending to what matters most, with no pet projects, so that taxes and fees can be reduced and eliminated.⁶
Lisa Demuth MN Governor
Her campaign website says she would direct state agencies to find $1 billion in savings and would push to require that state budget surpluses be returned to taxpayers.^7,8
Jim Pillen NE Governor
His campaign website says he wants to give families a break by fixing the state's tax system and shrinking state government spending.^9,10
Mike Mazzei OK Governor
His campaign website says he would create a state Department of Government Efficiency, tie agency budgets to results, end programs that cannot show results, and pair each tax cut with a spending reform or offset.¹¹
Pat Dixon TX Governor
His campaign website says that as governor he would look for specific state spending cuts first, rather than cuts across the board, and use the savings to lower taxes.^12,13
Rebecca Bextel WY Governor
Her campaign website says she would shrink state government by reviewing and consolidating agencies, boards and commissions, freezing new ones, and finding spending reforms that deliver tax relief.¹⁴

Hold spending near current levels (1)

Collin Corbett IL Governor
His campaign website says he would freeze discretionary state spending in his first year and then strengthen programs that work and fix or phase out those that do not.¹⁵

Statements that don't match one option (30)

Dave Bronson AK Governor
His campaign website says he would run a zero-based budget review once every four years, requiring state agencies to justify all spending and propose cuts to low-value programs, with savings going to deficit reduction, reserves, public safety and infrastructure.¹⁶
Steve Hilton CA Governor
His campaign website says he would take on what it describes as a bloated state government that drives up costs and slows growth, and cut back waste.^17,18
Eric Mulder CO Governor
His campaign website says he would seek savings wherever possible, require justification for new spending and hold periodic zero-based reviews of discretionary programs.¹⁹
Greg Lopez CO Governor
His campaign website says he would use zero-based budgeting and create a Colorado version of DOGE to cut waste, duplication and unnecessary regulation for a smaller state government.²⁰
Byron Donalds FL Governor
His campaign website says he would run annual audits at every level of government, from state agencies down to local utility and special districts, and expand state watchdog audits to find waste, cut bloated programs and save taxpayers money.²¹
Ashley Hinson IA Senate
Her campaign website lists balancing the budget and cutting taxes among her accomplishments as a state representative.²²
Brad Little ID Governor
His campaign website lists tax relief for citizens and businesses, a balanced budget, and investments in natural resources, transportation, water, broadband and agriculture made without raising taxes among his accomplishments, and says he plans to give more money back to people through continued tax relief.²³
JB Pritzker IL Governor
His campaign website lists enacting eight balanced budgets, paying off a nearly $17 billion backlog of unpaid bills and raising the state's rainy day fund to a record $2.54 billion among his accomplishments.²⁴
Darren Bailey IL Governor
His campaign website says he would fight to lower taxes and cut wasteful government spending, and that as a state legislator he fought higher taxes and what it calls reckless spending, and championed tax relief.^25,26
R. Tyler Macallister MA-9
His campaign website's Ballot Positions page says he is voting yes on the 2026 Massachusetts ballot question that tightens the cap on state tax revenue and returns revenue above the cap to taxpayers.²⁷
Wes Moore MD Governor
His campaign website says that this year he turned a projected $1.5 billion cash shortfall into a $250 million surplus with no new taxes or fees, and that he turned an inherited deficit into a surplus through the largest cut to a Maryland state budget in 16 years.^28,29
Paul R. LePage ME-2
His campaign website lists among his accomplishments as governor budget reforms to reduce wasteful spending.³⁰
Donna Brandenburg MI Governor
Her candidate statement says she would set up a state Department of Government Efficiency to cut waste and bureaucracy.³¹
Amy Klobuchar MN Governor
Her campaign website says she would require state agencies to find savings, review state programs regularly against their results, and cut duplicative or underperforming programs.³²
Lynne Walz NE Governor
Her campaign website says she would hire an independent auditor to find waste, end no-bid contracts except in emergencies and replace across-the-board budget cuts with targeted ones.³³
Josh Gottheimer NJ-5
A tax cut plan linked from his campaign website's issues page, written for his run for governor, says he would order an efficiency review of state government aiming to save about 5 percent of costs, and would tie each town's property tax cut to it finding similar savings in its own budget.^34,35
Carmen Bucco NJ-10
His campaign issues page, which describes him as running for a state legislative seat in District 20, says taxes are too high and that spending at the state level should be controlled and frivolous spending stopped.³⁶
Danielle Ford NV Governor
Her campaign website says new taxes are not the first answer, that she would first examine contracts, procurement loopholes, no-bid deals, tax abatements and waste, and that she is open to studying a state lottery.³⁷
Vivek Ramaswamy OH Governor
His campaign website says he would cut government bloat so the state lives within its means.³⁸
Stacy Garrity PA Governor
Her campaign website says she would audit state agencies, require reform plans before funding is approved, and use savings from cutting waste and fraud to reduce the deficit and lower the burden on taxpayers.³⁹
Ken Krawchuk PA Governor
His campaign website says he would veto every tax increase and use the line-item veto to cut spending it calls pork-barrel or unconstitutional.^40,41
Aaron Christopher Guckian RI Governor
His campaign website says his plan includes targeted tax relief, fewer hidden fees and cuts to wasteful government spending, and that he would make sure every tax dollar is spent responsibly.⁴²
Kenneth J Block RI Governor
His campaign website says the state budget has nearly doubled in ten years, that $15 billion should be more than enough, and that he would stop spending money on poorly run projects.⁴³
Jasjit S Gotra RI Governor
His campaign website says he would run state government like a business, cut waste, hold every agency to a budget and publish a plain-English state profit-and-loss statement, with no new taxes.⁴⁴
Alan Wilson SC Governor
His campaign website says he would audit state and local governments to root out fraud, waste and abuse and return that money to taxpayers, and would end earmarks.⁴⁵
Marsha Blackburn TN Governor
Her campaign website says she would slash wasteful spending and look for chances to cut taxes and regulations, and that even Tennessee's state government should be reviewed for ways to save money and cut waste.^46,47
Victor L. Scoggin TN Governor
His campaign website says state salaries are too high and no one is examining excessive spending, and calls for a DOGE-style review of all state agencies.⁴⁸
Gina Hinojosa TX Governor
Her campaign website says she would ask the Legislature to send a one-time $1,500 refund to every Texas household from the state's Rainy Day Fund, leaving about $10 billion in the fund.⁴⁹
Tom Tiffany WI Governor
His campaign website says he would return the entire state budget surplus to taxpayers, audit every state agency and program, and end what it calls a tax-and-spend mentality.⁵⁰
Eric Barlow WY Governor
His campaign website says he led efforts to move the state to cash-based budgeting and that Wyoming should live within its means.⁵¹