2014 election 2018 election On November 13, 2017, Miller announced he would seek re-election in 2018. He won the March 6, 2018, Republican primary with about 56% of the vote, defeating two challengers. Miller won the general election, defeating
Kim Olson.
2022 election Miller considered challenging Governor
Greg Abbott in the
Republican primary in 2022, but in June 2021 he announced he would seek re-election to a third term as Ag Commissioner. He was challenged in the Republican primary by State Representative
James White of
Hillister, who announced his campaign the same month. He won the March 2022 Republican primary with Trump's endorsement, obtaining 58.5% of the vote to White's 31.1% (a third candidate, rancher and economics professor Carey Counsil, received 10.4% of the votes.
2026 election On March 3, 2026, Miller would lose renomination in the 2026 Republican primary by a margin of 52% to 47% to
Nate Sheets, who was backed by Texas Governor Greg Abbott. This would mark the first time in years that a statewide Republican official in Texas had lost their primary race. In Miller's first nine months in office, he awarded $413,700 in bonuses to 144 staffers. In 2016, the
Austin American-Statesman reported that Miller awarded two newly created $180,000/year positions to political allies, both of whom Miller owed a combined $116,000 in campaign payments.
Operation Maverick In 2015, the Texas Department of Agriculture under Miller launched "Operation Maverick", an effort to enforce consumer protection laws requiring Texas businesses to register scales used to buy or sell by weight with the agency. In the program's first fifteen months, some 1,000 retailers were "notified they need to register their scales, which, depending on the industry and type of scale, can cost anywhere from $12 to $400." In 2017, following the initiative, the Texas Legislature passed a bill (approved by the House in a 146–1 vote and by the Senate in a 31–0 vote) to end the regulation of scales used by certain restaurants.
Mississippi trip In February 2015, Miller took a trip to compete in the Dixie National Rodeo in
Jackson, Mississippi using Texas state funds. Miller's office initially defended the use of state funds, explaining that the commissioner intended to meet with Mississippi agriculture officials. When the meeting fell through, Miller reimbursed the state using campaign funds and $16.79 from his nursery's business account. In December 2018, the
Texas Ethics Commission fined Miller $500 for the trip; a report released by the commission stated "No meetings besides the horse show appear on any official Texas Agriculture Department schedules," and that Miller "has not adequately explained why he initially reimbursed the state with political funds before reimbursing his political account with personal funds."
School nutrition Six months after taking office, Miller reversed a ban, instituted in 2004 by then-Agriculture Commissioner
Susan Combs, on
soft drinks and
fried foods in public schools. Miller said that local school districts should have the freedom to make decisions regarding food choices for their schools. Eight of the state's ten largest school districts, including
Dallas,
Fort Worth,
Fort Bend County,
Austin, and
Laredo, said that they would retain their local policies of providing nutritious foods and not serving soft drinks. The move was criticized by nutritionists and experts in public health; a spokeswoman for Miller's department said that the policy change was intended "to be a symbolic move giving more control to schools, not a directive for districts to reinstall fryers or soda machines." The initiative has led many school nutrition programs to expand the program beyond one day of the week.
Agriculture department fee increases In October 2015, Miller directed the TDA to increase 117 agriculture-related fees effective January 1, 2017. In announcing the fee increases, Miller said the changes were necessary to recover regulatory costs. Early in 2017, Miller called for raising his agency fees by another $5 million after $11 million in increases in 2016 for higher costs of licensing, registration, and inspection. Miller called the proposed increase "essential money" to keep his department operating and blamed legislative cuts for the need for the higher fees. The fee increase proposals were criticized by some, such as Republican State Representatives
Ron Simmons and
Larry Gonzales. In the first nine months of 2015, Miller awarded $413,700 in one-time cash bonuses to 144 Agriculture Department employees, more than any statewide elected official. The bonus awards were criticized by government watchdog groups because of Miller's proposal to raise $20 million in fees for licenses, registrations and other services, and because Miller had dubbed himself a "fiscal hawk". In an editorial, the
San Antonio Express-News questioned why Miller as a state House member voted against increased appropriations for the agriculture department but as commissioner sought additional revenue for the department. When a $50 million budget request submitted by Miller was rejected by lawmakers in 2015, the commissioner proposed higher fees for department certifications, inspections, and registrations, a proposal rejected by a bipartisan group of state legislators as well as the
American Farm Bureau Federation and
Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick. Representative
John Otto of
Dayton, the chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, said that fee hikes could result in lost revenue to the department because farmers and ranchers may choose alternative services. In an editorial,
The Express-News urged Miller to drop the fee increase and legislators to determine whether the department is underfunded. Miller appeared in a video with tips to avoid being skimmed; the initiative received national attention.
Oklahoma trip In February 2015, Miller sought state reimbursement for expenses incurred on a trip to Oklahoma, saying that he had an appointment with Oklahoma legislators, a scheduled tour of the Oklahoma National Stockyards, and a meeting with Oklahoma's chief agriculture official. Miller stated that the travel was for a public business purpose based on a brief chat with state legislators at the
Oklahoma State Capitol, but the legislators said that they did not invite Miller or expect him on the day in question, the president of the stockyards said that Miller did not go on tour, and Miller later acknowledged "that he requested the meeting with the Oklahoma agriculture official - and then did not show up." The
Houston Chronicle subsequently reported that during the trip, Miller visited a doctor in
Oklahoma City to receive a "Jesus shot"—an injection administered consisting of
Dexamethasone,
Kenalog, and
Vitamin B12 that is "administered only by a single Oklahoma City-area doctor who claims that it takes away all pain for life." After an investigation, the
Texas Department of Public Safety declined to pursue any charges against Miller. The approval prompted criticism from members of the hunting community and others who opposed the introduction of a poison into the environment. The hogs number perhaps two million and cause more than $50 million in annual damage. A judge in Austin halted Miller's proposal after Wild Boar Meats, a
North Texas hog processor, sued on grounds that the poison may have unintended consequences. The
San Antonio Express-News editorial board opposes the use of the poison due to the risk it could impact the food chain, taint hog meat used for
pet food, and poison non-targeted wildlife such as deer. Meanwhile,
state Senator Kirk Watson of Austin and state Representative
Lynn Stucky of
Denton County, a
veterinarian, filed legislation to refer the feral hog matter to a university study to determine the impact the poison would have on the land, agriculture, and hunters before the Miller plan could take effect.
Confederate license plates In 2018, Miller wrote a letter in support a proposed
Sons of Confederate Veterans Texas license plate that would glorify the
Confederacy, and offered to sponsor the license plate. The group's proposal is a long-running controversy in Texas. Attorneys for the ACLU of Texas said that the rules violated
Title VII (which prohibits employment discrimination), the First Amendment, and the
Equal Protection Clause. ==Other political activities==