Get Unlimited Digital Access for 25¢For readers who want more stories, more depth. Act Now Sale Ends March 8 |
Just because Nate Sheets has built up one of the biggest honey companies in the nation, it doesn't mean he's the best choice for protecting beekeepers and bee populations, Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller insists.
"It's not like he knows everything about honey and I know nothing," Miller said of Sheets as the two battle it out in the closing days in one of the hottest GOP primary battles in Texas.
Sheets is the man behind McKinney-based Nature Nate's, which he grew from just a few beehives in 2012 to the largest honey brand in America when he sold it in 2022 to Sweet Harvest Foods.
Now, despite having once supported Miller, Sheets is determined to defeat him on March 3 and stop him from getting a fourth term in office. And he has some big-name support. Sheets has picked up major endorsements from Gov. Greg Abbott, the Texas Farm Bureau Ag Fund and the Texas Cattle Feeders Association PAC.
But Miller loves to point out that the Texas Beekeepers Association endorsed him over Sheets.
"I think it says a lot about your industry when your own industry turns against you," Miller told me in an exclusive Texas Take episode where I questioned both Miller and Sheets in back-to-back interviews. "So there's some bad blood there."
Sheets laughs off the attack. He said many beekeepers don't love trying to compete against him.
"It's hard for them to sell honey on their shelf because we were so dominant," Sheets said.
Regardless, Sheets said as agriculture commissioner, he would be better able to address massive declines in bee populations in Texas. He said he's already been personally donating to different bee research facilities to understand what is happening and what can be done to reverse it.
"As the Texas Department of Agriculture, we're going to do everything that we can to support the bee industry," Sheets said.
But Miller said he's been a big ally of beekeepers. He said he created a pollinator protector program, which requires farmers to limit pesticides that might be affecting bees. In addition, he's been backing research programs at Texas A&M University studying the colony collapses that have plagued bee populations.
Miller said, in spite of the declining bee populations, the honey industry still had a record year thanks to his policies leading the agency.
"The honey business, the bee business, is doing pretty good in Texas," Miller said. "It's because we put it at the forefront."
Check out more from my spirited interviews with Miller and Sheets on the latest video version of the Texas Take Podcast on YouTube. Besides the bee industry, we discussed the future of THC and Hemp, the struggles facing the cattle raisers and how to support rodeos, like in Houston.
Who's Up, Who's Down
A daily stock market-style report on key players in Texas politics.
Up: Unions.
Unhappy with what they've seen from Democratic candidates over the past few years, a wave of union members is hitting the campaign trail, hoping to be a better voice for working Texans struggling to make ends meet. At least 16 union workers are running for various offices, according to the Texas AFL-CIO. State Sen. Taylor Rehmet, a union leader who just won his Tarrant County seat in a special election, has become one of the more recent heroes, winning a seat Republicans had held since 1981.
Down: Americans in Mexico.
The federal government ordered U.S. citizens to shelter in place across five Mexican states on Sunday after the Mexican army killed one of the country's most powerful cartel leaders. Among the states affected are Tamaulipas and Nuevo Leon, both just on the other side of the Texas border along Rio Grande Valley and Laredo. The Mexican army announced Sunday that it had killed Nemesio Rubén Oseguera Cervantes, known as "El Mencho," who led the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, which is known for trafficking massive amounts of fentanyl and other drugs into the United States. Gov. Greg Abbott on Monday said he instructed the Texas Department of Public Safety to surge officers to border regions to "prevent spillover activity."
What do you think? Hit reply and let me know.
What else is going on in Texas
 Photo by: Julio Cortez, AP |
The federal lawsuit accuses the state of wrongfully licensing the camp two days before the July 4 flooding disaster despite its lack of an evacuation plan. Read More |
|
 Photo by: Courtesy Of Nora Gonzales |
Regina Santos-Aviles was conscious and speaking after she set herself on fire in her backyard, newly released police records say. She died the next day. Read More |
|
 Photo by: Julia Demaree Nikhinson, AP |
Speaker Mike Johnson called the allegations "very serious," but stopped short of pulling his endorsement of Gonzales. President Donald Trump hasn't weighed in. Read More |
|
 Photo by: Ishika Samant, Staff Photographer |
The school districts are now blocked from enforcing sections of a new state law that put restrictions on LGBTQ+ students and gender and sexuality alliance clubs. Read More |
|
 Photo by: Katina Zentz, San Antonio Express-News |
Gina Ortiz Jones could become the first San Antonio mayor in modern history to be publicly admonished for conduct council members have called "unprofessional." Read More |
|
 Photo by: Jeff Chiu, Associated Press |
A Super PAC backed by the California tech giant Meta has launched a campaign in Texas supporting "a select group of pro-innovation Republican candidates." Read More |
|
Pick of the day
Photo by: Austin American-Statesman
Months before immigration agents killed two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis and triggered nationwide protests, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent fatally shot a San Antonio man during a traffic incident on South Padre Island, according to newly released records. The ICE agent fatally shot 23-year-old Ruben Ray Martinez, a U.S. citizen, in March 2025, according to internal records watchdog group American Oversight obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request and made public this week. U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-San Antonio, said he wants a federal investigation into what happened.
What else I'm reading
Democrats can commit to strong border security while also standing for an immigration system that meets the country's needs, Senate candidate Jasmine Crockett said Sunday in an interview with El Paso Matters. "I think that we need to be very much to the point and say that we believe in border security, and then I think that we need to be clear and concise about what border security looks like," Crockett said after a campaign event in El Paso.
