Texas Governor Greg Abbott has appointed Nate Schatzline, a two-term state House member and Fort Worth pastor, to a senior advisory role overseeing election policy, a move that has drawn significant scrutiny.

According to Texas Monthly, Schatzline resigned his House seat to accept the position, which carries an annual salary of $275,000. Personnel records indicate his responsibilities include "providing policy and strategic direction related to legislative and electoral matters."

Schatzline identifies as a Christian nationalist, adhering to the belief that the United States was founded as a nation for Christians and that all human law, including the Constitution, is subordinate to Biblical law. He has described politics — and specifically the defeat of the Democratic Party — as a spiritual battle against Satanic forces. In a 2025 interview with a reporter, Schatzline stated: "We really believe this is a spiritual battle. There are powers of darkness that I really believe control the Austin swamp, and I believe that those powers are at work today ... We're talking about spiritual forces. We're not talking about flesh and blood. We're talking about principalities."

Schatzline has spent years promoting debunked "Stop the Steal" claims regarding the 2020 election and has previously proposed legislation that would have further restricted voting access in Texas. Texas already operates under one of the nation's more stringent election frameworks following the passage of Senate Bill 1 in 2021, which banned 24-hour and drive-through voting, added new identification requirements for mail-in ballots, and empowered partisan poll watchers. Election legislation passed in Texas has historically served as a model that other Republican-led states have drawn from when crafting their own voting laws.

His affiliations include Mercy Culture Church, a politically active Fort Worth congregation linked to the New Apostolic Reformation, a charismatic religious movement whose leaders were involved in mobilizing crowds ahead of the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot. Schatzline also served for several months as senior director for pastoral engagement at the National Faith Advisory Board, an organization founded by televangelist and Trump spiritual adviser Paula White-Cain that facilitates connections between the White House and conservative Christian leaders.

Texas is preparing for several high-profile contests in the 2026 midterms. The state's congressional map — aggressively redrawn by lawmakers in an effort to add Republican seats — remains a subject of ongoing legal and political dispute. Abbott himself faces re-election, while state Attorney General Ken Paxton is running for the U.S. Senate against Democratic state Representative James Talarico. The appointment places an avowed election fraud claimant in a position to shape the rules under which those contests will be conducted, at a time when election administration in battleground and traditionally Republican states remains the subject of sustained litigation and national debate.