John Sharp is the former Democratic Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts, having held the office from 1991 to 1999. He is currently a principal in the Austin office of the Dallas-based Ryan & Company, a tax consulting firm. In 2005, he was appointed to serve as Chair of the Texas Tax Reform Commission. Sharp has announced he will run as a Democrat for the United States Senate seat currently held by Republican Kay Bailey Hutchison.

Background

The son of an oil field worker and a school teacher, Sharp grew up in the small farming community of Placed, along the Texas Gulf Coast. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1972 from Texas A&M University where he was a member of the Corps of Cadets and was elected Student Body President. Upon graduation, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the United States Army Reserves and belongs to American Legion Post 76 in Austin.

In 1976, Sharp received a Masters Degree in Public Administration from Texas State University in San Marcos while working full-time in Austin with the Legislative Budget Board. John returned to Victoria in 1978, where he opened a one-man real estate firm and became a successful small business owner.

Sharp has been married to Charlotte Sharp of Austin since 1978. They have a son, Spencer, and a daughter, Victoria. The Sharps are active members of their church and are involved in many community and humanitarian efforts, including airlifts of Jewish families to Israel from Ukraine and other areas of Russia.

In 1978, Sharp was elected to the Texas House of Representatives from the 40th District in Victoria and was later named “Outstanding Freshman” by Texas Monthly. Just a few weeks after his re-election for a third full 2-year term in the general election of 1982, he ran and won a special election run-off and served a full 4-year term in the Texas Senate, serving on the powerful Senate Finance Committee. In 1986 he was elected to the Texas Railroad Commission where he helped reform the state’s trucking regulations, improve railroad safety, and develop new markets for Texas’ abundant supply of clean-burning and efficient natural gas.

Sharp has received numerous awards, including the only “Texas Quality Award” ever presented to a governmental agency. Texas State University presented Sharp with the “Distinguished Alumnus Award” in 1996, where he also taught a course on Texas state government for several semesters in the early 2000s.

Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts

In office 1991–1998

Preceded by: Bob Bullock

Succeeded by: Carole Keeton Strayhorn

Member of the Texas Railroad Commission
In office 1987–1991

Member of the Texas Senate
In office 1982–1986

Member of the Texas House of Representatives from the 40th district
In office 1978–1982

Born: July 28, 1950 in Placedo, Texas

Political party: Democratic

Residence: Austin, Texas