Carole Keeton Strayhorn is the former Texas state comptroller of public accounts, a position that now includes most of the duties of the former state treasurer, a position abolished by Texas voters in 1996.

Elected to the comptroller's post in 1998 as a Republican, Strayhorn ran as an independent candidate for Texas governor against GOP incumbent James Richard "Rick" Perry in 2006. She lost the November general election to Perry and placed third in a five-way race, with 18 percent.