documentclass[12pt]{article}
usepackage{tikz}
usepackage{graphicx}

defnamelist{"New York", "Illinois","Texas"}
defabrevlist{NY,IL,TX}

begin{document}

foreach x in abrevlist {%
    newpage
    section*{x}  % <-- I want to use the state name here

        begin{figure}[h!]
        includegraphics[width=.5textwidth]{../charts/summary/x _compare.pdf}
        caption{x}  % <-- I want to use the state name here
        end{figure}

}
end{document}