Texas voters weigh competing visions for attorney general in runoff races
Texas voters are deciding who they want to see on the November ballot to replace incumbent Attorney General Ken Paxton.
Paxton is in the midst of a heated primary for the U.S. Senate against Sen. John Cornyn, leaving his seat open for the taking. The first round of voting in March resulted in Democratic and Republican primary runoffs, after candidates’ in both primaries failed to secure more than 50% of votes.
State Sen. Mayes Middleton and U.S. Rep. Chip Roy are in the Republican runoff, and state Sen. Nathan Johnson and former Galveston Mayor Joe Jaworski are in the Democratic runoff.
Early voting started May 18 and runs through May 22. Election Day is May 26, when the Nov. 3 ballot will be finalized.
The role as Texas’ highest-ranking prosecutor is open without an incumbent for the first time since 2015, when Paxton became the state’s 51st attorney general.
The office staffs more than 4,000 employees across 38 divisions and 117 offices across the state, representing Texas in litigation, interpreting state laws and overseeing court-ordered child support payments and a fund for crime victims.
A recent poll from the Hobby School of Public Affairs at the University of Houston put Middleton ahead of Roy in the runoff with 48% of votes to Roy’s 39%. The poll did not poll voters on the Democratic candidates.
Here’s what to know about who’s running and what’s next.
The Republican candidates for Texas attorney general
Middleton was the top vote getter of four candidates in the March 3 Republican primary, winning 39% of votes. Roy won 32% as the second place finisher.
Mayes Middleton
Middleton was elected to the Texas House in 2018 and to the Texas Senate in 2022, where he represents parts of Brazoria, Galveston and Harris counties, and is ranked among the most conservative members of the chamber. He is president of Middleton Oil Company.
Middleton has dinged Roy for criticizing President Donald Trump and has sought to position himself as the pro-Trump candidate. He’s earned the endorsement on Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, one of the president’s top allies in the state.
“Mayes Middleton is one of the most conservative members in Texas Senate history — a proven, unapologetic MAGA conservative who fights and wins,” Patrick said in a recent campaign email.
North Texas endorsements for the GOP candidate include state Rep. John McQueeney of Fort Worth, state Rep. Helen Kerwin of Glen Rose, Tarrant County Commissioner Matt Krause and Tarrant County Tax Assessor-Collector Rick Barnes.
In an interview with the Star-Telegram, Middleton said his priorities for the office include ensuring “every resource and tool in this office is used to back up President Trump and his border security and deportation agenda.”
Middleton said he would also prioritize going after organized crime, which he says includes “Sharia law,” and prosecuting election-related crimes. Middleton also wants to start an “anti-corruption division devoted to rooting out waste, fraud and abuse and holding those accountable that are stealing our tax dollars,” he said.
Roy has criticized Middleton for not being a practicing attorney, according to WFAA, the Star-Telegram’s media partner.
“For seven years, I’ve been writing these laws, drafting these laws, defending them against attacks by Democrat attorneys on the House floor, defending them against attacks by Democrat attorneys on the Senate floor,” Middleton said. “Who better to enforce them as AG than someone who’s already on the ground floor, writing them and defending them against the left’s attacks.”
The lawmaker’s campaign is largely funded by millions of his own money, according to The Texas Tribune.
“Like our president, I can’t be bought or rented,” Middleton said. “Austin swamp cannot get to me.”
Chip Roy
Roy was elected to Congressional District 21 in 2018, representing parts of Austin, San Antonio and the Texas Hill Country.
Before that he was the first assistant in Paxton’s office, where he reportedly butted heads with the attorney general. Roy called for Paxton to resign after aides brought abuse of office and bribery allegations to law enforcement. Roy also worked as chief of staff for Sen. Ted Cruz and as a senior adviser for former Gov. Rick Perry.
Roy’s campaign did not return interview requests, but he told the Star-Telegram ahead of the March 3 election that his priorities for the office are “defending the rule of law and Texas sovereignty” including border security, “taking on leftist dark money networks” and “lawless” district attorneys and judges, and government accountability and transparency,“ including “fraud/waste/abuse investigations.”
“I am seeking this office to ensure that the rule of law — not politics or pressure — governs how justice is administered in Texas,” Roy said in a Star-Telegram candidate questionnaire. “My career has been defined by standing up to federal overreach, defending constitutional limits and holding government and elected officials accountable. I will bring that same ethos to OAG.”
Roy told Inside Texas Politics he’s focused on ads contrasting himself and Middleton in the primary runoff.
“I’m Chip Roy, and I’ll always shoot you straight,” Roy says in one ad, that features intermittent quotes of Trump praising the congressman. “My opponent’s trying to fool you, using his trust fund to bankroll lies. It’s a bunch of bull. Yeah, I drive a hard bargain, because I do what’s right for Texas. The Austin swamp wants a puppet, but with illegals, criminals and Shaira law on our doorstep, Texas needs a fighter for attorney general.”
His North Texas endorsements include U.S. Rep. Beth Van Duyne of Irving. He’s also been endorsed by Cruz.
“With over two decades of dedicated service to Texas, Chip has consistently shown the courage, integrity, and conviction required to defend our great state,” Cruz said in a statement. “He is a battle-tested warrior and a fierce defender of the Constitution.”
The Democratic candidates for Texas attorney general
Johnson won 48% of votes in the March primary and Johnson won 26%.
Nathan Johnson
Johnson was elected to the Texas Senate in 2018, where he represents the Dallas area, including parts of Grand Prairie, Irving and Richardson.
That year, he successfully unseated Republican Don Huffines, which is part of his pitch to voters for why they should pick him over Jaworski. Johnson said he’s demonstrated that he can beat a Republican in a serious contest. Johnson also points to his state government experience.
“Understanding how to work with and against Republicans, with and against agencies, with and against individuals in the Legislature and having the instincts and skills for that, it’s going to require political instincts that have been honed through experience and skills that have been developed through experience,” Johnson said in an interview.
Johnson said Paxton has turned the office into a “pathetic tool for the right” when it’s supposed to be objective and independent from other government offices. His first objective if elected is to rebuild the attorney general’s office.
“I do think it has been systematically stripped of top talent and genuine benevolent government intentions,” Johnson said.
Johnson said he also wants to work on building good relationships with district attorneys across the state, offering them experts from the state office that can be used to help keep people safe at a local level, as well as “resurrect a high level of antitrust enforcement and consumer protection.”
“Finally, it is the job of the attorney general to protect individual rights — political rights, civil rights and human rights,” Johnson said, outlining his goals for the office. He later added, “I intend to let the Legislature know that they do not have somebody who’s there to defend their unconsitutional laws, but I absolutely will work with them to develop the best laws for the state of Texas.”
In addition to serving in the Senate, Johnson works as an attorney at the Dallas law firm Thompson Coburn LLP. North Texans who’ve endorsed Johnson include state Sen. Royce West from Dallas and state Rep. Salman Bhojani from Euless.
Joe Jaworski
Jaworksi, a longtime lawyer and mediator, served as Galveston mayor from 2010-12. He previously ran for state Senate in 2018 and Texas Attorney General in 2022. North Texas endorsers include state Rep. John Bryant from Dallas.
“Local government, mayor, mediator, lawyer — all of these things I think blend well to suggest to voters that I’ll be a courageous, fearless, effective attorney general,” Jaworski said in an interview.
Jaworski believes he’s favored in the runoff. Traditional thinking is that runoffs attract the most devoted, partisan members of a political party, and Jaworski sees himself as the more progressive candidate in the Democratic race and has taken swings at some of Johnson’s votes in the Senate.
“This runoff appeals to our strengths because the runoff election will be like a family affair that favors the certified progressive candidate,” he said in an interview. Johnson defended his Senate record.
“I took an oath to represent you the best that I could,” he said. “Not get reelected in a primary, and if it means I have to come explain a vote to you, then it’s my job to take the right vote and then come explain it to you, and I will. So ask me the question. ... Most of the time when people ask me about one of those votes ... I explain it, and they say ‘Oh, I didn’t know that was in the bill.’”
Jaworski outlined three divisions he’d like to create in the attorney general’s office when asked about his priorities if elected: The Division of Affordability and Value, The Division of Elections and Voter Encouragement and the Divisions of Ethics and Integrity. The divisions would do things like protect customers from electric utility rate hikes, enforce laws that encourage voter registration and investigate corrupt elected officials, he said.
Jaworski also wants to compile a list of the “bad lawsuits” Paxton has filed and all the “obnoxious positions” he’s taken in litigation others have filed.
“Within one week, we’re going to make it a much more progressive, Democratic-friendly position in every single lawsuit,” he said.
