Star-Telegram endorsement: Which GOP heavyweight is right for attorney general?

Rarely does a primary for a state office draw four heavy hitters as candidates. But Texans will elect a new attorney general for just the third time this century, so a congressman, two state senators and a veteran of both the AG’s office and the U.S. Justice Department want the job.

In that accomplished Republican field, U.S. Rep. Chip Roy of Dripping Springs stands out. Roy brings impeccable conservative credentials, significant political and governing experience, and the right sense of priorities for an office that, under Ken Paxton, has steadily drifted away from its core functions in favor of splashy political causes.

Roy, 53, has been a fixture of state GOP politics for decades. At first, it was behind the scenes, working for Gov. Rick Perry, Sen. Ted Cruz and as a top deputy to Paxton. He’s now in his fourth term in the U.S. House, where he’s drawn attention for fealty to conservative principles on spending, at some risk to his political career.

He is solid on top priorities for staunch conservatives: protecting elections, ensuring big cities prosecute crime, securing the border and cooperating with federal immigration enforcement, and bringing the fight on a host of issues directly to Democrats and powerful industries.

In our interviews with the candidates, though, Roy also demonstrated the most promise to enhance the core functions of the attorney general’s office.

Headline-making cases against the popular demons of the moment are not the office’s primary priorities under the law. Most of its resources are dedicated to child support collection and consumer protection. Roy pledged to evaluate those operations and make improvements. He wants to continue efforts to hold tech companies accountable for the impact of social media and other products on children, and he vowed to root out more fraud in health care.

Another vital area is enforcement of open-records laws. Local governments have figured out every possible trick to delay or prevent releasing information to the public — which, remember, owns it — and Paxton has often been complicit. Roy said that while the law must be followed, there should be a general bias toward releasing rather than concealing documents.

Don’t think of this as a media issue. It matters to everyone who cares about how government functions. As Roy noted, Republicans want to hold officials in Democratic counties accountable for whether crime is sufficiently prosecuted, and that cause is hampered if clever lawyers find ways to hide documents.

Perhaps most of all, Roy brings a dash of independence to his work. He paid a political price for endorsing Ron DeSantis early in the last GOP presidential contest, before it was clear Donald Trump couldn’t be beat for the nomination. One of his opponents is making that a centerpiece of his criticism of Roy.

Roy identified efforts to stop the formation of Sharia courts, based on an Islamic dispute resolution system, as a priority. We wish he (and other Republicans) would stop fanning the flames of paranoia about Islam when there’s no indication the the constitutional order is in peril.

Sen. Joan Huffman, first elected in 2008, has become a key Senate leader. As head of the Finance Committee, she has led the drafting of the state’s budget, touching just about every area of policy. Huffman, 69, a resident of Colorado County west of Houston, was also a longtime local prosecutor, which would serve voters well as the state considers giving the attorney general more authority in criminal matters.

Her Senate colleague, Mayes Middleton of Galveston, is running as “MAGA Mayes,” spending millions of dollars of his own money to bolster name ID around the state. Middleton, president of his family’s oil company, is far less qualified than his rivals. His campaign did not respond to repeated requests for an interview.

Aaron Reitz, a former top assistant to Paxton, is running with the AG’s endorsement and pledging to continue his fights. Reitz, 38, served the Trump administration as an assistant attorney general over the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Policy and is now an attorney at a prominent Austin firm.

He’s campaigning with an intensity befitting a former Marine officer, portraying the race as no less than a battle for civilization against progressivism. That resonates with many Republican voters, but it’s a little much for a civil attorney post, even one as influential as Texas AG.

With four major candidates, the primary race is probably headed to a May 26 runoff between the top two finishers — most expect Roy to finish first but not quite clear the bar of a majority of the vote. The ultimate winner will face one of three Democrats in the fall for a four-year term.

Election Day for the primary is March 3, with early voting available Feb. 17-27.

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This story was originally published February 15, 2026 at 4:45 AM.