Make sure you can vote before you read about what is at stake.
The Office Paxton Built
Ken Paxton sued the Biden administration 48 times. He targeted sanctuary cities. He went after transgender healthcare providers. He challenged the 2020 election results at the Supreme Court. He used the Texas AG’s office as the most politically aggressive in the country, and now he has left it behind to run for Senate.
For the first time in 12 years, Texas voters are choosing someone new for the job. Both parties have runoffs today. The winner inherits an office with enormous power over immigration enforcement, voting rules, and whether Texas cities can set their own policies on everything from wages to gun regulations.
The Democrats: Johnson vs. Jaworski
State Sen. Nathan Johnson and former Galveston Mayor Joe Jaworski are competing for the Democratic nomination. They agree on the big picture: the AG’s office needs to stop being a political weapon. They disagree on structure.
Nathan Johnson has served in the Texas Senate since 2019, representing parts of Dallas County. His platform centers on antitrust enforcement and consumer protection. He argues the AG’s office has spent a decade chasing headlines instead of protecting Texans from price gouging, corporate fraud, and utility failures. Johnson points to the 2021 power grid collapse, where AG Paxton took no enforcement action against energy companies that sent families $10,000 electric bills.
Joe Jaworski ran for AG in 2022 and lost in the primary. He is back with a more specific pitch: create a Division of Affordability to go after corporate landlords and insurance companies, and a Division of Elections to defend voting access from the AG’s office instead of attacking it. Jaworski governed Galveston through Hurricane Ike recovery and frames himself as the candidate who has actually run something.
The split is real but not ideological. Johnson emphasizes legislative experience and coalition building. Jaworski emphasizes executive experience and structural reform. Either would represent a complete reversal of how the office has operated since 2015.
The Republicans: Roy vs. Middleton
The Republican runoff is between U.S. Rep. Chip Roy and state Sen. Mayes Middleton. Both want to continue using the AG’s office aggressively, but they differ on targets and tone.
Chip Roy represents Texas’ 21st Congressional District and has been one of the most vocal members of the House Freedom Caucus. He has framed his candidacy around border enforcement, arguing the AG needs to take a more active role in prosecuting immigration cases and supporting local law enforcement along the border.
Mayes Middleton is a state senator and oil and gas executive backed by the Defend Texas Liberty PAC. He has pushed some of the most conservative legislation in the Texas Senate, including bills targeting transgender Texans and expanding state preemption of local ordinances. Middleton represents the faction that wants the AG’s office to go further than even Paxton did on social issues.
The Republican nominee will be favored in November. Texas has not elected a Democratic AG since Jim Mattox left office in 1991. But the margin matters. A close AG race would signal that Texans are tired of an office that spends more time in federal court than protecting consumers.
Why This Race Matters More Than You Think
The Texas AG controls whether the state sues the federal government, joins multistate litigation coalitions, or investigates corporations for political reasons. Under Paxton, the office became a model that other red-state AGs copied. Florida, Missouri, and Nebraska all adopted the same playbook of using taxpayer money to pursue ideological lawsuits.
The next AG will decide whether Texas continues to lead multistate challenges against federal environmental regulations, immigration policy, and civil rights enforcement. They will decide whether cities like Austin, Houston, and San Antonio can pass local worker protections or get preempted by the state.
This is not a symbolic office. It is the single most powerful legal position in a state of 30 million people.
What You Can Do
- Vote today if you haven’t already. Polls are open 7 AM to 7 PM Central. Find your polling place at votetexas.gov.
- Tell one person about the AG race. Most voters will show up for the Senate runoff and not know who is on the rest of the ballot. The AG race is on the same ballot.
- Check your registration for November at vote.org. The general election is November 3.
Read more on the Red States hub and our Texas state page.