Candidates vie to be Texas attorney general in May runoffs

• For the last several decades, Texas attorneys general have led lawsuits against liberal presidential administrations on federal government actions they have deemed harmful to Texans.

Catch up quick: Running to replace Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who is running to be the Republican nominee in the U.S. Senate race, in the Republican primary are state Sen. Mayes Middleton of Galveston and U.S. Rep. Chip Roy of Austin, who represents parts of the Hill Country.

The intrigue: Middleton, the president of an oil company, and Roy, who previously served as deputy to Paxton and U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, are both the largest contributors to their own campaigns — Middleton has contributed almost $14 million and Roy has transferred about $2 million from his congressional campaign fund, per the Texas Tribune.

• Middleton had about $28,000 in cash on hand at the end of February; Roy had $1.2 million on hand, according to campaign finance filings.
• Both candidates have tried to tie themselves to President Trump as they appeal to the sorts of diehard Republican voters who cast votes in a May runoff. Middleton has dubbed himself "MAGA Mayes" and Roy has promoted himself as a founder of the "Sharia Free America" caucus.

By the numbers: In March, Middleton won 39.1% of the vote and Roy 31.6% in a four-way race.

• Middleton (48%) leads Roy (39%) by 9 percentage points among Texans who are likely to vote in the May 2026 Texas Attorney General Republican primary runoff election, per a University of Houston poll released earlier this month, with 13% unsure how they would vote.

The other side: The Democratic runoff sees state Sen. Nathan Johnson of Dallas facing former Galveston Mayor Joe Jaworski.

• In the March primary, Johnson took 48.1% of the vote and Jaworski 26.4%. A third candidate, Tony Box, won 25.5% of the vote.

Between the lines: The Republican nominee will be favored to win. In 2022, a legally embattled Paxton still managed to win the race by 9.7 percentage points.

• In 2018, another Trump midterm year, Paxton won by 3.6 percentage points.

The bottom line: The state attorney general's office has long been a political stepping stone, with holders of the position routinely running to become a U.S. senator or state governor.

• Case in point: Both U.S. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Gov. Greg Abbott served as Texas attorney general.