Middleton Defeats Roy for Texas Attorney General GOP Nomination

By Eleanor Klibanoff / The Texas Tribune

AUSTIN, TX — Galveston state Sen. Mayes Middleton is the GOP nominee for attorney general, after defeating U.S. Rep. Chip Roy. Middleton, one of the most conservative state legislators and an oil and gas executive, put almost $17 million of his own money into the race. 

This is the first open race for attorney general in more than a decade, after Attorney General Ken Paxton challenged and ultimately defeated U.S. Sen. John Cornyn.

Middleton came from behind to beat Roy’s name ID lead during the primary, thanks in large part to the millions he put into television ads and mailers.

He also ran on his record of passing hard-right legislation, including limiting what bathrooms trans people can use, barring trans people from sports teams that align with the gender they identify as, and putting the Ten Commandments in public school classrooms. 

Roy offered a nearly identical ideological vision for the agency, promising to use it to go after Muslim organizations, left-leaning district attorneys and election fraud. After entering the race as the presumptive frontrunner on name recognition alone, he faced an uphill climb over his contentious relationship with President Donald Trump and the MAGA movement.

Roy, a fourth-term Austin congressman, former federal prosecutor and top aide to Paxton at the attorney general’s office, criticized Middleton as inexperienced and unprepared for the job. Middleton is a licensed attorney, but has worked exclusively for his family oil business. He says he has practiced civil law as part of his work. 

A cadre of GOP donors stepped up in the homestretch to help Roy get that message out, making the most expensive attorney general’s race in U.S. history all the more costly. Roy outspent Middleton on ads during the runoff, although Middleton spent more during the entire cycle.

Roy carved a solitary path in Congress as a conservative firebrand with an uncompromising commitment to small government. He delayed and derailed priority legislation and clashed frequently with party leaders.

Roy’s tension with Trump and GOP leadership showed he had the independence necessary to be Texas’ next attorney general, he said, often citing Trump’s comment from last summer saying Roy is “not easy, but he’s good.” 

“There’s no greater compliment that [Trump] could give me,” Roy said at a campaign stop earlier this month. “The guy that we praise for the Art of the Deal, the guy that we think is so strong in negotiating with other countries, to say that I’m not easy, but I’m good? That’s what I want in our attorney general, whether it’s me or someone else.”

While Trump’s approval ratings have dipped nationally, he remains extremely popular among Texas Republicans, with 82% approving of the job he’s doing as of April.

“Roy has had a problem there, and he chose to lean into those conflicts and use that as potentially as a strength,” said Joshua Blank, research director at the Texas Politics Project. “But if recent races are any guide, deviation from the president is not of any value in the Republican primary.”

Middleton will now face his former colleague, Dallas state Sen. Nathan Johnson, in November. Johnson beat out former Galveston mayor Joe Jaworski on Tuesday night, securing his chance to try to reclaim the agency for the Democrats.

Johnson has promised to restore the agency’s non-partisan functions, like child support enforcement and consumer protection. He’s also said he will stand with blue state attorneys general in pursuing litigation against the Trump administration.