During a 90-minute debate at the Granada Theater on Tuesday evening, four candidates competing for the Republican nomination for Texas Attorney General largely agreed on their policy goals but engaged in sharp disagreements regarding their records and allegiances.
State Sens. Joan Huffman (Houston) and Mayes Middleton (Friendswood/Galveston area), U.S. Rep. Chip Roy, and former U.S. Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Policy Aaron Reitz are competing to succeed Ken Paxton, who is running for U.S. Senate. The debate, hosted by the Republican Attorneys General Association and moderated by Allie Beth Stuckey, came on February 17, the first day of early voting ahead of the March 3 primary.
The candidates echoed many of Paxton’s legal priorities, including pledges to crack down on abortion-inducing pills, help the Trump administration carry out immigration policy, and remove district attorneys in large urban counties whom they described as backed by liberal donors.
Still, tensions flared.
The first sharp exchange came over border security and Roy’s past service under Paxton. Reitz, who is endorsed by Paxton, said, “Don’t be fooled when [Roy] tells you that he was Paxton’s chief deputy and he wants to cite his record there… He was so ineffective — so bad at serving as Paxton’s deputy — that Paxton fired him.”
Roy denied the claim and pointed to his endorsement from U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz.
Debate moderators pressed the candidates on whether Texas should move to a closed primary system. Roy answered, “Yes. And enforce the law.”
Huffman countered that lawmakers would first need to act, “and they have not to this point. So I would wait and see what the legislature does, but I will enforce any law the legislature passed.”
On “transgender” policy, Roy criticized proposals that invite federal overreach into Texas law. “It is amazing to listen to Republican attorneys general candidates standing up, saying they want massive federal laws to step over the state of Texas,” Roy explained. “That is a new frontier.”
Middleton, who has reportedly invested millions of dollars of his own money into the race, drew attacks over his background in the oil and gas industry. To this, Roy said, “I’m not a trust fund kid, spending my family’s money.”
In Middleton’s closing remarks, Middleton accused Roy of disloyalty to President Donald Trump.
“What we don’t need is somebody who would be an attorney general like Chip Roy, who spent 10 years fighting President Trump, defending [former Wyoming U.S. Rep.] Liz Cheney, calling us MAGA F-ers, and we could kiss his you know what if we didn’t like it,” Middleton said. “We can’t afford that in the AG’s office.”
Huffman, emphasizing her prosecutorial background, questioned whether some rivals’ promises were realistic. “If it was something that could be done on day one, it begs the question, why hasn’t Paxton already done it?”
With early voting underway through February 27, and polls suggesting no candidate may clear 50 percent, the contest could head to a runoff in late May. The primary election date is March 3.
