2026 Texas Attorney General election

For related races, see 2026 United States attorney general elections.

2026 Texas Attorney General election

← 2022 November 3, 2026 2030 →

Party Republican Democratic

Incumbent Attorney General Ken Paxton Republican

The 2026 Texas Attorney General election is scheduled to take place on November 3, 2026, to elect the Attorney General of Texas. Incumbent Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton is eligible to run for re-election to a fourth term in office, but is instead running for U.S. Senate against incumbent John Cornyn.^[1]

Republican primary

Candidates

Declared

• Joan Huffman, state senator from the 17th district (2008–present)^[2]
• Mayes Middleton, state senator from the 11th district (2023–present)^[3]
• Aaron Reitz, former U.S. Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Policy (2025)^[4]
• Chip Roy, U.S. representative from Texas's 21st congressional district (2019–present)^[5]

Publicly expressed interest

• Matt Rinaldi, former chair of the Texas Republican Party (2021–2024) and former state representative from the 115th district (2015–2019)^[6]

Potential

• Brian Harrison, state representative from the 10th district (2021–present) and candidate for Texas's 6th congressional district in 2021^[7]

Withdrawn

• John Bash, former U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Texas (2017–2020)^[8]

Declined

• Bryan Hughes, state senator from the 1st district (2017–present)^[9]
• Eric Johnson, mayor of Dallas (2019–present)^[10]
• Mitch Little, state representative from the 65th district (2025–present) (running for re-election)^[11]
• Ken Paxton, incumbent attorney general (running for U.S. Senate, endorsed Reitz)^[12][13]

Endorsements

Aaron Reitz

Statewide officials

• Ken Paxton, Texas Attorney General (2015–present)^[13]

Labor unions

• National Border Patrol Council^[14]
• Remembrance Project^[14]

Chip Roy

U.S. senators

• Ted Cruz, U.S. senator from Texas (2013–present)^[13]
• Mike Lee, U.S. senator from Utah (2011–present)^[13]

U.S. representatives

• Lauren Boebert, CO-4 (2021–present)^[13]
• Byron Donalds, FL-19 (2021–present)^[13]
• Keith Self, TX-3 (2023–present)^[13]

Mayes Middleton

U.S. legislators

• Brian Babin, TX-36 (2015–present)^[14]
• Lance Gooden, TX-5 (2019–present)^[14]
• Randy Weber, TX-14 (2013–present)^[14]

Polling

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size[a]	Margin of error	Joan Huffman	Mayes Middleton	Aaron Reitz	Chip Roy	Undecided
University of Houston/Texas Southern University[15]	September 19 – October 1, 2025	576 (RV)	± 4.08%	12%	3%	8%	40%	37%
co/efficient (R)[16][A]	August 27–30, 2025	800 (LV)	± 3.5%	8%	4%	7%	24%	58%
Pulse Decision Science (R)[17][B]	August 27–30, 2025	800 (LV)	± 3.5%	4%	4%	3%	38%	50%
Texas Southern University[18]	August 6–12, 2025	1,500 (LV)	± 2.5%	12%	8%	7%	–	73%

Democratic primary

Candidates

Declared

• Tony Box, attorney^[19]
• Joe Jaworski, former mayor of Galveston, grandson of former U.S. Department of Justice special counsel Leon Jaworski, and candidate for attorney general in 2022^[20]
• Nathan Johnson, state senator from the 16th district (2019–present)^[21]

Potential

• Joaquin Castro, U.S. representative from Texas's 20th congressional district (2013–present)^[22]
• Justin Nelson, partner at Susman Godfrey and nominee for attorney general in 2018^[23]

Declined

• Jasmine Crockett, U.S. representative from Texas’s 30th congressional district (2023–present)^[24]
• Roland Gutierrez, state senator from the 19th district (2021–present) and candidate for U.S. Senate in 2024 (running for re-election)^[25]

Polling

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size[a]	Margin of error	Joe Jaworski	Nathan Johnson	Undecided
Texas Southern University[18]	August 6–12, 2025	1,500 (LV)	± 2.5%	20%	20%	60%

General election

Predictions

Source	Ranking	As of
Sabato's Crystal Ball[26]	Safe R	August 21, 2025

Polling

Hypothetical polling

Generic Republican vs. generic Democrat

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size[a]	Margin of error	Generic Republican	Generic Democrat	Other	Undecided
Texas Public Opinion Research[27]	August 27–29, 2025	843 (RV)	± 4.6%	47%	44%	9%[b]	–

Notes

1. Key:
   A – all adults
   RV – registered voters
   LV – likely voters
   V – unclear
2. "Someone else" with 9%

Partisan clients

1. This poll was sponsored by Reitz's campaign
2. This poll was sponsored by Roy's campaign

See also

• 2026 United States attorney general elections

References

1. Jeffers, Gromer (November 29, 2024). "John Cornyn and Ken Paxton have been trading jabs as a potential primary showdown looms". The Dallas Morning News. Retrieved November 29, 2024.
2. Guo, Kayla (June 23, 2025). "Sen. Joan Huffman joins GOP field vying to succeed Ken Paxton as Texas attorney general". The Texas Tribune. Retrieved June 23, 2025.
3. Scherer, Jasper (April 15, 2025). "Sen. Mayes Middleton announces bid for Texas attorney general". The Texas Tribune. Retrieved April 15, 2025.
4. Goldenstein, Taylor (June 12, 2025). "Aaron Reitz, a former Trump DOJ official and Paxton aide, joins the race for Texas AG". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved June 12, 2025.
5. Manchester, Julia (August 21, 2025). "Chip Roy launches Texas attorney general bid". The Hill. Retrieved August 21, 2025.
6. Bugenhagen, Faith (April 9, 2025). "If Ken Paxton wins Senate race, who could become Texas attorney general?". Chron.com. Retrieved April 11, 2025.
7. Jeffers, Gromer Jr. (April 10, 2025). "Ken Paxton's departure creates competitive AG primary in 2026". The Dallas Morning News. Retrieved April 10, 2025.
8. Runnels, Ayden (April 30, 2025). "John Bash, first candidate to enter Texas attorney general's race, exits". The Texas Tribune. Retrieved May 1, 2025.
9. Richardson, Michael (June 10, 2025). "Sen. Bryan Hughes says he won't run for attorney general". KLTV. Retrieved June 12, 2025.
10. Nir, David (October 17, 2025). "Morning Digest: New GOP plan to save gerrymander might be 'most embarrassing election lawsuit of 2025'". Retrieved October 17, 2025.
11. "Little seeks second term, rules out Attorney General run". September 23, 2025. Retrieved September 24, 2025.
12. Scherer, Jasper (April 8, 2025). "Texas AG Ken Paxton officially joins U.S. Senate race challenging John Cornyn". The Texas Tribune. Retrieved April 8, 2025.
13. Birenbaum, Gabbie (August 25, 2025). "Cruz, Paxton issue dueling endorsements in Texas attorney general GOP primary". The Texas Tribune. Retrieved August 26, 2025.
14. "Attorney General election endorsements". Ballotpedia. Retrieved October 20, 2025.
15. "Texas Trends 2025". DocumentCloud. October 9, 2025. Retrieved October 9, 2025.
16. Johnson, Brad [@bradj_TX] (September 17, 2025). "More internal polling from the #txlege AG race, @aaron_reitz camp memo showed the race w/ @KenPaxtonTX backing Reitz: Reitz-30% (7% initial ballot test) Roy-13% (24%) Huffman-6% (8%) Middleton-3% (4%) Undecided-48% (58%) Methodology: 8/16-17, 473 LV Rs, 4.51% MOE" (Tweet). Retrieved September 21, 2025 – via Twitter.
17. Johnson, Brad [@bradj_TX] (September 16, 2025). "New--Internal polling from the Roy camp puts an initial ballot test in the AG race at: @chiproytx -38% (+40 fav/unfav) @joanhuffman -4% (+8) @mayes_middleton -4% (+7) @aaron_reitz -3% (+5) undecided-50% #txlege" (Tweet). Retrieved September 21, 2025 – via Twitter.
18. Adams, Michael; Jones, Mark (August 20, 2025). "The 2026 Down-Ballot Texas Republican & Democratic Primaries: Attorney General, Comptroller, & Agriculture Commissioner". Texas Southern University. Retrieved August 21, 2025.
19. Jeffers Jr., Gromer (October 30, 2025). "Dallas lawyer Tony Box launches campaign to replace Ken Paxton as Texas attorney general". Dallas News. Retrieved October 31, 2025.
20. Klibanoff, Eleanor (July 17, 2025). "Democrat Joe Jaworski to run for Texas attorney general again". The Texas Tribune. Retrieved July 17, 2025.
21. Klibanoff, Eleanor (July 15, 2025). "Democratic state Sen. Nathan Johnson announces run for attorney general". The Texas Tribune. Retrieved July 15, 2025.
22. Bradner, Eric; Ferris, Sarah (July 29, 2025). "Democrats got a top Senate recruit in North Carolina. Now they're trying to find more". CNN. Retrieved July 30, 2025.
23. McCardel, Justin (April 20, 2025). "Democratic consultant says party will field strong candidates in 2026, names several". WFAA. Retrieved April 20, 2025.
24. Wermund, Benjamin (September 18, 2025). "Why Texas Democrats aren't lining up to take on Greg Abbott in the midterms". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved September 22, 2025.
25. "Political Roundup for September 10, 2025". September 10, 2025. Retrieved September 10, 2025.
26. "State Attorneys General: The Top Races to be "Top Cop"". Sabato's Crystal Ball. August 21, 2025. Retrieved September 18, 2025.
27. "Texas Senate Primaries Take Shape as Statewide Races Stay Close". Texas Public Opinion Research. September 12, 2025. Retrieved October 5, 2025.

External links

Official campaign websites

• Joan Huffman (R) for Attorney General
• Joe Jaworski (D) for Attorney General
• Nathan Johnson (D) for Attorney General
• Mayes Middleton (R) for Attorney General
• Aaron Reitz (R) for Attorney General
• Chip Roy (R) for Attorney General