Middleton Expresses Gratitude to Himself
and Governor in Text from AG Campaign
Capitol Inside
October 3, 2025
State Senator Mayes Middleton sent a thank you note to Governor Greg Abbott and himself on Monday to show his appreciation for the leadership the duo Republican duo displayed in the passage during the summer of an anti-transgender measure that's widely known as the bathroom bill.
Middleton - a candidate for Texas attorney general in historically competitive field - fashioned the words in a group text as a praise for the state's most powerful leader. "Thank you, Governor Greg Abbott, for signing Senator Mayes Middleton's bill banning men from women's restrooms, showers, and locker rooms," the cell phone message said in the opening paragraph.
But Middleton's campaign decided to have him sharing the credit for the legislation as the Texas Senate author instead of simply dishing it out. Middleton included a graphic in the telephone communique that shows him and the governor inside a circle with a Texas flag as the backdrop.
"THANK YOU GOV. ABBOTT and MAYES MIDDLETON for PROTECTING WOMEN'S SPACES," the picture in the Middleton text screams.
As a candidate in a field of Republicans that features U.S. Rep. Chip Roy, former deputy AG Aaron Reitz and a colleague in State Senator Joan Huffman, Middleton leads the pack in the total number of endorsements that are impressive enough to publicize on a campaign web site. It isn't close. Middleton has received official plugs from a pair of Texas Railroad Commission members in Wayne Christian and the chairman Jim Wright. The lawmaker who's based in Galveston scored endorsements from U.S. Reps. Brian Babin and Lance Gooden, RNC Committee member Robin Armstrong, four dozen Texas House members and two colleagues in State Senators Brent Hagenbuch and Adam Hinojosa.
Fifteen Republican representatives who chair state House committees on Speaker Dustin Burrows' team are backing Middleton for the statewide post that Attorney General Ken Paxton is giving up in favor of a run for the seat that U.S. Senator John Cornyn is fighting to defend.
But Middleton's lead in the name-brand supporter derby in terms of quantity does not change the fact that he's yet to field a five-star endorsement like Roy and Reitz are flaunting with U.S. Senator Ted Cruz and Paxton in their respective corners for round one in the AG's race.
Rank-and-file voters who see the Middleton text on the women's spaces legislation may get the impression that Abbott is supporting the senator who authored it for the state lawyer job even though there's not a word in the message making such a claim. Some digging would show that Abbott hasn't taken sides in the attorney general battle up to now - and there's no guarantee that he won't stay on the sidelines until the GOP has its nominee for the statewide contest next fall.
Huffman - the most powerful and accomplished member on the current Senate roster - sought to capitalize on Abbott's aura, popularity and picture on Monday as well. Huffman, who resides in Houston, thanked the governor in a Facebook post for cracking down on crime in Harris County. She packaged the praise for Abbott in a post that also endorsed a proposed constitutional amendment that would require judges to refuse to grant bail in cases of murder and other major crimes.
"Thank you Governor Greg Abbott for this task force to combat violent crime in Houston!," Huffman said. "Since 2021, I've passed laws and constitutional amendments to keep repeat violent offenders off our streets."
President Donald Trump has backed up a promise to endorse every House Republican who voted for a school vouchers bill during the regular session. Trump made good on the pledge in July. But the president hasn't endorsed anyone so far in the race to replace Paxton. You might get the impression that Trump is supporting Reitz based on a picture with the president on his campaign web site.
The site quotes Trump as saying that Reitz "led dozens of successful lawsuits against the lawless and crooked Biden administration" along with a heap of accolades from Paxton.
"Aaron is true MAGA attorney and warrior for our Constitution!" according to Trump.
Trump is clearly number one in terms of the value that an endorsement carries for a Republican candidate in Texas. But Abbott is a relatively close second in that department.
more to come ...
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