Chip Roy Throws Curve into AG Race
with Chance to Take the Inside Lane

Capitol Inside
August 21, 2025

Republican U.S. Rep. Chip Roy of Austin launched a campaign for Texas attorney general on Thursday on a mission to save the Lone Star State from radical Democrats, liberal judges, cartels, migrants, journalists, professors, communists and others who are destroying it.

A fourth-term congressional member who's been associated with the far right, Roy joined a crowded field of Republicans in the competition to replace Attorney General Ken Paxton, who's giving up the post so he can challenge U.S. Senator John Cornyn in the top race on the Texas ticket in 2026.

The pool of GOP contenders in the AG race features a pair of lawmakers in State Senators Joan Huffman of Houston and Mayes Middleton of Galveston. Aaron Reitz - a former assistant AG who's appeared to have Paxton in his corner - has been viewed by some as the frontrunner in the GOP primary after raising more than $2 million in a short span of time after entering the contest.

State Senator Nathan Johnson of Dallas is seeking the Democratic nomination in the Paxton replacement derby in 2026.

Roy entered the political arena as a law student at the University of Texas when he worked on Cornyn's first Senate campaign in 2002. Roy worked as the chief of staff for U.S. Senator Ted Cruz before a stint as the first assistant attorney general under Paxton. Roy and Paxton had a highly-publicized falling out and have appeared to have blood between them ever since.

Roy has accumulated substantial name identification as a maverick conservative as the only current state or federal Texas Republican legislator to stand up to President Donald Trump in recent years when the two have disagreed. Roy's rivals will be hoping that makes him unelectable in a GOP primary election less than seven months from now as a consequences of criticism that he's fired at the president from time to time.

But the key to a runoff that's likely in the AG race in round one for the Republicans could be Roy's ability to get back in the president's good graces like his former boss, U.S. Senator Ted Cruz, managed to do after attacking Trump relentlessly as a White House contender in 2016.

Roy ended June with almost $2.6 million in cash on hand in his federal campaign account which he can use for the statewide contest that isn't subject to limits on contributions like he's faced as a candidate at the federal level. Middleton could have the most money for the AG fight as someone who has the ability to bankroll a campaign with personal wealth.

Roy's flair for the dramatic was on display in a video that he posted as a springboard for the attorney general's race. A Bethesda, Maryland native who was raised in Virginia, Roy gave Old Dominion a subtle plug in the ad.

"From the Alamo to Goliad, Texas forefathers honored the cry for freedom born in colonial Virginia and Massachusetts, cementing our legacy as the Lone State State," the advertisement that spans more than two minutes says in the opening scene. But the spot aims for shock value from that point on. "The Texas of our dream, our family and our forefathers is under assault."

The Roy video flashes pictures of Democrats who he views as enemies including California Governor Gavin Newsom, billionaire donor George Soros and two Texas House members who've been in the news a lot lately fighting a congressional redistricting plan that cleared the lower chamber on Wednesday.

"Radical democrats and George Soros are funding DAs and liberal judges hellbent on coddling criminals and putting Texans in danger," according to the Roy ad.

"Open border politicians have flooded our streets, hospitals, jails and schools with illegal immigrants and dangerous fentanyl - empowering cartels and endangering Texans and the immigrants they use as political pawns," the commercial claims.

"Liberal lawmakers are pushing to dismantle election security because fraud is their only path to power," the Roy spot alleges.

"Faceless politicians and the communist party have gobbled up more and more Texas land while their allies in media and academia poison our culture with woke anti-American propaganda," Roy's advertisement asserts. No more. Today we draw a line in the sand."

Roy emerges from the darkness at the 1:18 mark in the video, which depicts him as a "proven conservative warrior" who's running for attorney general for God, families and shared faith.

While Roy has clashed with Trump on some issues, the video shows the two in one frame together and gives the impression that they're allies.

more to come ...

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 

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