The contest to replace Attorney General Ken Paxton is one of the most important in Texas this election cycle. The state’s top lawyer is responsible for representing Texas in litigation, monitoring public bond issues, ensuring child support is paid and more.
State Sen. Joan Huffman, R-Houston, is the candidate most likely to serve the average Texan’s everyday needs instead of using the office the way Paxton has, as a platform for political gain. She gets our recommendation.
Huffman, 69, has experience as a prosecutor and criminal district court judge. She was first elected to the state Senate in 2008. Though we haven’t always agreed with her, Huffman has authored many strong pieces of legislation that have made Texas better during her long tenure.
Last year, Huffman was a driving force behind Texas’ bail reform meant to protect Texans by keeping violent criminals behind bars. She was also behind a successful bill cracking down on computer-generated child pornography, as well as legislation expanding funding for the school security allotment.
Opinion
Huffman praised Paxton for “aggressively representing some of Texas’ most important interests,” but noted she would do things a little differently. “I would focus more on keeping Texans safe,” she said.
Huffman said “we need to take a hard look” at some of the basic functions of the attorney general’s office, such as child support collection. She also noted there has been a loss of talent at the office.
Aaron Reitz, a former chief of staff to Sen. Ted Cruz and former deputy to Paxton, is also in this primary. Reitz, 38, described Paxton, who has endorsed him, as “the greatest attorney general in America” in our candidate questionnaire.
Reitz’s leadership would likely be a continuation of the current administration, if not a slip in quality even from what Paxton has offered. Reitz is an unabashed bullhorn for the most divisive rhetoric in today’s political arena.
“Collin, Dallas, & Harris Counties may soon be renamed Calcutta, Delhi, & Hyderabad Counties given how bad the invasion of un-assimilated & un-assimilable Indians has become,” Reitz said in a post on X.
Two other high-profile Republicans have thrown their hats into the ring: Oil executive and state Sen. Mayes Middleton, R-Galveston, and U.S. Rep. Chip Roy, R-Austin. Both are flush with campaign money and have endorsements from high-profile Republican leaders. They are presumptive frontrunners in a race to out-MAGA the other guy.
Middleton, 44, and Roy, 53, have pitched platforms that resemble an assembly of attention-grabbing slogans and talking points with little, if any, real substance behind them. A plan for improving an office that has been fraught with issues under its present leadership would have been preferable.
Neither Middleton nor Roy filled out our Voter Guide questionnaire or participated in a candidate interview. We weren’t surprised, as neither has a history of engaging outside their own narrow spheres of influence.
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