“We’re in a battle for the soul of our state and nation. The main arena in which we wage this war is the justice system. That’s why we need an attorney general who’s ready to fight — and win.”

That’s how I opened every stump speech at nearly 150 campaign stops during my nine-month campaign for Texas attorney general. It resonated with over a quarter million Republican primary voters — but not enough for me to make the runoff.

Now the competition is between U.S. Rep. Chip Roy and state Sen. Mayes Middleton. My position remains the same: We are at war with the radical left in court. But on the question of who should lead us to victory as attorney general, I choose Mayes Middleton over Chip Roy.

I first met Mayes in the summer of 2014. I was 27 years old, had just finished active-duty service in the Marine Corps, and was a summer fellow at the Texas Public Policy Foundation before attending the University of Texas School of Law. Mayes was 32 and deeply involved with TPPF. In 2016, he joined their board of directors as the youngest member. Because of our proximity in age, we naturally got along well, and I was impressed with his intelligence, temperament and principled approach to law and policy.

We fell out of close contact over the next few years but saw each other regularly on the usual circuit of Republican events: conferences, award galas, fundraisers and Lincoln-Reagan dinners. While I was clerking on the Texas Supreme Court, I watched as Mayes launched his first insurgent campaign for the state House in 2018 against an incumbent aligned with then-Speaker Joe Straus. Mayes beat him by 14 points.

Mayes then sailed to re-election in the House in 2020 before setting his sights on his hometown state Senate seat in 2022. He was in such a dominant position that the incumbent senator simply stepped aside. Mayes again won — overwhelmingly.

Meanwhile, I was serving as Attorney General Ken Paxton’s deputy and then as Sen. Ted Cruz’s chief of staff. During both the 88th and 89th legislative sessions, Mayes became one of my favorite state senators because of the causes he took up.

The list goes on, but the theme is the same: Mayes has led on issues that everyday Republican voters support but that the establishment and moderates either opposed or were too afraid to touch. That’s what Mayes does: He carries the banner on things that matter to conservative Texans, whatever the consequences. And he wins.

To me, Mayes has proven himself as someone I can trust to lead the largest red-state law firm in the nation on to the next victory.

But even if I weren’t all in for Mayes — and to be clear, I am — the alternative is unacceptable. Roy was the first elected official in the United States to demand that Paxton step down or be removed from office in October 2020. Chip later described President Trump as “wrong, troubling and impeachable” in 2021 and, in 2024, opposed Trump for president in the Republican primary.

Some criticize Mayes by saying he lacks the legal experience to lead. But that argument doesn’t hold up. For nearly twenty years, Mayes has practiced law as a civil attorney, focusing on oil and gas transactions and litigation, while at the same time serving in state government. Critics also say Mayes has never been a prosecutor. So what? The Texas attorney general is not the state’s “top cop” or even a true prosecutor in the first place — a distinction underscored by Gov. Greg Abbott’s own proposal to create a separate chief state prosecutor to handle those functions.

Mayes has what it takes to fight against the radical left — and win.

Aaron Reitz is an attorney with Hance Scarborough, LLP. He was previously a candidate in the Republican primary election for Texas attorney general.