Dallas lawyer Tony Box says a near-death experience as a teenager drove him into law enforcement, public service and now a campaign for Texas attorney general.
Box said when he was a 16 year old bagging groceries in Chicago he chased down and tackled a purse-snatcher, but paid a price. The culprit shot him in the stomach, and the bullet lodged in his liver, where it remains to this day.
“As I recovered in the hospital, I thought about what I wanted to do with my life,” Box told The Dallas Morning News in an exclusive interview. “I decided I wanted to live a life of service. I’ve done that. I want to do more.”
After a career in the military, as an FBI agent and assistant U.S. attorney, Box on Thursday launched a campaign to replace Republican Ken Paxton as Texas attorney general. Paxton is opting against another term and instead running for Senate in an effort to unseat incumbent John Cornyn.
Political Points
Box, 57, is running in a March Democratic primary field that includes state Sen. Nathan Johnson of Dallas and former Galveston Mayor Joe Jaworski.
He said he’s running for attorney general to restore credibility and confidence to the office.
“The people of Texas deserve a chief law enforcement officer that’s going to have the courage to stand with them and to fight corruption and the pressure to not bend the knee to someone in Washington, D.C,” Box said. “I’m that guy.”
Dallas lawyer Tony Box is a Democratic candidate for Texas Attorney General.
Provided by Tony Box
Box, who is making his first run for elected office, told The News he was prompted to run for attorney general because Paxton, first elected in 2014, is “corrupt” and ineffective. Box said Paxton’s 2023 impeachment by the Republican-led Texas House was a tipping point. The Senate acquitted Paxton, and two senators who voted to clear the attorney general – Joan Huffman of Houston and Mayes Middleton of Galveston – are now running to replace him.
“He’s been impeached. He got sued by his top deputies,” Box said. “That’s not a good look for the attorney general’s office, and I want to change that.”
Box has a history of law enforcement.
After earning an accounting degree from Morehouse College in Atlanta, he became an Army paratrooper and commanded tank platoons.
Tony Box
Provided by Tony Box / Provided
Later, he served as an investigator for the Congressional Commission on Wartime Contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan, where he says he uncovered $30 billion in waste and fraud. He’s worked for the U.S. Department of Defense to help the Afghan government develop systems against corruption and fraud. And for nearly 10 years he was an FBI special agent.
Box was also an assistant U.S. attorney, a job in which he prosecuted tax evasion, violent crimes and fraud, he said.
“Those experiences shaped me,” Box said. “I feel blessed to be alive. I’m still here, fighting, kicking and trying to do my best to fight for others and do the right thing.”
Related
Box said his career and life experience set him apart from his Democratic and Republican rivals for attorney general.
“People want fresh ideas,” Box said. “They are not looking for a career politician who’s looking to move up the ladder. They want someone who is going to have passion and courage to fight for the people, and only for the people.”
FILE – Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton speaks during the Conservative Political Action Conference, CPAC 2024, at the National Harbor in Oxon Hill, Md., Feb. 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)
Jose Luis Magana / AP
If elected, he said, he would restore the integrity of the attorney general’s office.
“I’m going to conduct a top to bottom review of all the lawsuits and all the action taken, and the ones that are valid will remain, and the ones that are frivolous I’ll get rid of,” Box said.
The winner of the Democratic primary will face the candidate who emerges from the Republican primary.
Related
The GOP candidates vying to replace Paxton include U.S. Rep. Chip Roy of Austin, Aaron Reitz, a former chief of staff for Sen. Ted Cruz, and two former deputy attorneys generals under Paxton, Huffman and Middleton.
Box said he’ll have the resources to compete in the primary and general election.
“I’ll also have a message,” he said. “People deserve a courageous leader in the attorney general’s office who is going to fight for them.”