TEXAS \u2014 The position of the state\u2019s top lawyer is open for the first time since\u00a02014. Current Attorney General Ken Paxton opted to leave the office to pursue a seat in the U.S. Senate. There are three Democrats in the race to replace him\u2014Dallas attorney and former FBI agent Tony Box, Dallas\u00a0state\u00a0Sen. Nathan Johnson and former Galveston Mayor Joe Jaworski.<\/p>\n
What You Need To Know<\/p>\n
Three Democrats are running to replace Ken Paxton as Texas attorney general
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All of the candidates say they want to revamp and rebuild the office’s reputation, which they say is marred by political corruption
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The winner will face one of four Republican candidates in the general election<\/p>\n
Jaworski lost the Democratic nomination for attorney general in 2022 but describes himself as a progressive and a proven leader.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was the mayor who stood up to a pretty rambunctious opposition in order to rebuild our public housing,\u201d said Jaworski.<\/p>\n
Johnson, a two-term senator, ousted big-money candidate Don Huffines\u00a0in 2018\u00a0for his current seat, which he will keep if he loses this election. He thinks only a Democrat can fix the Office of the Attorney General, which he says is marred by Paxton\u2019s political and personal scandals. Johnson voted to impeach Paxton in 2023 for using his office to help a political donor and a mistress. Paxton was ultimately acquitted.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt occurred to me that the office can be just as powerfully good under the right leadership as it has been powerfully bad under Ken Paxton,\u201d said Johnson.<\/p>\n
At 16 years old, Box was shot by a thief who stole a woman\u2019s purse. He says living with a bullet lodged in his liver is a reminder of his dedication to service.<\/p>\n
\u201cTexans need an attorney general that is solely focused on them and not any other parties or interests or the rich buddies,\u201d said Box.<\/p>\n
Each candidate wants to revamp the office they all accuse of being corrupt. Box wants to rebuild relationships with district attorneys who are the target of Paxton\u2019s efforts to require prosecutors in large, mostly Democratic counties to send his office detailed reports.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve worked in the district attorney\u2019s office before. And it\u2019s critical that the attorney general has a great working relationship with district attorneys,\u201d said Box.<\/p>\n
Jaworski wants to create\u00a0civil rights and affordability divisions\u00a0in the office to better represent Texans.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ll make the Office of Attorney General a Texas law firm again, rather than a political hit job squad,\u201d said Jaworski.<\/p>\n
Paxton sued President Joe Biden\u2019s\u00a0administration 106 times. Johnson said he would treat President Donald Trump\u2019s Department of Justice with the same hostility if warranted.<\/p>\n
\u201cI will sue them, but it won\u2019t be ideological. It will be to protect the rule of law and the people of the state,\u201d said Johnson.<\/p>\n
With campaigns framed to rebuild what they claim Paxton destroyed, one political scientist says this race could be the biggest opportunity for a statewide Democratic pickup,\u00a0if\u00a0the party fields\u00a0a strong slate of candidates on the ballot.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey have to run as a ticket because running alone has not worked for Democrats in in the past. I think, you know, their best opportunity is probably in the AG\u2019s race,\u201d said Cal Jillson, a professor of political science at Southern Methodist University.<\/p>\n
The winner of this primary will face one of the four Republican AG candidates: Houston state Sen. Joan Huffman, Galveston state Sen. Mayes Middleton, former DOJ attorney Aaron Reitz or Austin U.S. Rep. Chip Roy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TEXAS \u2014 The position of the state\u2019s top lawyer is open for the first time since\u00a02014. Current Attorney…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":132036,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[6329,1657,1658,132,134,133,6328,1570,102,6363,223,287,82,27,835],"class_list":{"0":"post-132074","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-austin","8":"tag-app-capital-tonight","9":"tag-app-latest-local-state-politics-stories","10":"tag-app-local-state-politics","11":"tag-austin","12":"tag-austin-headlines","13":"tag-austin-news","14":"tag-capital-tonight","15":"tag-ctv","16":"tag-dallas","17":"tag-erin-davis","18":"tag-news","19":"tag-politics","20":"tag-san-antonio","21":"tag-texas","22":"tag-vod"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132074","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=132074"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132074\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/132036"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=132074"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=132074"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=132074"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}