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\u201cI\u2019ve never seen a nastier campaign,\u201d Roy said Wednesday at a get-out-the-vote event in New Braunfels, accusing\u00a0Middleton of smear tactics.<\/p>\n
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Middleton struck a similar note in an interview with The Dallas Morning News, saying Roy has been \u201clying about me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ahead of Tuesday\u2019s election, the candidates have continued trashing each other in closing pitches on why they should replace Attorney General Ken\u00a0Paxton.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Middleton has portrayed Roy as disloyal to Trump and the MAGA movement. Roy has cast\u00a0Middleton as unqualified and trying to buy the office.<\/p>\n
The exchanges have fed a barrage of negative ads on TV and digital platforms.<\/p>\n
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Even some supporters have grown weary of the relentless mudslinging.<\/p>\n
After a Middleton\u00a0speech Thursday outside Austin, Lakeway resident Gretchen Nearburg said she supports him \u201c100%\u201d but worries the campaign has \u201cgotten down and dirty.\u201d<\/p>\n
She said the Republican infighting could depress turnout in November.\u00a0\u201cThe Democrats could easily take some races because of that,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The concerns have crossed campaign lines.<\/p>\n
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A day earlier, Robert Phillips, a volunteer with the\u00a0Comal County Republican Party, said the race had turned too ugly.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is absolutely one of the dirtiest campaigns I have ever seen,\u201d he said at a Roy campaign event at a barbecue restaurant outside San Antonio.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think people realize how serious that is. It shouldn\u2019t have gone this far,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
![\"Republican]()
<\/p>\n
U.S. Rep. Chip Roy responds to a question during a debate in February at the Granada Theater in Dallas.<\/p>\n
Tom Fox\/Staff Photographer<\/p>\n
Bitter fight<\/p>\n
With turnout expected to be low Tuesday, neither campaign appears ready to cool the increasingly bitter feud as they try to energize supporters.<\/p>\n
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At stake is the inside track to become the next head of the attorney general\u2019s office, which represents Texas in civil lawsuits, enforces child support laws and oversees open government protections. Under Paxton\u2019s tenure, it has become deeply involved lawsuits tied to conservative causes.<\/p>\n
Middleton, of Galveston, finished first in the four-candidate primary in March with 39% of the vote to Roy\u2019s 32%.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Middleton repeatedly has targeted Roy over breaks with Trump, including after the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riots, when Roy said Trump likely committed \u201cimpeachable conduct.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is just judgment we cannot trust,\u201d Middleton said at his Lakeway event.<\/p>\n
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He also said that after Trump\u2019s election loss in 2020, Roy \u201cfought to certify a stolen election on the House floor. Now, he wants to run the election integrity division. I don\u2019t think so.\u201d<\/p>\n
Roy, of Austin, said his disagreements with Trump show independence.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He has gone on to target Middleton\u2019s limited legal background, calling him a \u201ctrust fund kid\u201d using an inherited oil business fortune to buy his way into office.<\/p>\n
![\"Stater]()
<\/p>\n
Stater Sen.\u00a0Mayes Middleton speaks during the Conservative Political Action Conference in March in Grapevine.<\/p>\n
Shafkat Anowar\/Staff Photographer<\/p>\n
Middleton has said his business experience matters more than time in the courtroom.<\/p>\n
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In recent weeks, Roy also has zeroed in on a bill Middleton sponsored in 2025 that would have extended land use exemptions to religious institutions, including mosques.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s a naive lawyer who doesn\u2019t understand the dynamic of what we\u2019re dealing with,\u201d Roy said. \u201cWe\u2019re at war.\u201d<\/p>\n
Middleton said Roy mischaracterized the failed bill, which he said was filed after Christian groups asked him for help building housing projects.<\/p>\n
Mixed endorsements<\/p>\n
As the race winds down, Middleton has pointed to audio of Paxton saying he planned to vote for him over Roy. Paxton\u2019s campaign later declined comment.<\/p>\n
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\u201cWhat it shows is that MAGA is united behind me,\u201d Middleton said in an interview.<\/p>\n
Roy brushed off Paxton\u2019s comments, noting the attorney general still had not made an official endorsement. Roy instead has touted his support from Sen. Ted Cruz.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the end of the day, we are taking our message to the people,\u201d Roy said.<\/p>\n
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Democrats Joe Jaworski, a former Galveston mayor, and Dallas state Sen. Nathan Johnson are battling for their party\u2019s nomination, a race that has drawn only a fraction of the money and attention consumed by the Republicans. Democrats have not held the AG\u2019s post in more than 25 years.<\/p>\n
The winners Tuesday will square off in November.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"State Sen. Mayes Middleton and U.S. Rep. Chip Roy are vying in a runoff for the Republican nomination…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":306909,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[27,29,28],"class_list":["post-306908","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306908","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=306908"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306908\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/306909"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=306908"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=306908"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=306908"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}