Mayes Middleton, Chip Roy advance to runoff for GOP attorney general nomination

Mayes Middleton and U.S. Rep. Chip Roy are headed to a May 26 runoff to decide the Republican nominee for Texas attorney general, after neither cleared the 50% threshold in today’s primary.

What happened in the primary

• Middleton finished in first place with a “commanding lead,” but still short of a majority, forcing a runoff with Roy.​

• Roy, a four-term congressman from the Austin area, placed second; state Sen. Joan Huffman and former DOJ lawyer Aaron Reitz lagged well behind.​

• The runoff date for unresolved Texas statewide primaries, including attorney general, is May 26, 2026.

Candidate profiles and dynamics

• Middleton is a Galveston state senator and wealthy oil and gas executive who self-funded roughly $12 million, saturating media with his “MAGA Mayes” branding and stressing alignment with Donald Trump and the hard-right legislative record.

• Roy entered as the initial frontrunner due to higher name ID and his record as a conservative firebrand in Congress, former first assistant attorney general under Ken Paxton, and senior aide to Ted Cruz, John Cornyn, and Rick Perry.

• Paxton endorsed Reitz for this race while forgoing AG reelection to run for U.S. Senate, so any consolidation of Paxton-aligned voters in the runoff will be a key question.​

Stakes of the runoff

• Under Paxton, the AG’s office became a central vehicle for conservative litigation against federal Democratic administrations and progressive local policies; both Middleton and Roy pledge to continue using the office aggressively in that role.​

• Republican Attorneys General Association leadership has described Texas’ AG as “the largest legal power in the conservative movement” nationwide, underscoring why national conservative groups are likely to invest in this runoff.​