Democrat Nathan Johnson Wins Texas Attorney General Race, First Democrat Elected to the Office Since 1994

Democrat Nathan Johnson will be the next attorney general of Texas. The Associated Press projected him the winner over Republican state Sen. Mayes Middleton, and Johnson's campaign said Middleton called to concede.

Johnson led 52.3% to 46%, according to the AP-based tally. He is a Dallas state senator and corporate litigator. He takes office in January 2027 for a four-year term.

He is the first Democrat elected to the job since 1994. Texas Democrats had not won a statewide campaign since 1994.

What the job is, and who is leaving it

The attorney general is the state's chief legal officer. The office represents Texas in civil litigation, defends state laws, approves public bond issues and issues legal opinions when requested by certain officials. Those opinions are not legally binding.

Johnson replaces Ken Paxton, who chose to run for U.S. Senate after more than a decade as attorney general. Paxton lost that race to Democrat James Talarico.

Under Paxton, the office increasingly pushed conservative causes in court on behalf of Republican administrations, other states and private litigants. Texas has played an outsized role in shaping conservative jurisprudence, much as California and New York have on the left.

The campaign

Middleton, an oil and gas heir from Galveston, won the GOP nomination by beating U.S. Rep. Chip Roy in the May runoff. He spent close to $20 million of his own money on that fight. He pulled back in the general election as the top-of-ticket races drew the attention and the funding.

He ran as a close ally of President Donald Trump. He promised Paxton's partisan edge without Paxton's ethical and legal scandals. His platform centered on border security, deportations, cutting waste and cracking down on what he called the "woke-left's radical gender agenda." He pledged to "use every resource and tool to back up the president."

Johnson ran on the office's everyday duties: consumer protection, anti-corruption work and child support enforcement. His campaign framed the race as a fight against the "MAGA Assault" on the AG's office.

"My strategy is to let them be crazy and unproductive, and run from my side as the serious guy," Johnson told The Texas Tribune before the election. "I think people are tired of being treated like they're stupid."

He also said his office will sue the Trump administration when he believes Washington is overstepping in Texas.

Johnson has served in the Texas Senate since 2019. He won his seat in 2018 by unseating a well-funded Republican incumbent in a district Republicans had held for decades. He has a record as a bipartisan dealmaker in a GOP-controlled chamber and says he will bring that approach to the AG's office.

A broader Texas sweep

Johnson was not alone. According to AP's account of the night, Democrats also won a U.S. Senate seat and the governor's mansion. Gina Hinojosa ousted Gov. Greg Abbott in a victory that will make her Texas' first Latina governor. Democrats also won the lieutenant governor's office and flipped congressional seats even though Republicans gerrymandered the map to favor themselves.

AP reported the party also won back counties along the Mexico border where Republicans had been gaining with Hispanic voters. It said Democrats did not win with promises to turn back the clock on abortion, guns, transgender rights or diverting public tax money to private education. They ran mainly on affordability and corruption.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, called it a major blow on social media: "Texas has been the most significant Republican state this century. A Democrat sweep of statewide races — and possible capture of the Legislature — takes away one of the anchors of the modern GOP. A huge loss."

Political scientist Samara Klar of the University of Arizona put the national mood in terms of affordability. "Voters are sending a message that the policies Trump and his Republican government have brought in over the last 2 years are not working for them," she told The Epoch Times.

The Epoch Times also reported that Democrats flipped enough Senate seats nationally to win the chamber, and that Trump said Tuesday night he accepts the results. Fox News reported that Republicans held Nebraska, where Sen. Pete Ricketts beat independent Dan Osborn.

Fox reported that Elon Musk reportedly gave $158 million to the Senate Leadership Fund, which sent the money to a PAC backing Paxton. Fox, citing published reports, put Musk's total midterm spending above $400 million. The Paxton race went to Talarico anyway.

What changes in the AG's office

Paul Nolette, a Marquette University political scientist who studies attorneys general, said Johnson's win has already hurt the conservative legal movement, "at least temporarily." Nolette said, "It would be a sea change."

The practical stakes are large. Texas has been a frequent plaintiff against Democratic administrations and a frequent defender of Republican ones. That role now sits with a Democrat who has promised to go the other way when he judges the federal government has overreached.

Johnson will start his term in January 2027. Whether Democrats also took the Legislature, as DeSantis suggested was possible, had not been settled in the results available this morning, Wednesday, Nov. 4.