Beyond the U.S. Senate race, Texans are voting on Tuesday for every statewide office, including Republican primaries for attorney general and comptroller that pit hard-liners against more measured conservatives.
Those contests could signal just how much further to the right Republican voters want to push the state.
The comptroller race, along with another competitive primary for state agriculture commissioner, will also test Gov. Greg Abbott’s endorsement power after he threw his support behind two candidates who have trailed in publicly available polls in recent weeks.
The state’s two most powerful politicians, Mr. Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, do not face serious challengers in their own party and are expected to win handily.
One of the most competitive and closely watched races has been for attorney general. Ken Paxton, who has held the position for roughly 11 years, declined to seek re-election and is instead trying unseat Senator John Cornyn. The attorney general candidates include Representative Chip Roy, a conservative maverick who has bucked Mr. Trump, two state senators, Mayes Middleton and Joan Huffman, and Aaron Reitz, a hard-right former Paxton deputy.
The race was expected to be pushed to a runoff, with Mr. Middleton polling best among the second place challengers in a University of Houston poll released last month. Mr. Middleton, an oil and gas executive who branded himself “MAGA Mayes” for the GOP primary, funneled millions of his own cash into the race.
Mr. Reitz has Mr. Paxton’s backing. Mr. Trump has not endorsed anyone in the race.
The race to help set state agriculture policy has become an unlikely referendum on Mr. Abbott’s power as a kingmaker. The incumbent, Sid Miller, a close Trump ally and rancher, is up against Nate Sheets, a political newcomer who founded a successful honey company called Nate’s Honey.
Recent criticism of Mr. Abbott and Mr. Patrick have put Mr. Miller’s political future in question. In January, Mr. Miller criticized the pair for what he characterized as a lack of understanding about rural Texans. Soon after, Mr. Abbott declared his support for Mr. Sheets, the first time he has endorsed against a fellow Republican incumbent in a statewide race.
And yet, public polling suggests Mr. Miller could survive the governor’s efforts to replace him. His chances were bolstered by Mr. Trump’s recent endorsement — a rare instance in which the president has pitted himself directly against the Texas governor.
Mr. Abbott’s pick for Texas comptroller, Kelly Hancock, who was appointed to the role on an interim basis, may also be in jeopardy. Don Huffines, a property developer who served one term in the Texas Senate, is determined to beat Mr. Abbott’s pick and was polling in the top spot. Mr. Huffines unsuccessfully challenged Mr. Abbott for governor in 2022. If he wins, Mr. Huffines could use the position to criticize Mr. Abbott and possibly push him further to the right.
In the final days of the primary campaign, Mr. Huffines also secured an endorsement from Mr. Trump — the second statewide race this primary season in which Mr. Abbott and the president find themselves at odds.
The primary for a seat on the Texas Railroad Commission, which regulates the oil and gas industry, has also drawn attention because of the unusual cast of characters in the Republican race.
The incumbent, Jim Wright, is facing a self-described “political outsider,” Jim Matlock, whose campaign website warns about AI’s demands on the state’s water supply, a pair of candidates, Hawk Dunlap and Katherine Culbert, who have previously run for the commission just not as Republicans, and a former county party chairman, Bo French, who once asked his social media followers whether Jewish or Muslim people were the bigger threat to America.
The race is expected to go to a runoff.
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