Texas Attorney General Race Headed for Run-Off Election, Incumbent Ken Paxton Leads

The Texas Attorney General race is apparently headed for a run-off election, with incumbent Attorney General Ken Paxton holding a lead several points below 50 percent at 12:00 a.m. ET, Decision Desk HQ and the Associated Press projected. 

With roughly 83 percent of votes cast in the state, Paxton received 42.7 percent of the vote or 628,695 votes. Paxton has heavily led his competition, including land commissioner George P. Bush at 22.2 percent, former Texas Supreme Court Justice Eva Guzman at 18.1 percent, and Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) at 16.9 percent.

Texas law states that if no candidate exceeds 50 percent of the vote, the two top candidates advance to a runoff election. According to the projection, Paxton will face off with Bush, the son of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, on May 24, with the general election taking place on November 8.

Paxton, who has been attorney general since 2015,  secured an endorsement from former President Trump in the summer of 2021. Notably, a Local Election Headquarters poll, in partnership with Emerson College Polling and The Hill in late February, found that nearly half of Republican voters would be more likely to support a candidate endorsed by Trump. Only 16 percent said it would make them less likely to vote for that candidate .

“It is going to take a PATRIOT like Ken Paxton to advance America First policies in order to Make America Great Again,” Trump said in a statement. “Ken has my Complete and Total Endorsement for another term as Attorney General of Texas. He is a true Texan who will keep Texas safe—and will never let you down!”

The same poll showed Paxton winning 43 percent of the vote in the Republican primary, with Bush trailing at 20 percent, and Gohmert and Guzman scoring just 12 percent.