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Attorney General

Statewide

Mayes Middleton (R) faces Nathan Johnson (D) for Attorney General on November 3, 2026.

Nathan Johnson vs. Mayes MiddletonOn the November 3 ballot

Likely R
Democrat: Nathan Johnson
43 percent in polling average
Republican: Mayes Middleton
46 percent in polling average
Polling average4-poll avg · R+3 · independent · Sep 19
Rated by Sabato's Crystal Ball (opens in new tab)

Also on the ballot: Tom Oxford (Libertarian)

Open seat (Paxton left to run for Senate). Republican state senator Mayes Middleton won the May 26 runoff 55.2% over Chip Roy; Democratic state senator Nathan Johnson won his runoff 60.5% over Joe Jaworski. Sabato's Crystal Ball moved the race from Safe to Likely Republican on Aug 20, 2026, the first major handicapper to rate it.

Texas's chief legal officer, enforces state law, represents Texas in lawsuits, issues legal opinions for state agencies.

November General Election

Nov 3, 2026
Rated Likely RepublicanSabato's Crystal Ball

Sabato's Crystal Ball rates the race Likely Republican, moved from Safe Republican on Aug 20, 2026, citing Abbott's polling softness and the possibility that a bad year for Texas Republicans reaches down the ballot; it is the first major handicapper to rate the race. This open seat (Paxton left to run for Senate) pits two sitting state senators, Mayes Middleton (R) and Nathan Johnson (D). ReconMR/Siena surveyed likely voters September 8-11 and reported Middleton at 45% and Johnson at 44%, with 8% undecided or refusing to answer. See the polling table for the original release and methodology. No Democrat has won the Texas attorney general race since Dan Morales's reelection in 1994, and Republicans have held the office since 1999.

November polling

Scroll across to compare candidates and reported gaps.

General election polls for Mayes Middleton vs Nathan Johnson, shown as reported
PollsterDateSampleMiddletonJohnsonUndec.Reported gap
Stratus IntelligencePolitical sponsor · excluded from averageSep 24, 2026865 LV±3.5 MOE47%42%11%Middleton +5
Methodology and source notes: Stratus Intelligence, Sep 24, 2026

Stratus Intelligence memo, fielded September 22 to 24, 2026 among 865 likely voters; 81% SMS-to-web and 19% live phone; ±3.5 points. The memo names no sponsor and publishes neither question wording nor weighting. Breitbart (September 29) and the Wikipedia Senate-race listing report the poll was conducted for Texans for a Conservative Majority. Sponsored poll, shown with the sponsor disclosed and excluded from the headline average. Undecided 11%.

Original poll release (opens in new tab)
Texas Public Opinion ResearchPolitical sponsor · excluded from averageSep 22, 20261,007 LV±3.6 MOE43%40%15%Middleton +3
Methodology and source notes: Texas Public Opinion Research, Sep 22, 2026

Fielded September 19-22, 2026, via an online panel; n=1,007 likely voters, margin of error ±3.6 points; weighted by gender, age, race, education, 2024 vote recall, and geography. Initial ballot: Libertarian Tom Oxford 2%, would not vote 1%, undecided 15%. With the follow-up asked of undecided respondents, the published result with leaners is Middleton 46%, Johnson 43%. TPOR describes itself as a nonpartisan polling initiative and names no external commissioner. The site's copyright line names Luke Warford, whom the Texas Tribune (June 6, 2024) describes as the Texas Democratic Party's former chief strategy officer.

Original poll release (opens in new tab)
Texas Southern UniversitySep 19, 20261,800 LV±2.31 MOE47%42%9%Middleton +5
Methodology and source notes: Texas Southern University, Sep 19, 2026

Fielded September 15-19, 2026. The Barbara Jordan Public Policy Research and Survey Center at TSU reports a probability-based sample of 1,800 likely voters, ±2.31-point margin of error, contacted by SMS and directed to an online survey in English or Spanish, with a two-part likely-voter screen supplemented by past election participation. The report does not name an outside sponsor. Three-way ballot naming Libertarian Tom Oxford (2%); 9% unsure; no leaned follow-up described. The report describes its sampling and survey method but not its weighting; the site’s transparency rule requires methodology, sample size, margin of error, and a public source, which this report meets, the same as TSU’s statewide rows.

Original poll release (opens in new tab)
ReconMR / Siena Research InstituteSep 11, 2026614 LV±4.3 MOE45%44%8%Middleton +1
Methodology and source notes: ReconMR / Siena Research Institute, Sep 11, 2026

Fielded September 8-11, 2026. ReconMR/Siena's nonpartisan Texas Poll. Prompt named only Middleton and Johnson; 2% chose someone else, 1% would not vote, and 8% did not know or refused. Tom Oxford was an unprompted open-end response rounded to 0%. Mixed live telephone and text-to-web voter-file sample; telephone interviews in English and Spanish. MOE includes design effects.

Original poll release (opens in new tab)
Texas Public Opinion ResearchPolitical sponsor · excluded from averageAug 24, 20261,000 LV±3.3 MOE44%41%—Middleton +3
Methodology and source notes: Texas Public Opinion Research, Aug 24, 2026

TPOR director Luke Warford is a Democratic strategist. Ballot named Libertarian Tom Oxford at 1% and independent Omer Khwaja at 1%. Fielded before the Aug 28 ballot certification; the ballot test named independent Omer Khwaja, who did not qualify for the November ballot.

Original poll release (opens in new tab)
UT Texas Politics ProjectAug 13, 20261,200 RV±2.83 MOE40%35%—Middleton +5
Methodology and source notes: UT Texas Politics Project, Aug 13, 2026

Ballot named Libertarian Tom Oxford at 3%. Registered voters, not likely voters.

Original poll release (opens in new tab)
Texas Southern UniversityJul 30, 20261,200 LV±2.83 MOE46%41%—Middleton +5
Methodology and source notes: Texas Southern University, Jul 30, 2026

Three-way ballot incl. Tom Oxford (L) 3%; 10% undecided. 77% of likely voters did not know enough about Johnson to rate him. Barbara Jordan Public Policy Research and Survey Center; SMS-to-web, fielded Jul 27-30, coauthored by Rice's Mark P. Jones. Sampling frame and weighting variables are not disclosed in the report.

Original poll release (opens in new tab)
Texas Pulse / ReconMRJul 30, 2026619 LV±4.7 MOE46%44%—Middleton +2
Methodology and source notes: Texas Pulse / ReconMR, Jul 30, 2026

Texas A&M Bush School consortium, fielded Jul 27-30, released Aug 7. MOE is the core-question figure (n=619); two-way ballot. Middleton led 45-40 in the June wave.

Original poll release (opens in new tab)
Texas Public Opinion ResearchPolitical sponsor · excluded from averageJul 17, 20261,048 LV±3.4 MOE39%38%—Middleton +1
Methodology and source notes: Texas Public Opinion Research, Jul 17, 2026

TPOR director Luke Warford is a Democratic strategist; conducted with Lake Research Partners. 18% undecided.

Original poll release (opens in new tab)

Each row is one poll, shown as reported. Headline cards separately average eligible independent likely-voter polls; see the methodology page. The reported gap is the difference between candidate percentages, not a finding of a statistically significant lead. An undecided share appears only when explicitly recorded from the source; a dash means it has not been recorded. Independently rounded categories may not sum to 100%. Likely-voter (LV) and registered-voter (RV) samples are not directly comparable.

The November ballot, explained

Texas race coverage by email, only when something changes before Nov 3.

Campaign Finance

Dataset updated Oct 6, 2026
Joan Huffman$764K
Spent: $112KCash: $3.0MTexas Ethics Commission filing

Texas Ethics Commission · Cycle totals through Jun 30, 2025

Historical January-June 2025 report for Texans for Joan Huffman, a specific-purpose committee, not her candidate/officeholder account. Raised shows political contributions; cash includes prior balances. Amounts rounded to whole dollars.

Mayes Middleton$166K
Spent: $162KCash: $10.3MTexas Ethics Commission filing

Texas Ethics Commission · Cycle totals through Jun 30, 2025

Historical January-June 2025 report. Raised shows political contributions, excluding loans. Outstanding loan principal was $10 million; cash on hand includes loan proceeds. Amounts rounded to whole dollars.

Campaign finance data for candidates
CandidatePartyRaisedSpentCash on HandCoverage
Joan HuffmanRepublican$763,625$112,032$3,009,443Texas Ethics Commission · Cycle totals through Jun 30, 2025
Mayes MiddletonRepublican$166,308$162,073$10,252,056Texas Ethics Commission · Cycle totals through Jun 30, 2025

Frequently Asked

Who is running for Texas Attorney General in 2026?

Republican state senator Mayes Middleton faces Democratic state senator Nathan Johnson in the November 3, 2026 general election. The seat is open because Ken Paxton ran for U.S. Senate instead of seeking re-election.

How were the 2026 Texas Attorney General nominees decided?

Middleton won the May 26, 2026 Republican runoff 55.2% to 44.8% over U.S. Representative Chip Roy. Nathan Johnson won the Democratic runoff 60.5% to 39.5% over former Galveston mayor Joe Jaworski.

When is the 2026 Texas Attorney General election?

The general election is November 3, 2026, with a voter registration deadline of October 5.

What is the Texas Attorney General responsible for?

The Texas AG is the chief legal officer of the state: representing Texas in litigation, issuing legal opinions to state agencies, enforcing consumer-protection law, prosecuting Medicaid fraud, and leading multi-state lawsuits against federal policy. The office also runs child-support enforcement, its largest function by staff.

Who else is on the ballot for Attorney General in 2026?

Beyond the Republican and Democratic nominees, Tom Oxford is the Libertarian candidate. The full November 3 ballot was certified by the Texas Secretary of State on August 28, 2026.

Key Dates

Registration deadline (passed)Oct 5, 2026
Early votingOct 19 to Oct 30, 2026
Mail ballot application must arriveOct 23, 2026
General ElectionNov 3, 2026