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Republican Congressman Announces Bid For New Position
Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) on Thursday announced he will run for Texas attorney general in 2026.
The Texas Republican joins a crowded primary field to replace Ken Paxton.
“Texas has a long and proud tradition of rising to defend our homes, our freedom, and our communities,” Roy said.
“I’m running for Attorney General to carry on that legacy… unafraid to fight, unafraid to win, and unafraid to defend Texas at every turn,” he added.
Watch Roy’s campaign video below:
Texas has a long and proud tradition of rising to defend our homes, our freedom, and our communities.
I’m running for Attorney General to carry on that legacy… unafraid to fight, unafraid to win, and unafraid to defend Texas at every turn. #LiveFree pic.twitter.com/eqQNwx0XHm
— Chip Roy (@chiproytx) August 21, 2025
NBC News has more:
Roy joins several other Republican candidates in the race for attorney general after Paxton announced a bid against Sen. John Cornyn in 2026.
Roy has repeatedly voted against big funding bills and has railed against the ballooning national debt and deficit spending.
In one of his more memorable speeches, Roy, in November 2023, took to the House floor and berated his own GOP leadership, asking colleagues to name “one thing” that Republicans had done since taking back control of the House that January.
“I want my Republican colleagues to give me one thing — one! — that I can go campaign on and say we did. One!” Roy exclaimed. “Anybody sitting in the complex, you want to come down to the floor and come explain to me one material, meaningful, significant thing the Republican majority has done besides, ‘Well, I guess it’s not as bad as the Democrats.’”
He was one of a handful of Republicans who backed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis over Trump in the 2024 presidential primary. And he initially was opposed to Trump’s “big beautiful bill” earlier this year before eventually voting for it, saying he helped secure changes, including eliminating clean-energy subsidies.
The Republican primary for Texas attorney general already includes state Sens. Joan Huffman and Mayes Middleton in addition to former Department of Justice official Aaron Reitz.
During an interview with Will Cain, Roy criticized career politicians in Congress, whom he considers “permanent legislators.”
“I don’t think we need permanent legislators, I think we need people that are willing to turn that over and let someone else now go represent the fine people of the Hill Country,” Roy said.
“I want to go fight for Texas,” he added.
Check it out:
BREAKING: Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) is officially running for Texas Attorney General.
He made the announcement on @willcain’s show, before taking a swipe at the career representatives in the House.
“I don’t think we need permanent legislators, I think we need people that are… pic.twitter.com/d6cy7eT1jd
— The Vigilant Fox (@VigilantFox) August 21, 2025
Roll Call noted:
Roy may already have advantages. The congressman, who enters the field with roughly $2.5 million in his federal campaign coffers, has become well-known outside of Texas, thanks in part to frequent appearances on right-wing media including Fox News and Newsmax.
The race is playing out at the same time as a high-stakes fight to redraw Texas’s congressional maps has drawn national attention.
On Wednesday, the Republican-led state Legislature, under pressure from Trump, voted to advance redistricting plans that could give the GOP five more House seats in 2026. The state Senate could approve the new maps as early as Thursday.
If elected to be the state’s top law enforcement official, Roy would enter office with a deep familiarity of the personalities and politics of state government. Before coming to Congress, Roy served stints working as an adviser to former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, as an assistant to Paxton, and as a staffer under then-Texas attorney general Cornyn.
Roy was first elected to Congress in 2018 after narrowly winning an open seat in central Texas to succeed retiring GOP Rep. Lamar Smith in the 21st congressional district. He has won comfortably ever since.