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State of Texas: GOP AG hopefuls agree on policy but clash over records in Dallas debate
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DALLAS (Nexstar) – The four candidates vying for the Republican nomination for Texas Attorney General — State Sen. Mayes Middleton, R-Galveston, State Sen. Joan Huffman, R-Houston, former Assistant U.S. Attorney Aaron Reitz and U.S. Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas — agree on almost everything. However, that didn’t stop them from attacking each other on their records and experience during Tuesday night’s Republican Attorneys General Association (RAGA) debate.
During the debate, hosted by BlazeTV’s Allie Beth Stuckey, candidates answered 16 questions on the following topics: Sharia law, entitlement fraud, border security, antisemitism, abortion-inducing pills, transgender ideology, protecting women’s spaces, fighting other states environmental regulations, combatting liberal district attorneys, fentanyl, marijuana, gambling, the threat of China, the open primary system, the Supreme Court and the limits of the AG’s power.
Throughout discussions of those topics, all four basically agreed on how each case ought to be handled, although there were sometimes a few differences on the political reality of the situation.
For example, Stuckey asked, “Should Texas adopt a closed primary system, and what role should the Attorney General play in that process?” Texas currently has an open primary system, allowing all registered voters to choose a Republican or Democratic ballot, even if they prefer the other party. The Republican Party of Texas has sued the state in an attempt to make primary voters have to register with a party, claiming the open primary law on the books violates their rights.
“Yes,” Roy immediately responded. “And enforce the law.”
“Well, I think the legislature needs to write that law so the Attorney General would know what to enforce and how to enforce it,” Huffman pushed back. “And they have not to this point. So I would wait and see what the legislature does, but I will enforce any law the legislature passed.”
The first contentious moment came during the question on border security, after Roy touted his recording working under the current Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who was in the audience.
“Don’t be fooled when (Roy) tells you that he was Paxton’s chief deputy and he wants to cite his record there,” Reitz said. Reitz served in a similar role and is endorsed by Paxton in this race. “He was so ineffective — so bad at serving as Paxton’s deputy — that Paxton fired him.”
Roy denied the claim and countered Reitz’s Paxton endorsement.
“(U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas) has put his full confidence in me to serve as the Attorney General of Texas,” Roy said. Both Roy and Reitz have spent time as Cruz’s chief of staff.
While attacks flew throughout, they ramped up at the very end. Roy, the frontrunner according to a recent University of Houston poll, used his closing arguments to take potshots........