Sen. Joan Huffman joins GOP field vying to succeed Ken Paxton as Texas attorney general

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State Sen. Joan Huffman, a Houston Republican who is one of the longest tenured members of the Texas Senate, announced her bid for attorney general on Monday, making her the third high-profile entrant and second member of the upper chamber to declare for the open seat.

“I will be elected attorney general because I am the best-qualified, most experienced candidate who understands the intricacies of every function of state government,” Huffman said in a news release.

In her announcement, Huffman, 68, highlighted her experience as an assistant district attorney and state district judge in Harris County, through which she prosecuted and heard various types of felony crimes. She also touted her work as chair of the powerful Senate State Affairs, Redistricting and Finance committees, the latter of which made her the chamber’s lead budget writer over the past two funding cycles.

“The attorney general is the lawyer for the state and every state agency,” she said. “I know the ins and outs of every facet of state government.”

Huffman, who does not have to give up her state Senate seat to run since she is not up for reelection next year, is the third candidate running in the March 2026 primary to succeed Attorney General Ken Paxton, who is leaving office to challenge U.S. Sen. John Cornyn for the Republican Senate nomination.

Huffman took a shot at her opponents in her announcement.

“You want an experienced attorney,” she said, “not someone who’s never seen the inside of a courtroom or is simply a young politician climbing the political ladder.”

State Sen. Mayes Middleton, a Galveston Republican who is one of the Legislature’s most conservative lawmakers, entered the race for attorney general with in April with a promise to spend $10 million of his own money on the campaign. Aaron Reitz, a former senior official at the Department of Justice and veteran of the Texas conservative legal movement, announced his bid earlier this month.

Reitz responded to Huffman’s entry by declaring, “the liberals now have their candidate,” and waving off her attack on him as a “young” politician.

In the Senate, Huffman has spearheaded a range of criminal justice legislation and efforts to clamp down on the state’s bail system, authoring the primary pieces of the bail package that was one of Gov. Greg Abbott’s top priorities this year. She was first elected to the Senate in 2008, making her the fifth-longest tenured member and second most senior Republican in the upper chamber.

Huffman earned her law degree from South Texas College School of Law while working as a secretary for the Harris County District Attorney’s office. She then became a Harris County prosecutor, leading prosecutions in more than 100 jury trials, before being elected twice to the 183rd Criminal District Court, according to her website.

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