By Lori Lee
NDG Contributing Writer

With just a few weeks before Americans head to the polls, Texas politics is getting interesting, y’all. James Talarico is neck and neck with Ken Paxton, who vacated his seat to run for the U.S. Senate. Gina Hinojosa is within striking distance of Gov. Greg Abbott, and despite mid-district gerrymandering, Rep. Vicente Gonzalez and Rep. Henry Cuellar, both Democrats, are holding their ground in South Texas districts.

But the battle for the soul of the state’s legal system is in Nathan Johnson’s race against Mayes Middleton, which is turning into a nail-biter. According to a Texas Public Opinion Research poll of 1,048 likely Texas voters, 39% favored Republican Mayes Middleton, while 38% supported Democrat Nathan Johnson. What makes the poll interesting is that 42% of these respondents identified as Republicans, 35% as Democrats, and 20% as Independents. As it stands, with the margin of error at 3.4 and with 18% undecided, the race could be anyone’s ballgame at this point.

When Johnson decided to run for the Texas Senate back in 2018, the media didn’t take him seriously, assuming a far-right incumbent was safe, but Johnson flipped the three-decade-long Republican stronghold anyway.

Texas politics is heating up as Nathan Johnson and Mayes Middleton face a tight attorney general race that highlights sharp differences over money in politics, partisan influence, and the role of the attorney general’s office. (nathanfortexas.com)

Critical of the money and power system in Texas, Johnson cites a total lack of limits on campaign contributions. As he said, money finds its way around the rules and is very important to winning an election—that’s how you get your message out.

“I’ve worked very hard while in office to make sure that my opinions and attitudes are not bent by people who give me money, and they’re not bent by people who don’t give me money.”

He warns that there are dangerous levels of influence in politics today, with Texas public education now under the control of out-of-state mega-donors. Pointing to an unprecedented $6 million donation from a billionaire, Johnson explained how Governor Greg Abbott weaponized the funds to target and unseat independent-minded rural Republicans who refused to back school vouchers, misrepresenting them as weak on the border.

Johnson sees the right-wing purge as an open door for Democrats to pitch themselves as the only stable adults in the room.

“With the lid off—with no contribution limits, I think we just need some people with integrity,” said Johnson.

Framing Middleton as an election denier intent on using the attorney general’s office for a right-wing partisan agenda, he said:
“One of us is pledged to use the office to protect people and enforce the law. The other one is pledged to use the office to serve Donald Trump in the right-wing agenda.”

To nervous moderates, Johnson points to his passage of 134 bills in four sessions. As a Democrat in the minority, you don’t pass a single bill in the legislature without extensive Republican support, he said.

“If moderates are afraid I’m an iconoclast that can’t work with people, I’ve demonstrated that I can,” Johnson said.

The attorney general’s office is really about upholding the rule of law, he added.

In the bills I’ve filed, the arguments I’ve made in committee and on the Senate floor, and the bills I’ve killed, there is a thread of respect for the rule of law running through my work, he said.

“I take election integrity very seriously, said Johnson. But I take it seriously enough that I’m not going to spin a lie about it the way Ken Paxton has.”

He is also critical of Dr. Oz—who is in charge of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services—arguing that he is interpreting the “one big terrible bill” passed by Congress differently than lawmakers intended. Johnson notes the misinterpretation results in a $35 million cut to hospital finance systems, which he argues will raise insurance premiums and property taxes and end in the closure of rural hospitals.

“You need a good attorney general who is not pledged allegiance to Donald Trump to sue the Trump administration when they screw up and harm Texans,” said Johnson.

If elected, Johnson has a number of institutional corrections that directly oppose Middleton’s plans. He intends to reverse the state’s legal hostility toward the Texas Dream Act, halt attempts to enforce Texas abortion bans in other states, and end what he calls “groundless investigations” that waste thousands of staff hours searching for nonexistent voter fraud.

Ultimately, Johnson’s platform blends moderate progressive spending with consumer protection, antitrust enforcement, and a return to institutional norms. His candidacy offers a stark contrast not only to Middleton’s partisan agenda, but also to the legacy of Ken Paxton, who misused the office in many ways, including trying to invalidate the electoral college votes of Texans.

It may be time for a change in Texas politics. By the looks of the polls, a massive overhaul, in fact, may be in the works.

Early voting in Dallas County runs October 19 through October 30. And with the enthusiasm in Texas lately, one might expect voters to run the polls.