Rep. Chip Roy announced a bid for Texas attorney general on Thursday, seeking to replace Ken Paxton in an already crowded Republican primary field.
Roy, a Freedom Caucus member, has an antagonistic history with most of his party’s leaders, including House Speaker Mike Johnson and President Donald Trump.
Roy was one of the House Republicans who refused to join efforts to vote to overturn the 2020 election, later blasting Trump for engaging in "clearly impeachable conduct." The Texas Republican only aggravated his relationship with Trump in the 2024 primaries, when he backed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis over the former president.
After Trump was reelected, Roy briefly tried to make nice with the president but immediately became a thorn in Trump's side once again by opposing his plan to raise the debt ceiling.
Roy has claimed that the tensions between the two Republicans have been exaggerated, but points of conflict between them have continued to emerge. Trump has at times called for Roy to be primaried.
Those disputes have also extended to Johnson, with whom Roy has battled over GOP bills that don't meet his expectations for tighter government spending restrictions — including the party's prized One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
Roy's bid for the Texas attorney general's seat comes as the state is under the national spotlight, thanks to a dramatic battle over redrawn congressional maps that would likely give Republicans five more seats headed into the 2026 midterms.
The Texas House on Wednesday approved the new maps after a prolonged fight over the partisan gerrymander that saw a contingent of Democratic lawmakers depart the state to delay the vote. Final passage is expected this week.
He announced the launch of his campaign with a video warning that “the Texas of our dreams is under assault” by “radical Democrats,” “open border politicians” and “faceless corporations and the Chinese Communist Party.”
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