WASHINGTON — Conservative firebrand Rep. Chip Roy said Thursday he is running for Texas attorney general in 2026, jumping into a crowded Republican primary field to replace Ken Paxton.
Roy, a member of the far-right House Freedom Caucus, has been a thorn in the side of President Donald Trump; Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La.; and the House GOP leadership team. A former attorney and top aide to Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, Roy first came to Congress in 2019.
In his campaign launch video posted Thursday, Roy, 53, warned “the Texas of our dreams, our families and our forefathers is under assault,” blaming “radical Democrats and George Soros,” “open border politicians,” and “faceless corporations and the Chinese Communist Party.”
“Today, we draw a line in the sand,” he said.
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.
In 2021, after Democrat Joe Biden’s presidential election victory, Roy broke with Trump and GOP leaders when he voted to certify the results of the 2020 election.
“That vote may well sign my political death warrant, but so be it,” Roy said at the time.
Since then, Trump has disparaged Roy on several occasions, calling him a “RINO” congressman who seeks “cheap publicity” and should face a primary challenge.
In his campaign video, Roy briefly invoked Trump, saying he helped the president secure the border.
“Texans’ next attorney general must have a proven record of fighting to preserve, protect and defend our legacy, an attorney general unafraid to fight, unafraid to win,” Roy said. “That’s why I fought to secure our border and help President Trump deliver results.”
Roy joins a handful of other conservative rabble-rousers who are heading for the exits of Congress to run for statewide office — a welcome development for Johnson and his team, who have struggled to corral votes from these Freedom Caucus members.
Former Freedom Caucus Chair Andy Biggs is running for governor in Arizona, while Rep. Ralph Norman is running for that same post in his native South Carolina. Rep. Nancy Mace, a Freedom Caucus ally who also frequently bucked leadership, is also running for South Carolina governor. And former Rep. Matt Gaetz, who created headaches for leadership, resigned from Congress last November and is eyeing a bid for governor in Florida.
