Rep. Chip Roy announced his bid for Texas attorney general, passing on returning to Congress and his prominent role in the hard-line conservative House Freedom Caucus.
He announced his campaign for attorney general with a video on YouTube, saying he’s “running to secure our great legacy of freedom. I’m running for God, for our families, and for our shared faith. I’m running for Texas.”
He is giving up his House seat for a shot at replacing outgoing Attorney General Ken Paxton, who is mounting a GOP primary challenge to incumbent Sen. John Cornyn.
Mr. Roy said he could serve as a congressman “forever and fulfilled professionally.”
“But representatives should not be permanent,” he said. “And my experience watching Texans united in response to the devastating Hill Country floods made clear that I want to come home.”
Mr. Roy has served in the House since 2019 and represents Texas’s 21st Congressional District. As an outspoken member of the House Freedom Caucus, he has clashed with party leaders, including President Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana.
Mr. Trump has, at times, even called for a primary challenger to get Mr. Roy out of Congress.
Mr. Roy’s campaign for attorney general will also test his hard-line conservative politics statewide in Texas.
He said he wants to be the next attorney general because Texas is “under assault.”
“Radical Democrats and George Soros are funding DAs and liberal judges hellbent on coddling criminals and putting Texans in danger,” he said.
He also railed against the open border policies that have allowed in “illegal immigrants and dangerous fentanyl,” and mentioned election security and the Chinese Communist Party owning land in the southern state.
“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,” he said.
In the Republican primary, Mr. Roy faces rivals including a pair of state senators, Mayes Middleton and Joan Huffman, and former U.S. Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Policy Aaron Reitz.
• Mallory Wilson can be reached at mwilson@washingtontimes.com.