AUSTIN, Texas (AP) – Texas kicked off the nation’s long and likely bruising midterm season Tuesday with primaries that are testing the state’s new, tougher voting laws while giving Republicans a chance to validate GOP leaders who have pushed already deeply red territory farther right and proudly tightened their embrace of former President Donald Trump.
Republican Gov. Greg Abbott appears well positioned to secure his party’s nomination, beginning his campaign with more than $50 million and staking out hard-line positions on guns, immigration and abortion.
The GOP primary for attorney general may be more competitive. Incumbent Ken Paxton is facing several challengers, including Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush, the nephew of one president and grandson of another, and U.S. Rep. Louie Gohmert. Paxton led a failed lawsuit to overturn the 2020 election and has for years faced securities fraud charges and an FBI investigation into corruption allegations. He has broadly denied wrongdoing.
Democrats face challenges of their own after nearly three decades of statewide losses. Former U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke has little competition for the party’s nomination for governor, but he faces uphill odds going into the fall. Nine-term U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, meanwhile, is hoping to avoid becoming the first Democratic member of Congress to lose a primary this year. He’s facing progressive Jessica Cisneros and is contending with the fallout of a recent FBI raid on his home, though he’s denied wrongdoing.
Still, in America’s largest Republican state, much of the focus is on the GOP’s rightward lurch. Texas’ rapid growth – driven by more than 4 million new residents – has shifted once solidly red suburbs away from Republicans, but the GOP has countered with dramatic new voting restrictions.