Middleton leading Johnson in Texas AG race, poll shows

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(Legal Newsline) — With Election Day just around the corner, Republican Mayes Middleton has nearly a 6 percent edge over his Democratic rival Nathan Johnson in the Texas Attorney General race, according to a recent ActiVote poll.

The poll surveyed 400 likely midterm voters between Sept. 27 to Oct. 17 and found that Middleton leads Johnson by 5.8 percent.

Middleton is garnering support from rural and suburban white male voters over the age of 30 with higher incomes and education while women and minority voters are leaning toward Johnson, the poll found.

The two state senators faced tough primary elections, as both candidates emerged following the May runoff. But when it comes to war chest sizes, Middleton is the hands down winner.

Middleton netted more than $3.3 million in contributions in final months of the race, receiving numerous sizable donations from business tycoons and trial lawyers, according to the Texas Ethics Commission.

The largest contribution came on Sept. 22 from Texans for Lawsuit Reform PAC with a donation of $500,000, campaign finance reports show.

Some of the other more notable donations include:

A $25,000 donation from former Astros owners Drayton McLane;A $100,000 contribution from Buc-ee’s CEO Arch Aplin; A $100,000 contribution from futures trader Salem Abraham; A $25,000 donation from HS Law PAC; A $20,000 donation from Brad Alberts, CEO of the Dallas Stars; andA $200,000 contribution from investor Kenneth Fisher.

Johnson raised a little more than $1 million during the July 1 through Sept. 24 reporting period, $2 million less than his rival.

While Johnson received numerous smaller donations, far more than Middleton, he did collect a few larger ones as well, including a $25,000 donation from Meridian Media CEO Anas Aljumaily and a $40,000 contribution from Nadeem Aslam

The winner of the Nov. 3 election will replace Attorney General Ken Paxton, who ousted lone-time Sen. John Cornyn during the primary in hopes of claiming his U.S. Senate seat.

During Paxton’s time, the Texas OAG became known for hiring outside law firms to handle multi-million dollar litigation against corporations and big tech companies, like Google and Meta.

Texas is one the largest AG offices in the nation, with more than 4,000 employees and 750 attorneys.