In major upset, Nathan Johnson takes Texas attorney general’s office for Democrats
By Eleanor Klibanoff, The Texas Tribune
November 3, 2026
In a stunning upset with repercussions across the national legal landscape, Democrat Nathan Johnson claimed victory in the race to be Texas’ next top lawyer.
Johnson, a Dallas state senator and corporate litigator, is the first Democrat elected attorney general since 1994. He defeated Mayes Middleton, an oil and gas heir who tethered himself closely to the president.
Middleton called Johnson to concede, according to a spokesperson for Johnson’s campaign.
Johnson has vowed to focus on the obligations of the state’s largest law firm, like consumer protection, anti-corruption and child support enforcement. He said his office will sue the Trump administration when he believes the federal government is overstepping in Texas.
The change in leadership represents a seismic shift for an agency that has become increasingly focused on pushing conservative causes through the courts on behalf of Republican administrations, other states and private, right-wing litigants.
As the largest red state attorney general’s office in the country, Texas has played an outsized role in shaping conservative jurisprudence, much as California and New York have done on the left.
Middleton had vowed to continue that effort, promising all the partisanship of his predecessor, Ken Paxton, with none of the ethical and legal scandals. Middleton ran on his close relationship with President Donald Trump, promising to “use every resource and tool to back up the president, back up his fight to secure our border, to deport illegal immigrants, the list goes on.”
Middleton spent close to $20 million of his own money to defeat U.S. Rep. Chip Roy in a contentious primary and runoff. But he pulled back during the general election, as races at the top of the ticket drew more attention and funding.
Johnson, meanwhile, ran ads reminding voters about the agency’s responsibilities beyond headline-grabbing political work — and why he was the person to restore those functions.
“My strategy is to let them be crazy and unproductive, and run from my side as the serious guy,” he told The Texas Tribune before the election. “I think people are tired of being treated like they’re stupid.”
This is not Johnson’s first time defying the odds. In 2018, he unseated a well-funded, conservative state senator and flipped a seat that had been under Republican control for decades. Over the subsequent eight years, Johnson built a reputation as a bipartisan dealmaker who managed to eke out substantive wins in a GOP-dominated chamber. He has said he will bring the same willingness to work with anyone to the attorney general’s office.
One of the biggest accomplishments of Johnson’s tenure, however, is already behind him. In reclaiming this agency from Republican control, he has kneecapped the conservative legal movement, at least temporarily, said Paul Nolette, a political scientist who studies attorneys general at Marquette University.
“It would be a sea change,” Nolette said. “The biggest effect would not even be that there is a Democrat in the office, but that it’s not a Republican. Who becomes the new leader of the Republican pack? That’s an open question.”
On the other side of the aisle, California and New York already dominate the space, so Nolette said he anticipates Texas being a smaller player in national litigation.
That suits Johnson fine, he said, as he hopes to stay out of the political fray and focus on state-level issues.
“I think people are hungry for very serious, very substantive work from their elected officials,” he said.
This article first appeared on The Texas Tribune. 