New poll brings new punches in Texas GOP attorney general race

AUSTIN, Texas - The fight is heating up for who will replace Ken Paxton as Texas attorney general. 

The battleground is especially rocky for the four republicans vying for the party nomination.

What they're saying:

The political temperature and rhetoric went up with the release of a new poll from the University of Houston’s Hobby School of Public Affairs. For the GOP Attorney General's race, the poll was like tossing a match into a pool of gasoline.

It was good news and bad news for front-runner Chip Roy. In the poll, the Texas congressman had a 10-point lead over the next closest contender, State Senator Mayes Middleton. But the poll had Roy at just 30%, which isn’t high enough to indicate he will be able to avoid a runoff.

Middleton is trying to hold on to the potential runoff spot by running tough ads accusing Roy of not being a true Trump supporter. 

In an interview with FOX 26 Houston's Greg Groogan, Roy brushed off the attacks.

"That’s what you are going to do: throw things up against the wall and see if it sticks. I don’t think people are buying it. Nobody in their right mind doesn’t think I’m not working directly with President Trump right now to deliver," said Roy, who went on to describe the campaign ad allegations as nonsense.

Another GOP challenger, Aaron Reitz, is also trying to make the runoff. He has been endorsed by outgoing AG Ken Paxton, but in the new UH poll, his support was only at 6%. 

On Thursday, in a news release, Reitz said the poll was flaw. In his interview with Groogan, he claimed if only half of the people who voted for Ken Paxton in this upcoming Senate race vote for him, he will make the runoff. Reitz, in the interview, also threw punches at all the contenders.

"Let's do a quick review. Chip Roy has spent his entire political career opposing Ken Paxton and opposing President Trump. Remember he campaigned against him in the 24th Presidential cycle and said he should be impeached. Trump has had some not so kind things to say about him over the years. Joan Huffman was a real lawyer as a local prosecutor here in Harris County about 40 years ago. She was a criminal judge 20 years ago, and I respect that history, but really, since the early 2000s she hasn't done anything of note legally. She has just served in the Senate, and nobody knows what she's been doing as a lawyer, and even if I were to credit that legal experience, I would say, look we are not running to be the state's prosecutor. This is the Attorney General. It is a civil litigation job that deals primarily with civil matters that get taken up on appeal to the U.S. and Texas Supreme Court. Last and potentially least, we've got Mays ‘middle weight’ who went to law school 16 years ago, immediately graduated and inherited his family oil company, literally no law experience whatsoever, no clients, no courtroom, no trials, no appeals, no motions, no convictions, no investigations, no nothing," said Reitz.

State senator Joan Huffman is running third in the poll. She has spoken about winning nasty political fights in the past, and at a recent candidate forum, Huffman promoted her tough on crime record. She promised to follow the rule of law as the attorney general. 

With early voting a few days away, there is not a lot of time to make up a big gap in the polls.