Texas primary elections: Candidates make final pushes ahead of March 3

AUSTIN, Texas - With primary election day now less than two weeks away, many have their eyes on both state and local seats, including a handful of GOP races. 

Many candidates are expected to make their final pushes to secure votes, especially in stacked field such as the GOP primary for Texas Attorney General. 

Texas Attorney General GOP primary

What they're saying:

"The AG's race on the Republican side is stacked with really high-quality candidates and it's going to be interesting to see how it plays out," says Joshua Blank, research director for the Texas Politics Project.

In the latest poll from the Hobby School of Public Affairs at the University of Houston, Chip Roy leads the pack with 33% of the vote of likely Republican voters. Mayes Middleton followed behind at 23%, with Joan Huffman at 13% and Aaron Reitz sitting at 6%.

"The real challenge becomes how to differentiate oneself when, in general, party label doesn’t count and for the most part, they agree on almost every one of the issues," says Blank. He tells FOX 7 that the current candidates hold almost identical ideologies, but the key in these last few weeks to separating themselves in the field could be their relationship with Donald Trump.

"The issue that has most animated Republican primaries up and down the ballot in Texas this year has been allegiance to the president," says Blank. That was apparent at last week’s GOP Attorney General debate in Dallas, where ties to President Trump were a major talking point, and where frontrunner Chip Roy may differ.

"What's interesting about this AG's race is that Roy hasn't leaned into that in the same way that other candidates up and down the ballot and almost all of the other Republican races has. And the question of election day is going to be, does that pay off for him or not? I don't know the answer, but that's the interesting question."

Texas Congressional District 21

When it comes to replacing Chip Roy’s congressional seat, a former baseball star has a promising chance. Mark Teixeira is facing off against 11 other candidates in the GOP primary race for Congressional District 21, which includes parts of San Antonio and Austin. But unlike other candidates, Teixeira has over $2 million in campaign funding with a set of endorsements from President Trump and Governor Abbott.

"Mark Teixeira has 10 times the amount of cash on hand as his next closest competitor in the race. The endorsement of the president, the endorsement of the governor, and it's really his race to lose at this point," says Blank. 

Texas Congressional District 31

Another local race with a candidate packed field is Congressional District 31, which includes parts of North Austin and Williamson County. Since 2003 John Carter has held the seat, but this year he has nine other candidates running to take his spot.

"He's got a very crowded field of competitors looking to unseat him in the primary, but incumbents tend to run, win re-election at pretty high rates," says Blank.

In recent weeks, a wave of controversy was sparked in the race after fellow candidate Valentina Gomez was banned from future Williamson County GOP events after confronting Carter at a gala. In the video she can be heard asking, "Why are you letting Texas become like Minnesota?" and "Where were you when our soldiers were getting kicked out of the military for refusing the Covid vaccine?"

Local perspective:

For Joshua Blank, he says it’s just a trend of how modern campaigns operate.

"We see that all the time and there are fresh examples almost every day that show us the way the campaign is advancing in a way that is meant to generate coverage, outrage, interest, engagement."

What's next:

Primary election day across Texas is set for March 3rd.

For full election details and information on voting, you can go to the FOX 7 Austin Election page.