In the May 17 episode, Republican candidates for Texas Attorney General Chip Roy and Mayes Middleton throw barbs at one another and press their cases to voters before the May 26 runoff election. And Sarah Eckhardt, the Democratic nominee for Texas Comptroller tells us her day one priority if she’s elected in the fall.
2026-05-15
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Straight ahead here, political futures are on the line as early voting begins Monday on the ballot, the Republican race for Texas Attorney General, Chip Roy versus Mays Middleton, both in studio with us. Roy on whether he waited too long to go negative, the biggest difference between him and his opponent, and what Roy had to say about data centers.
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Mays Middleton on his closing argument to voters, where he thinks he stands in the race right now, and what he has to say about the attack ads against him. Plus Democratic state senator Sarah Eckhardt on her campaign for state comptroller, promising to make the office an aggressive watchdog, but how far is she prepared to go? And that surprise stop in Austin.
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President Obama already campaigning with James Talarico and Gina Hinojosa. So is the National Democratic Party going to look closer at Texas this year? Inside Texas Politics with Jason Whitely starts now. Thank you for being here. Let's begin the program as always with the top political headlines happening across our state. Agricultural commissioner Sid Miller is blasting Governor Abbott this time over the state gas tax.
< spk_0 - 14:03:45.7790000 >
With prices so high, Miller wants Abbott to suspend that tax, which would knock about 20 cents off per gallon when we fill up. But Governor Abbott said he cannot legally do this. Miller shot back, saying, quote, Funny how the governor's executive authority always seems available for everything except giving taxpayers a break. No love lost here though after Abbott endorsed Miller's opponent in the primary. Commissioners in Hill County are the first in the state to say no to data centers, at least temporarily.
< spk_0 - 14:04:14.0690000 >
Hill County put a one year pause on building new data centers so it can study how much water and electricity they consume, but can counties actually tell private property owners what they can do with their land? State Senator Paul Betancourt says no, so watch to see if this one ends up in court. And a troubling new report about public schools in Texas. Enrollment is falling and forecast to get worse.
< spk_0 - 14:04:37.3890000 >
76,000 fewer students attended public school this year, the largest single drop in Texas in a single year here. It happened. Before vouchers even went into effect, it's the nonpartisan group called Texas 2036 that estimates public schools could lose 120,000 more kids over the next two years. Several reasons for it, including declining birth rates and more competition from private schools. Early voting begins Monday across the state in the May 26th runoff election.
< spk_0 - 14:05:06.0290000 >
The John Cornyn Ken Paxton race is getting a lot of attention, but the race to replace Paxton as Attorney general is also as competitive. Those two candidates up first with us here, State Senator Mays Middleton from Galveston and Congressman Chip Roy from Austin, who leads us off as both men make their final push to voters. Congressman, welcome back to the program here. Great to
< spk_1 - 14:05:26.7290000 >
be here. Great to be in Dallas.
< spk_0 - 14:05:27.7700000 >
We are closing in on early voting here. What's your honest assessment of where this race is right now?
< spk_1 - 14:05:32.1300000 >
Yeah, I think anybody who's objective will look at this and see you've got a race that's neck and neck, uh, that's, uh, within the margin of error in virtually every poll that we've seen, there was one outlier poll down in Houston. We don't put much stock in it. It's a tax, uh, push, uh, uh, poll, but, uh, we feel very good. We're going across the state of Texas, getting a lot of great response. And, uh, you know, there's one key difference in this election than the March 3rd election is that, you know, we're coming in, uh, hard with ads and we're, we're doing contrast ads against my opponent. I ran nothing but positive ads in the first race. That's how I wanted to run the campaign.
< spk_0 - 14:06:00.9290000 >
Was that a strategic error to not hit him after he was hitting you so hard?
< spk_1 - 14:06:05.4100000 >
Well, we had a four-way race and I'm in Congress doing my job and we're running our ads to get our name built up where I didn't have name ID. Mine was already higher, and we were making clear that I was supported by Senator Ted Cruz. He's endorsed me, that I'm endorsed by a lot of conservatives across the state of Texas, and I think that laid the foundation. You know, maybe in retrospect we could have run a few negative ads making clear May's lack of experience and the fact that he's made some strategic errors over the over the years in his service in the Senate.
< spk_1 - 14:06:32.7500000 >
But, uh, we're going to make that clear now when it matters, and we're doing that right now and people are responding.
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Biggest difference between you and Mays Middleton as voters go to the polls.
< spk_1 - 14:06:41.2790000 >
I'm a real lawyer. He's not, and you need a real lawyer as the Attorney General.
< spk_0 - 14:06:44.6600000 >
What do you mean real lawyer because he's going to say, oh, I absolutely have a law degree.
< spk_1 - 14:06:48.1190000 >
Well, having a law degree doesn't mean you're a real lawyer. You need somebody who's actually been in court, stood before a judge who's presented a case, convicted a criminal, who stood up as the first Assistant Attorney general, managed the complex litigation, and figuring out which cases to file and who to file them with. Winning a case alongside West Virginia on the Clean Power Plan, fighting President Obama's wrongful declaration on the deferred action for children and parents in terms of illegal alien children. These are all cases I've been running, leading, winning on.
< spk_1 - 14:07:16.8820000 >
I was a lawyer for Governor Perry, a lawyer in Washington. That actually gives you experience that is necessary to be the Attorney General. It's not the Secretary of Law, it's the Attorney General. You need to be a lawyer who can show up in court and actually do the work. So, well, I'm just going to admit. the agency, you know what, it's important to actually know the agency and know how to administer it if elected. Priority one.
< spk_1 - 14:07:38.5360000 >
Priority one is to make sure you've got the best team in place to be able to execute and deliver on open records, open government, and to make sure child support is delivering and make sure we're continuing to carry out the litigation against the federal government. Is that keeping Paxton's team in place? Well, look, at the end of the day, most of what we call the 8th floor, the executive, I've already gone through this. I was Ken Paxton's 1st, 1st Assistant Attorney General. Governor Abbott took his team, went over to the governor's office. And uh so I had to build a team from scratch. I hired Jim Davis. He's now the president of the University of Texas. I hired Brantley Starr.
< spk_1 - 14:08:06.9590000 >
He's now a federal judge here in Dallas. I hired Bernie McNamee. He was a Trump appointed FERC commissioner. You go hire the best talent and then you can build a great team. We did that. And I'll do that on day one, but the second thing is, is to go open the books of the NGOs and the nonprofits that are trying to Islamify Texas, that are putting criminals on the streets by, uh, you know, backing up liberal DAs and judges that are not wanting to defend the people, and I'll make sure that we're stopping the open borders and looking at these NGOs and nonprofits as well.
< spk_1 - 14:08:32.6490000 >
And then I think another important issue that, that people don't talk about enough, I think on the campaign trail, and I try to. Is what I call the corporatification of Texas. We've got boardrooms in New York that are deciding how we live. Data centers are, you know, important in terms of how we deal with economic growth, but they have an impact on power and the grid, they have an impact on water, they have an impact on our kids. They have an impact on the night sky in rural communities, and you need an attorney general that's going to defend the people of Texas and not just whatever the boardrooms say when they come into Texas.
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And somebody who's gonna stand up and fight to deliver to stop that Islamification of Texas and to make sure we keep our streets safe.
< spk_0 - 14:09:06.4590000 >
Congressman,
< spk_1 - 14:09:06.7500000 >
good luck to you. Thank you. God
< spk_0 - 14:09:07.8090000 >
bless. Senator, good to see you here. Let's start with the same question we asked your opponent, closing in on early voting here. Give us an honest assessment. Where do you think you stand in the race right now?
< spk_2 - 14:09:17.6300000 >
So look, Jason, the latest poll we're ahead, obviously you saw the UVH poll that came out here what, a week or two ago. But the thing that's really important to remember here. Is look at Chip Roy's record. He did work in the AG's office. That is true, right? He has that on his resume. But how did that end? How was the last day? He was told resign or be fired. And escorted out of the building because of gross insubordination, and I don't know about you.
< spk_2 - 14:09:47.7790000 >
But when you tell someone resign or be fired, you don't let them back in the building. Look, this is also why I believe that General Paxson has said he is voting for me in this Republican primary runoff. Ken Paxton said he's voting for me in this runoff on the twenty-sixth. Also, Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick has endorsed me in this race. My former primary opponent.
< spk_2 - 14:10:08.1490000 >
Aaron Wrights has endorsed me in this race, and the first thing that he said, he said the reason why is he knows I will use every resource and tool in the AG's office to back up President Trump. There's only one MAGA candidate here in this runoff, and it's me. President Trump doesn't trust Chip Roy, neither do I, and neither should you.
< spk_0 - 14:10:27.9700000 >
Your opponent though argues that that you're running on ideology and endorsements as you just mentioned, not courtroom experience, which he says that he has. How do you respond to that? He said he told us just a moment ago here, you, you've never tried a case in court. You're not qualified. How do you respond?
< spk_2 - 14:10:43.9700000 >
Here's the experience that matters the most defeating the left. That is the number one thing in the AG's office. And look, for 7 years I've been writing these laws, drafting these laws, defending them against Democrat attorneys on the House floor, defending them against Democrat attorneys on the Senate floor, getting them over the finish line and winning. Who better to enforce these laws than someone that was on the ground floor writing them and already defending them against the left's attacks? And this is a 4000 person agency.
< spk_2 - 14:11:13.4600000 >
This is 7. 150 attorneys. It is an executive level role, right? DAs, they're in the judicial branch. Those are prosecutors. The AG is in the executive branch, and I'm the only one in this race that has the executive level experience of signing the front of a paycheck and knowing where the buck stops. And the other guy has pretty much worked for government his entire life. Shouldn't
< spk_0 - 14:11:35.9790000 >
the attorney General though be able to try a case in court?
< spk_2 - 14:11:39.4600000 >
Well, so look, Ken Paxton, 2013, let's back up here. Why did we support him when he ran for AG? It wasn't because he was a civil attorney like me, right? It wasn't because he worked at Gibson Dunn. It wasn't because he was a general counsel. The reason why we supported him for attorney general is because he had that proven conservative record, and he was the top one or two most conservative members in the Texas Senate, just like me. And he's not in the courtroom.
< spk_2 - 14:12:07.6190000 >
And the reason why he's not is he is busy leading as he should be.
< spk_0 - 14:12:12.4190000 >
If you become the nominee, will you ask Chip Roy for his endorsement?
< spk_2 - 14:12:15.1400000 >
Absolutely, yeah, you will. I will absolutely.
< spk_0 - 14:12:18.2190000 >
If he's become, if Chip becomes the nominee, will you support him?
< spk_2 - 14:12:21.9000000 >
Absolutely, 100%. We got to elect Republicans up and down the ballot in November because it's a spiritual attack we're under right now. Texas is under attack, and they want to destroy us.
< spk_0 - 14:12:32.8200000 >
Senator, good luck to you.
< spk_2 - 14:12:33.9090000 >
Thank you, Jason. Appreciate you having me on today.
< spk_0 - 14:12:37.5900000 >
All right, let's bring in the round table to talk about the politics of this. Bud Kennedy is here from the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Natalie Haddad, political reporter at WFAA in Dallas, and Matt Matthew Watkins with us again, the editor in chief of the Texas Tribune. And Matthew, let's start with you. Mays Middleton, Chip Roy, we just heard from both of them there. This looks like it's going to be a close race here. How do you think this shakes out?
< spk_3 - 14:12:56.0300000 >
Yeah, I mean, I think it's going to be a very close race. A lot of money being spent trying to define these candidates. Uh, Mays Middleton, as you talked about, has really put out that message. MAGA Mays Middleton, right? I'm sure a lot of people have seen those commercials, received those flyers. Chip Roy, as you, as you saw in that interview, really trying to take some steps to define him beyond that. It'll be interesting to see how it works, but I do think it'll be a close race going into the runoff.
< spk_0 - 14:13:20.0390000 >
And Natalie, did Chip Roy wait too late to attack? Mays
< spk_4 - 14:13:24.7600000 >
Middleton, you know, I think it was very becoming of him to admit that he made some possible strategic error in the beginning, having a lot of positive ads, you know, he said that he was at work and that's the way he wanted to run his election, but now he's playing this game of catch up. He wanted to work on his name ID. Now he has that, but now he's working to make sure that people know, in his words, that Mays Middleton doesn't have the experience he has. And so I think in the grand scheme of things, yes, he may have waited too long. He's playing a game of catch up.
< spk_5 - 14:13:54.3800000 >
Well, you know, I think this race may have turned when Mays Middle named himself Mega Mays, just attaching Mega to it. You know, you heard in his interview, he's very much a politician, attaches himself almost blatantly to Ken Paxton's coattails in this race. Chip Roy is more of a lawyer. He was in the AG's office and worked hard and did a good job by all standards, just didn't get along with Paxton. You have a classic lawyer against a classic politician, and Mays Middleton has run the political.
< spk_0 - 14:14:22.6950000 >
But let me ask you real quick here about endorsements. How much they, they will count here. Cruz backed Ted Cruz backs Chip Roy. Lieutenant Governor Patrick backs Mays Middleton. Are, are, are those going to carry any weight with Republican primary voters?
< spk_5 - 14:14:34.2840000 >
I think they cancel out. I think they, they, uh, have a lot of the same following. I think Ted Cruz supporting Roy does show that, that, uh, you know, Roy succeeded Cruz almost in the AG's office and has a great deal of respect from Senator Cruz. All
< spk_0 - 14:14:47.1550000 >
right guys, thanks a lot. A lot more ahead here in just a moment. When we come back here, Sarah Eckhart on her campaign to become comptroller, pledging to be a taxpayer watchdog, but how far is she prepared to go? And Texas Republicans talking about a new internal survey suggesting a lack of excitement right now inside the GOP. Inside Texas politics back in just a moment.
< spk_0 - 14:15:19.9000000 >
Welcome back to Inside Texas Politics. Now to the state's chief financial officer. For the first time in a decade, the comptroller's seat is open. The November matchup is already set. Republican Don Huffines will join us next week. But first up right now, Democrat Sarah Eckhart, whom we caught up with during a campaign stop in Waco. We've heard you criticize political cronyism and no bid contracts. What are the specific contracts that you would look into if elected on day one?
< spk_6 - 14:15:48.0700000 >
On day one, I would do an assessment of all of the no-bid contracts that came in under emergency orders that have been renewed by the governor's office every single month for the last 6 years. We've seen a 4-fold increase in no-bid contracts.
< spk_6 - 14:16:03.0700000 >
We need to take a look at every single one of them to see how much money we lost in failing to compete those contracts, and also what kind of Business is not being grown in the state because only certain businesses are getting those state contracts. State contracts are a great way to build our locally grown talent pipeline in the state of Texas.
< spk_6 - 14:16:27.3440000 >
When you give no big contracts to mostly national and even international corporations, that's state money going out the door, never to return to the people of the state of Texas.
< spk_0 - 14:16:37.8300000 >
School voucher has just been awarded to more than 96,000 Texas schoolchildren. You promised an audit of this program if you are elected. What do you think you would find?
< spk_6 - 14:16:46.7100000 >
What I think we will find, and frankly what was projected even at the time we were debating this bill on the floor. Um, was that vouchers would go to predominantly white and well-off families that already had their children in private school. Uh, Although the bill was, uh, sold as a way for low-income families who had disabled children to have a choice. I think that the demography ultimately will show that that's not who is getting this benefit.
< spk_6 - 14:17:14.7390000 >
We are actually just raking money out of the private, out of the public school system and moving it over to the private school system, subsidizing people who already send their children to private school.
< spk_0 - 14:17:25.4600000 >
I've heard Republicans say, listen, Democrats oppose vouchers, and now they're trying to oversee vouchers after they lost the legislative fight. Is this audit really about accountability or is it about getting even in some sorts?
< spk_6 - 14:17:39.2700000 >
No, it's not at all about getting even. Listen, the comptroller's office is under my watch. The comptroller's office would follow the law and follow the money irrespective of where that evidence leads. It's not a. or a Democrat thing to honestly tell the people of Texas and their elected representatives where their money is going and who is benefiting most, least, and not at all from those investments. That's not, that's not a party thing.
< spk_6 - 14:18:07.1690000 >
The comptroller's office does not work for a party, does not work for a specific leader. The comptroller's office works for the people of the state of Texas.
< spk_0 - 14:18:16.8490000 >
Your Republican opponent has said he wants to doge. Different departments in the state or at least take a look at potentially finding ways to find efficiencies. Are there agencies or programs in the state that you would recommend to lawmakers that should be cut or consolidated?
< spk_6 - 14:18:31.6690000 >
I would certainly want to take a look at Health and Human Services to see uh um where we could um rearrange there and make sure that we have deeper investments because for instance, Health and Human Services recommended that we not pull down supplemental nutritional assistance program because they were overwhelmed and weren't able to distribute it. Those, those are poor children over the summer who didn't get food assistance because Health and Human Services said they didn't have the capacity.
< spk_6 - 14:18:57.8090000 >
Now, conversely, we also ought to take a look at the Department of Public Safety, which has essentially absorbed the $11 billion of border security money. We didn't cut that $11 billion after the federal government stepped in more robustly. We simply moved it sideways into the Department of Public Services. So we need to take a look at that. Also, foster care is deeply Underinvested.
< spk_6 - 14:19:18.5940000 >
And I think people generally will be surprised to find that the state of Texas, uh, although it lends money and often funnels federal money to water projects, it doesn't actually invest state money in water infrastructure. That's mostly local property tax and bond revenue.
< spk_0 - 14:19:37.2180000 >
Senator, thank you for the time. We appreciate it.
< spk_6 - 14:19:39.4990000 >
I really appreciate you making the time.
< spk_0 - 14:19:42.4300000 >
The Republican running for comptroller Don Huffines will be with us next week. Up next here though, the roundtable is ready when we come back. And on this week's episode of Y'all-itics, you've heard us talk about it, probably seen some headlines, but what exactly is the screw worm and should you be concerned? Are pets at risk? This week's episode of Y'all-itics has all the answers and it's ready to download right now wherever you get your podcasts. All right, back now with the roundtable, but, let's start with you on this first issue here.
< spk_0 - 14:20:11.8390000 >
On Friday, the Texas Supreme Court told Governor Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton, no, you cannot remove Gene Wu, the Democratic state rep from Houston. You cannot remove him from Austin office because he led that quorum break last year. How big of a loss is this?
< spk_5 - 14:20:26.6500000 >
Well, I don't know if this is a loss. You know, some of the same people who two years ago were arguing. You can't overturn the will of voters. You can't remove the attorney general no matter how much evidence you have. Now they were saying, oh no, no, we have to get rid of Jean Wu. So it was tough for the Attorney General's office to be arguing on the opposite side. This was basic separation of powers. The executive branch can't meddle in the legislative branch as long as the legislative branch has ways to take care of it.
< spk_0 - 14:20:51.5260000 >
Interesting too though that all the justices are Republican as well on the state Supreme. Natalie, let's talk about this new survey from a top Republican pollster saying that Texas Republican voters, active Republican voters just aren't very excited about what's on the ballot this year. How, how, how concerning is this? And could attitudes change before November?
< spk_4 - 14:21:09.4040000 >
I think it is certainly concerning enough. We all remember a couple of weeks ago when Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick told Republicans, you need to get out to the polls down ballot, all Republicans. It seems that what we are seeing from GOPers is that that feeling is in the atmosphere. They can sense that disengagement and they're going to have to do a lot of work to turn that attitude around to get Republicans excited about who is on the ballot.
< spk_0 - 14:21:32.8590000 >
And Matthew, I'm thinking that once we get a little closer to November, the Republican machine will spin up against James Tallarico, and that alone should excite Republicans, shouldn't it?
< spk_3 - 14:21:42.7090000 >
Yeah, I mean the idea of Texas turning blue and in the top of the ticket, I'm sure will energize some folks, but you know this is what happens in midterm elections. President Donald Trump will not be on the ballot. That makes things harder. It's always harder for the party in power in the White House in those midterm elections. I think it would be foolish to not expect that to be the case this time around too. But, what
< spk_0 - 14:22:03.6400000 >
are your thoughts on this, this survey?
< spk_5 - 14:22:05.9060000 >
You read the survey of Republican, you know, more than half of the Republicans who usually vote didn't vote in the primary. Republicans are losing a lot of the centrist voters that they've had in the past. Some of them went over and voted in the Democratic primary. Some are staying home. Those are suburban voters. They just are not happy with what they see. The Republicans are not putting out the kind of product that centrist voters want to
< spk_0 - 14:22:26.8660000 >
vote
< spk_5 - 14:22:27.1070000 >
for.
< spk_0 - 14:22:27.4670000 >
And Natalie, the other big surprise. Stop for Democrats, uh, big news was a surprise stop when President Obama, former President Obama, uh, stopped for tacos, uh, in Austin with Gina Hinojosa, who's running for governor, and with James Talarico. What, what does this suggest? I mean, it, it's challenging to see that the, the governor would come and the former president would come down here to campaign with him so early.
< spk_4 - 14:22:49.4530000 >
I think what it tells us is that the Democratic Party is making. Noise in Texas in a way that may be national figures like President Barack Obama and other Democratic national figures weren't really paying mind to us before. Look at James Talarico and all of the noise he has made here, um, you know, I just mentioned, uh, Lieutenant Governor Patrick. He brought up James Talarico potentially winning if Republicans don't get excited about this election and who is on the ballot, and so I think what this is telling us is that. Blue is again making a lot of noise here and
< spk_0 - 14:23:19.0690000 >
Matthew, does Obama's early involvement this early out, does that help or hurt Talarico?
< spk_3 - 14:23:24.4590000 >
I'd say it's neutral in terms of, you know, voters in Texas. Obama, not a hugely popular president in Texas, although, of course, you know, his, uh, popularity has grown since he left office. I actually wonder if maybe the intended audience for this was people outside of the state who might be interested in investing some money in James Talarico. Uh, it's a sort of seal of approval from Obama saying you should pay attention to this. This might be key to flipping the Senate and, you know, invest your money in this guy and in this race.
< spk_0 - 14:23:52.5890000 >
Yeah, a long time to go here, guys. A lot to see. Thanks so much for the insight as always, and we appreciate you watching as well. We're back next Sunday to take you inside Texas politics. We'll see you then.