Since June 12, two UT Law School alumni have been competing to secure the GOP nomination for Texas attorney general.
The candidates are State Sen. Mayes Middleton and former Trump administration official Aaron Reitz. Should either candidate win in March, they could break a 12-year streak without a UT graduate in the attorney general’s office, as a Democrat has not won statewide office since 1994. The winner would join other UT alumni in state government, including Gov. Greg Abbott and James Blacklock, the Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice.
The Texas Attorney General’s office, which represents Texas in lawsuits and offers legal advice to state agencies, shares a longstanding connection with the University. In the 1990s, former Texas Attorney General Dan Morales restricted UT’s use of affirmative action through a legal opinion. Earlier this month, a settlement with the federal government under current Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton ended the Texas Dream Act, which allowed undocumented students to receive in-state tuition at state universities.
Middleton, a 2008 graduate of UT Law, began representing parts of Brazoria, Harris and Galveston counties in the state senate in 2023 and previously served in the Texas House.
Joshua Blank, research director of the Texas Politics Project, said Middleton is well-established within the state’s political circles.
“When (Middleton) became a senator, it was with the encouragement of (the) Lieutenant Governor and statewide leadership,” Blank said. “To the extent that he is now running for attorney general, I’m sure he’s expecting that same support, and that is a big deal.”
Middleton has championed key Republican policies during his time in the Texas Legislature. He was the primary sponsor for House Bill 229, which encoded biological definitions of sex into state law. LGBTQ+ advocates said the law discriminates against transgender Texans. The bill echoes positions supported by Gov. Greg Abbott and President Donald Trump, who both said measures like this protect women’s rights.
“For our entire history, we never had to define sex because common sense dictated it,” Middleton said on the Texas Senate floor. “But now we’re having to because of these situations that we have had where boys are trying to compete in girls’ sports.”
Reitz, a 2017 graduate of UT Law and former president of the UT Federalist Society, served as assistant attorney general in the Trump administration’s Department of Justice and later as chief of staff for Sen. Ted Cruz.
Reitz also worked as deputy attorney general for Legal Strategy under Paxton. He helped coordinate the lawsuit that ended the Texas Dream Act while he worked for the Department of Justice, Reitz said.
“I’m very happy with the outcome,” Reitz said. “It seems, on the one hand, strange and on the other hand unconscionable, that illegal aliens, or the children of illegal aliens, all of whom are here illegally, would receive a benefit from the State of Texas that out-of-state citizens don’t even have access to.”
Reitz said his top priority would be partnering with the Trump administration to enforce the laws, defend the Second Amendment and secure the border.
Both candidates are aligning their campaigns closely with President Trump, and Reitz has garnered support from some Trump allies. Blank said Trump’s endorsement may not be the decisive factor in the race, but could serve as an indicator of the likely winner.
