Ken Paxton's replacement has a new vision for the Texas AG’s office

Houston Chronicle · Casey Murray · 2026-11-06 15:02 UTC

Democrat Nathan Johnson defeated Republican Mayes Middleton on Tuesday and will succeed Ken Paxton.

Attorney General Ken Paxton turned his office into a powerful partisan hammer to push forward conservative policies and crush Democratic ones, both in Texas and across the country. Nathan Johnson, the Democrat elected to the position on Tuesday, now has the opportunity to wield that power against Republicans.

However, he says he won’t.

“It's not there to be a tool for partisan politics,” he said in an interview on Thursday about the office. “We've had people redirected from important public serving work to partisan showpieces. That's not my approach.”

Read the full story at Houston Chronicle · All coverage of this story