Nathan Johnson
AUSTIN — The only poll that matters is the one on Election Day, and money can’t buy you everything.
Those two adages many Republican candidates took to heart Tuesday after the blue tsunami swallowed Texas whole.
In the race for attorney general, the numbers favored Republican Mayes Middleton heading into Election Day, as the polls showed him leading Democratic challenger Nathan Johnson, who also trailed in fundraising by millions of dollars.
With more than 97 percent of the vote in, Johnson led Middleton by more than 600,000 votes, putting him at 52.4 percent.
“This is a tremendous honor, and a tremendous responsibility,” Johnson posted on X. “Texans voted for an attorney general who will represent them and the interests of our state, and who will above all uphold the rule of law. That’s what I intend to do. I’ve got a lot of work ahead of me. But I look forward to what we will accomplish.”
On the campaign trail, Johnson told voters that if elected he would restore the AG’s Office to its “true purpose,” stop the “MAGA assault” and root out political corruption.
During his time as attorney general, Ken Paxton, who was soundly defeated by James Talarico in the U.S. Senate race, was embroiled in several controversies, including being reported to the FBI by his own staff and being impeached by his own party.
A state senator and father of three, Johnson is a litigator and mediator at the Dallas office of Thompson Coburn, and has composed musical scores for the globally popular anime series Dragon Ball Z, according to his campaign website.
Tuesday was pretty much a clean sweep for Democrats in Texas, with Gina Hinojosa ousting Gov. Greg Abbott, Vikki Goodwin defeating Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, and Sarah Eckhardt beating incumbent Comptroller Don Huffines.
Democrats also won their races for railroad commissioner (Jon Rosenthal), land commissioner (Benjamin Flores), and agriculture commissioner (Clayton Tucker).
