Texas Voters Set To Decide Two Key Runoffs In Senate And AG Races

Voters in the great state of Texas are set to head to the polls once again in just a couple weeks for primary runoff elections. That after plenty of candidates failed to receive enough votes to win back in March. There are a few races on the ballot, like Railroad Commissioner among others, but two races have the attention of everyone.

That is the U.S. Senate runoff between Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and incumbent John Cornyn, and the Attorney General Race between State Rep. Mayes Middleton and Congressman Chip Roy. The main focus has been on the former, but the latter race might be the most important and intriguing.

In the most recent polling for the Senate runoff, Paxton holds a slight three-point lead over Cornyn 48-45 percent, with about seven percent undecided.

Rice University Political Analyst Mark Jones says Paxton holds the advantage because he is picking up a new fanbase.

"The real difference maker is that 54-percent of people who voted for Wesley Hunt intend to vote for Paxton, compared to only 35-percent who intend to vote for Cornyn," he says.

President Trump has yet to make an endorsement in that race, and realistically, there is no need to do so. Picking sides on this race does nothing but cause division. Both candidates have said they will support the winner, so endorsements hold no weight here.

The state and nation have been focused on that Senate runoff so much that the AG race has flown under the radar. Which is a big deal, considering the Texas AG position has national influence.

Right now, Middleton holds a comfortable lead over Chip Roy, thanks to some favorable numbers among the public.

"Here, we find Middleton has a significant lead...by nine percent, 48 percent to 39 percent," says Jones. "Where Middleton has a real advantage is he has very high approval ratings and very low disapproval ratings."

Compare that to Roy, who has higher disapproval numbers and lower approval numbers.

But Middleton does have one thing working against him.

"His one potential weakness is about 1-in-4 Republican primary voters do not know much about him," Jones says.

He adds that voter turnout will be decided by how well the candidate motivate their base.

Primary runoff day is set for May 26th. Early voting runs May 18th through May 22nd.