EDITOR'S NOTE: Texas will hold 2026 Republican and Democratic Party primary runoff elections on Tuesday, May 26. The winners of those runoff races will head to the November 3, 2026, general election. Early voting in the runoff runs from May 18 to 22. Statewide, a total of 38 races will have runoffs because the candidates in those races failed to receive more than 50% of the vote during the March 3 primary. Sample ballots can be found online at https://www.co.hemphill.tx.us/page/hemphill.ElectionInformation. — LAURIE EZZELL BROWN

US Senator

Incumbent John Cornyn has voted 93% of the time for Trump’s first term positions and for all second term Trump appointments. He is a modern master of the Senate who has sponsored twice as many bills as the average Senator and gotten nearly ten times as many passed into law. In his career he has also raised more than $400 million for the Republican party. 

Senator Tommy Tuberville is leaving the Senate after one term because “…if you don’t have a lot of seniority, you don’t have a lot of say. I would have to be up for a couple more terms where you really had any kind of situation where you could make a difference.” Senator Cornyn has that seniority, and his valuable relationships with other Senators cannot be duplicated by his opponent. 

Opponent Ken Paxton should be rejected also for many other reasons.  He used his power as Texas Attorney General to favor a political supporter who employed Paxton’s then mistress and facilitated Paxton’s extra-marital meetings. After four Paxton assistants reported Paxton’s conduct to proper investigators, Paxton fired them. They filed suit under the Whistleblower’s Act. Paxton offered to settle with them for $3.3 million of taxpayer money, but the Texas Legislature refused to allow such payment. 

The suit thus continued and attorneys of the fired employees then tried to depose Paxton, which is a common and expected part of litigation. Paxton refused to be deposed, and in the limited appeal of that issue, the Texas Supreme Court required Paxton to submit to questioning under oath in a deposition. Paxton next filed an amended answer in the Whistleblower suit admitting the factual allegations of the fired assistants, leaving it to the presiding judge to award damages.   

Before the Supreme Court decision, Paxton was impeached in 2023 by the Texas House for this and other misconduct.  Four thousand pages of evidence was marshaled against Paxton in the trial before the Texas Senate. The majority were fellow Republicans with Paxton’s wife being one Senator who attended the trial but could not vote. Paxton chose not to testify, and only two Republican Senators voted to convict on some counts. The number of the senators who voted to convict him was thus less than the required two thirds.

When Paxton later filed his admission in the Whistleblower suit, the House prosecutor for impeachment announced that Paxton had admitted to what many in the Texas House had known in their heart to be true. It was that Paxton flagrantly broke the law, violated the Whistleblower Act and betrayed the trust placed in him by retaliating against his own team, those who bravely reported his illegal actions. Yet, I heard Paxton tell an Amarillo television reporter on May 8, 2026, that he was innocent when asked about his misdeeds.

In 2025 the judge awarded the fired assistants $6.6 million dollars plus 7.5% interest compounded annually.  Taxpayers are on the hook to pay it, but the Texas legislature has not yet approved the payment. Paxton vowed to appeal, but by early July of 2025, Paxton had abandoned his frivolous appeal. Also, that month, his wife filed for divorce because of Paxton’s continued adultery; they had not lived together since June of 2024.

I think it wrong for Paxton to expect Texas taxpayers to pay for his admitted failings and to still seek our votes as a candidate for the US Senate.

Paxton was also subject to a state prosecution for soliciting investors in a technology company without disclosing that the firm was paying him to promote its stock. Prosecution was dropped when Paxton agreed to 100 hours of community service and to pay $271,000 in restitution to those harmed by his actions.

Should Paxton obtain the Republican nomination, the Democrat nominee will have a much better opportunity to win in November than against Senator Cornyn who does not carry such baggage. 

Texas Attorney General

I support Congressman Chip Roy. He is concerned about the government’s growing power over people and wants government itself to operate within the law. Opponent Mayes Middleton is endorsed by current AG Ken Paxton and should be rejected for the reasons stated above. 

Railroad Commissioner

I favor the incumbent Commissioner President Jim Wright. Opponent Bo French is an energy trader and former chairman of the Tarrant County Republican Party. A Fort Worth-based political consultant argues that French is seeking this position as a bigger platform for his extreme vision and hateful rhetoric and that one constant in French’s political career is an attack on people of color and from outside our country. 

Appellate Court Races

Place 3 of the Court of Criminal Appeals has four candidates. Alison Fox is currently chambers attorney for that court after serving in the District Attorney office in San Antonio. She and her husband of 17 years have five children. She has been endorsed by the Houston and San Antonio newspapers. Opponent Thomas Smith is supported by Ken Paxton and should be rejected.