Democrat Rochelle Garza banks on anti-Paxton sentiment in Texas attorney general’s race

Rochelle Garza talks on the campaign trail about her experience as a civil rights lawyer in South Texas, about advocating for a brother with disabilities, about fighting the Trump administration for abortion rights. But what really gets the Democratic crowd revved is when Garza lights into her GOP opponent: Attorney General Ken Paxton. “Paxton has never seen a crime he doesn’t want to commit,” she said during a recent luncheon at the Arts District Mansion in Dallas, drawing a chorus of laughter. Yet what began with a joke ended with a dire warning as Garza ticked off the ways she said Paxton has failed Texans in the wake of last year’s deadly winter blackouts, the Uvalde school massacre and the state’s near-total ban on abortions.

“Unless we vote him out,” she said, pausing to look at the audience, “people will die.” Garza is banking on voters being turned off by Paxton’s mounting scandals to help propel her into the powerful office Democrats haven’t won since 1994. A sea change at the attorney general’s office would dramatically shift Texas politics by giving Democrats a check on Republican policies. Recent polls show Garza within striking distance, but analysts say peeling off the GOP and independent voters she needs to score an upset will be a tall task. Big-name Republicans who challenged Paxton in this year’s primary and a well-funded Democrat who ran in 2018 failed to get enough voters to turn on Paxton. The McKinney Republican has managed to hold his base despite 7-year-old felony securities fraud charges and a more recent FBI investigation into accusations of corruption made by top aides. Garza says Paxton is weaker than ever and the race offers Democrats their best chance to flip a statewide seat in nearly 30 years. “I want to remind folks,” she said, enunciating her words carefully: “We can win this race.” Democrats say no candidate is better positioned than Garza to motivate voters who disagree with the state’s abortion ban and the Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe vs. Wade.