Of all the Tuesday runoff elections next week, the race for the Republican nomination for state Attorney General ahead of the general election might be the most closely watched.
On one side, current Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush, part of a longtime political dynasty.
On the other, embattled Attorney General Ken Paxton, who has the support of former President Trump, but also faces an FBI investigation, and a separate federal indictment for alleged securities crimes.
25 News anchor Todd Unger sat down with Bush to discuss the race, during which he has consistently trailed in the polls. Paxton's campaign didn't respond to interview requests.
Q: What needs to happen in the next five to six days for you to be victorious on Tuesday?
Bush: "The DMN just ran a poll showing us within the margin of error. This is a true barn burner […] we did really well on March 1 in South Texas on my border security message. We carried most of the counties south of Bexar County and west toward El Paso. Really, I’m carrying that message forward throughout the rest of the state. We’ll be in North Texas for the next two days in Ken Paxton's backyard. By the way, I’ve challenged him to ten debates and he refuses to engage.”
Q: Why do you think he’s been so reluctant?
“I think he has no record to run on. He’s a swamp creature that has been around the Capitol for 22 years. He’s running multi-million attack ads against my record. It’s really a shame that he has no record of accomplishment to campaign on. As a former attorney myself, I can tell you I bet his white-collar defense attorney is advising him not to engage the media, or the public, because anything he puts out there can be used in a court of law.”
Q: If you win, let’s talk a little bit about what you want to do?
"Day one, I’m going to deploy a team of attorneys down to the southern border to enforce criminal trespassing laws. I’ll be backstopping our national guardsman and border patrol officials [...] I’ll back law enforcement in the first legislative session starting next January to help pass a law enforcement bill of rights in Texas.”
Q: Roe v. Wade, do you support overturning it?
“I happened to be in Washington D.C. when the draft opinion was released. I celebrated with fellow Texans on Facebook live, saying that I believe life begins at conception [...] states have the right under the 10th amendment to make a decision on social questions, such as abortion. As the next AG, I will defend the Texas trigger law, which will ban abortion on day one.”
25 News reached out to both Paxton's office, and his campaign.
After several emails, his office finally responded and referred us to the campaign. The campaign never did respond.
