The GOP's Matt Krause Enters Texas' AG Race, Crowding The Field

DALLAS, TX — Now there are two Trump favorites and a Lone Star legacy running for Texas Attorney General next year — and that's just on the Republican side of the ticket.

State Rep. Matt Krause has announced that next year he will challenge his frequent ally, Attorney General Ken Paxton for the office he holds.

A Republican from Fort Worth perhaps best known as one of the founders of the House Freedom Caucus, Krause declared he's the “faithful conservative fighter" in the race and seeks to keep much of Paxton's ideology in place without the nagging legal questions that have dogged the Texas Attorney General throughout his tenure.

In an exclusive interview with The Texas Tribune, Krause declaimed that “Texas needs — and wants — an attorney general who can give his or her full focus to the job.”

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Krause's announcement could well make the hill Paxton has to climb for reelection more steep. When he appears before voters next year, the Attorney General will still be facing questions about a securities fraud indictment that extend back to his earliest days in office in 2015. In addition, Paxton remains the target of an FBI investigation looking into his alleged abuse of office in order to show favoritism to a wealthy backer. In each instance, Paxton has protested his innocence.

Krause's entry into the race now expands the primary ballot, which now includes former Texas Supreme Court Justice Eva Guzman and Texas Land Commissioner and the scion of a family that has produced two US presidents in the last 30 years: George P. Bush.

Pundits muse that perhaps the most telling aspect of Krause's entry is that Guzman and Bush have kept their distance from Paxton. (Krause told the Tribune that he's “not sure either one of them could win a primary.”) Conversely, Paxton and Krause have been political peas-in-a-pod, having served side by side in the legislature from 2013-15 —and including Krause's original endorsement of Paxton for the AG post in 2o14.

For his part, Paxton responded to the announcement by reminding reporters that he'd been endorsed by the GOP's leader-in-exile, former President Trump.

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