Chip Roy has lost his bid to become the Republican nominee for Texas attorney general after being defeated in the GOP primary by state senator Mayes Middleton.
Multiple US media outlets projected Middleton as the winner on Tuesday night, despite President Donald Trump not formally endorsing any candidate in the race.
Although Trump stayed neutral publicly, Middleton campaigned as the preferred MAGA candidate and repeatedly attacked Roy over his stance on the 2020 presidential election.
“The 2020 election was stolen from Trump, and Chip fought to certify a stolen election and certify Biden—now he wants to run the election integrity division in the AG’s office. Disqualifying,” Middleton wrote in a March social media post.
“Texas and Paxton did as we should, use every resource and tool to stop the steal,” he added.
Roy, who sponsored the SAVE America Act in the House of Representatives, had strongly aligned himself with Trump on voting-related issues. The legislation sought to introduce stricter proof-of-citizenship requirements for voters and significantly limit mail-in voting.
While the bill passed in the House, it later failed in the Senate.
Roy entered the race after Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton launched a Senate challenge against incumbent Senator John Cornyn and secured Trump’s endorsement.
However, Roy’s relationship with Trump allies reportedly deteriorated over his refusal to support attempts to overturn the 2020 election results.
At the time, Roy criticised Paxton’s legal challenge against election outcomes in several battleground states, describing the lawsuit as “a dangerous violation of federalism”.
Though Roy initially defended Trump’s claims after the 2020 election and even travelled to Georgia alongside election denial advocate Cleta Mitchell, he later distanced himself from efforts to overturn the results.
During the January 6 Capitol riot, Roy reportedly urged Trump’s chief of staff to intervene.
“This is a sh*tshow. Fix this now,” Roy wrote in a text message.
Trump allies continued to target him over those actions. Last week, Trump adviser Alex Bruesewitz described Roy as “one of the most anti-Trump congressmen in the country.”
Meanwhile, Mitchell publicly backed Roy before the election, writing: “For everyone who cares about election integrity, Chip Roy is THE choice for Attorney General.”
