Republican candidates for Texas attorney general were asked in a recent debate whether the state GOP should be allowed to close its primaries to all but affiliated Republicans and what role the attorney general should play in the process.
U.S. Rep. Chip Roy gave the briefest remarks of the bunch, saying that the primaries should be closed and that the attorney general should enforce the law.
State Sen. Joan Huffman stated that the legislature should draft the law closing primaries and that the attorney general should then enforce it. She did not state whether she supported the primary being closed.
Huffman’s response was immediately followed by fellow senator Mayes Middleton, who juxtaposed himself with Huffman, noting in his reply that he is one of only two lawmakers to have filed a bill to close the primary and that his original run for office was impacted by Democrat voters who were paid to vote against him in the primary.
Finally, former DOJ official Aaron Reitz supported closing the primary and expressed his thanks to current Attorney General Ken Paxton for joining the Texas GOP in its legal battle with Texas Secretary of State Jane Nelson to close the primary.
On this point, Reitz attacked Huffman for her inaction in the legislature on the issue.
Grassroots Republicans have pushed for years to close Texas’ open primaries, arguing Democrats and independents can skew GOP outcomes in safe Republican districts. At the party’s 2024 convention, delegates adopted a rule to “close” the primary by requiring voters to affiliate with the GOP in advance in order to participate.
Under that rule, participation is limited to voters who have not affiliated with another party that year and either voted in a recent GOP primary, formally registered with the party, or signed a certificate of affiliation by a deadline.
Party leaders say the change is needed to keep “Democrat interference” out of Republican nominations and ensure GOP voters choose their own nominees.
A nonbinding 2024 GOP ballot proposition showed strong support for the move, with a large majority of Republican primary voters favoring limiting primary participation to Republicans only.
After the legislature did not change state law in 2025, the Republican Party of Texas sued the state and Secretary of State Jane Nelson in federal court, arguing Texas’s open‑primary system violates the party’s First Amendment associational rights.
The party’s case relies on its convention‑adopted rule and contends the state cannot force Republicans to let non‑Republicans help pick their nominees.
Nelson’s office has moved to dismiss the lawsuit and committed resources to defending the state’s open‑primary framework. That has produced an unusual intra‑party clash: the GOP’s own party apparatus challenging the Republican‑run state government over who sets the rules for Republican nominations.
