Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton has won re-election, NBC News projects, defeating Democratic newcomer Rochelle Garza in a highly competitive race.
With 74% of the votes counted, Paxton received 54.4% while Garza got 42.9%, according to the NBC News Decision Desk.
Paxton has served as attorney general since 2015.
The race was among the tightest in the state, with Garza standing within 2 to 7 percentage points of Paxton, weeks before Election Day, polls showed.
Paxton, who was endorsed by former President Donald J. Trump, filed a lawsuit in 2020 in an attempt to overturn the presidential election results in some states. He has also been facing charges of securities fraud since 2015. That case has not yet gone to court, which was a key issue against him in the GOP primary.
He is also being investigated by the FBI for alleged abuse of office; Paxton has denied any wrongdoing.
Paxton hit the issues of crime and immigration hard, while Democrats have accused him of corruption and criticized him over the state’s abortion ban.
Garza had already made history as the first Latina nominee for Texas attorney general.
Suzanne Gamboa, Alexandra Marquez and Ben Kamisar contributed.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
