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Paxton Sets Stage for Dereliction Charges
in Fight with Governor's SOS on Primaries
Capitol Inside
October 10, 2025
Attorney General Ken Paxton picked a fight with Governor Greg Abbott on Thursday when he announced that he would refuse to defend the state against a lawsuit by the Texas GOP that seeks to close the party's primary election in 2026 to registered Republican voters.
Paxton teamed up with the state GOP's lawyers with the submission of motions for a "consent judgment"
and proposed ruling in favor of the Texas Republican Party in a federal court in Amarillo where it sued Secretary of State Jane Nelson early last month in tandem with an individual voter there.
“The unconstitutional law stopping the RPT from closing its primaries is completely indefensible and a slap in the face to the Republican Party and voters," Paxton, a candidate for the U.S. Senate next year, said in a statement.
"The Secretary of State must follow the Constitution by swiftly implementing this consent decree," the AG added. "Instead of fighting this lawsuit with expensive out-of-state lawyers, the Secretary of State’s office should respect the will of Texas voters and defend their freedoms by creating a process that will allow the RPT to immediately close its primaries.”
Paxton's intervention in the court fight gave U.S. Senator John Cornyn a fresh new weapon to use against the state's top lawyer in a battle for the GOP nomination in the race that will be crowning the ballot next year. Cornyn's camp has the ability now to accuse the attorney general of blatant dereliction of his duties with the announcement that he will not represent the state despite a job description requiring him to do so. While such a move would not be a first in Texas, it's highly unorthodox and rare.
Nelson, a former state senator for the GOP, is the governor's representative for all practical purposes in a proxy fight over the closing of the primary election here. Abbott appointed Nelson to be the state's top elections officer in her role as the secretary of state. Nelson filed a motion in opposition to the push by Paxton and the party to ban anyone who hasn't officially registered as a Republican from participating in the primary election in March.
Nelson's private attorneys argued that the plaintiffs were required to "confer in good faith" with lawyers for the state before submitting the motion for a directed ruling. But Nelson advised the court that the attorney general's office had given her less than an hour for a formal response.
Paxton and the Texas GOP want Texas to become the 10th state to limit participation in the primary election to official party members. Texas would join New York, Florida, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Nevada if the plaintiffs prevailed in the clash on a closed primary election.
Fifteen states have open primaries now including southern counterparts Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Mississippi and South Carolina. Nine other small states have closed primary elections but allow voters who haven't registered with either major party to participate in them.
A half-dozen Texas House Republicans filed bills in the 2025 regular session aimed at closing the primary elections here. None received a hearing or vote. Legislation that makes a dramatic change in Texas election law would have to have Abbott on board to have any chance of success. But Abbott has declined to back such a proposal.
The state Republican Party hope to accomplish at the courthouse what
it's failed to achieve in the Legislature in repeated attempts.
“I am in total agreement with the RPT that this law is deeply flawed and a violation of the First Amendment. I’ve filed this joint motion with the court because this section of our Election Code should immediately be struck down," Paxton asserted. Many other states have closed primaries, and there is absolutely no reason that Texas shouldn’t have the freedom to join them.”
more to come ...
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