U.S. Rep. Chip Roy (R-Dripping Springs) seemed cooked after finishing a distant second in the GOP’s Attorney General primary.
But a late infusion of campaign cash has suddenly pulled his race back online, sending Roy into overdrive as he tries to win back old supporters.
In the final stretch of his Republican primary runoff, the 53-year-old has flown in conservative leaders to speak on his behalf, argued with social media influencers who’ve attacked his conservative credentials, and even launched TV ads defending his relationship with President Donald Trump.
“There’s a lot of lies being told about our record, a lot of positions being distorted,” Roy told roughly two dozen supporters outside Brook Hollow Library on Monday — part of a breakneck campaign tour that could be his last.
It’s a comeback effort even Roy once viewed as impossible.
He gave up a safe red congressional seat to run for Attorney General and weathered major attacks from self-funding state Sen. Mayes Middleton (R-Galveston), who spent an astounding $15 million on his campaign and took 39% of the vote to Roy’s 32%.
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Yet if Roy’s internal polling is correct, he told supporters Monday, the May 26 runoff election is now in a dead heat.
“We just came out of the field [Sunday] night. It’s moving, in a good way,” Roy said. “All the trends are in the right direction. We just have to get the truth out there about our record.”
Middleton’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
From thought leader to Trump critic
So far that explanation tour has been anything but easy.
Roy’s more than two-decade political career started out behind the scenes — as a staffer on the Senate Judiciary Committee for U.S. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), then as chief of staff to U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and later First Assistant Attorney General.
“I served in the Senate for seven years — as a lawyer and as Ted Cruz’s chief of staff —I know the Senate better than most senators. It’s just true,” Roy joked at a campaign event in March.
But in a rapidly evolving Republican Party, that’s left him defending his record in ways he never imagined possible.
“I’ve got social media activists out there railing on me for [working] for John Cornyn,” Roy told supporters on Monday, referring to the moderate Texas senator who Trump endorsed against later that week.
“I was a lawyer and I was asked to work on the Senate Judiciary Committee for a Texas senator,” Roy said of his resume. “I disagree with John Cornyn on a lot of issues — I’ve been very public about those disagreements — but I have friends who worked in the Bush Administration who are rock star conservatives who love Donald Trump. [Conservative radio host] Mark Levin worked in the Reagan Administration. It’s crazy what some people will say about you.”
Roy would return to Capitol Hill years later as a lawmaker, where his experience proved invaluable.
“When we took on then-Speaker [Kevin] McCarthy (R-California) … Chip Roy was [among those] who stood and said, ‘We need fundamental changes in the House of Representatives,'” U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colorado) told supporters at the Angry Elephant this month.
With Roy as its policy chair, the House Freedom Caucus fought for more time to read bills before a vote, more freedom to amend legislation from the House floor, and more power to toss leaders they don’t like.
“Every victory that we have had through the Freedom Caucus, through the House of Representatives, and through Congress as a whole, it has been Chip’s mind, offering and orchestrating it every step of the way,” Boebert said.
So far such policy fights have mattered little for activists who’ve moved on to other issues.
Roy said Monday that he’s been under attack for alleged indifference to radical Islam and biological men in women’s sports — accusations he vehemently denies — and supporting a COVID-relief bill for businesses that the president signed.
“What I’ve been telling people on the campaign trail is, don’t believe the lies,” Roy told supporters. “There’s a lot of spin in campaign ads, believe your eyes, believe someone that you know has been in there fighting for you.”
Trump remains silent on the AG race
By far his biggest challenge Roy must still explain is a complicated relationship with Trump.
He opposed efforts to overturn the 2020 election results, backed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in the 2024 presidential primary, and fought the president hard over efforts to raise the debt ceiling.
Yet against all odds, Roy said they maintain a working relationship — and Trump hasn’t come out against him in the Attorney General race.
“I have the second highest score of any member of Congress in terms of fidelity to the Republican platform, and alignment with President Trump,” Roy told supporters at Blanco BBQ in March. “But I unapologetically have stood up when I disagree with the President because it is my job to do it … and you need people willing to do it.”
Nevertheless, the public clashes have now been replayed over months of TV ads that Roy is working to refute.
He’s been reenacting his conversations with the president at campaign events, including an 8:30 p.m. EST phone call he made last October, not knowing that Trump was in London.
“I called the president at 2:30 in the morning, and he wasn’t remotely bothered by it,” Roy told supporters at Blanco BBQ. “He didn’t say, ‘What are you doing calling me?’ He said ‘Hey Chip.'”
Meanwhile his own latest ads suggest their relationship is one of mutual respect, including a clip of Trump saying he’s “not easy” to work with, but good at what he does.
Even among his closest supporters, many worry that nuanced argument is beyond the voters who will decide the May 26 primary runoff.
“The MAGA element is a part of the problem,” said Cody Whitaker, a retired U.S. Army veteran who came to see Roy at Brook Hollow Library.
“They’re only concerned that Trump got offended, or that Chip told Trump no a few times,” Whitaker said. “Chip really has accomplished more for Trump than MAGA wants to give him credit for, and it’s really, it’s just odd how blind they are to that.”
‘My voice is not going to go anywhere’
Now that the race has tightened, Roy has been traversing the state. He went from Alpine to Allen to Rockwall to Tyler to College Station and Cypress before his stop in San Antonio.
On Monday, he forgot to set an alarm, but woke up on his own minutes before a 5:25 a.m. interview with Maria Bartiromo on FOX Business Network. He knocked out three more radio interviews on his way down.
“I’ve got a little break this afternoon, so maybe I’ll just sleep in my truck,” he said.
Roy told supporters he’d set up the AG’s office for Paxton in 2014, and believes Middleton’s business law background is wholly insufficient.
“Of all the jobs where you need very specific experience, in my view, Attorney General is probably the most,” said Roy — a perspective shared by his late-breaking benefactor.
Roy said he’s also been in Congress for eight years now, and that it was time to send someone new to represent his 21st Congressional District regardless.
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“I’m one of those who believes we need to cycle through people in Congress,” Roy said. “I’m a husband and a father who needs to be home … I think I’m doing the right thing.”
No matter the outcome on Tuesday, Roy said it won’t be the last that voters hear from him.
“I’m asking voters to be as their attorney general. We expect to win, and I’ll be happy to serve in that role. But either way, I think I’m doing the right thing,” Roy said. “Post-cancer, post-surviving stage three Hodgkin’s lymphoma, I’m kind of a ‘put-me-in-coach’ kind of guy … I can promise you, my voice is not going to go anywhere.”
