Aaron Reitz

Islamic jihadis are plotting against you.

I'm running for Attorney General because I believe that we're in a battle for the soul of our state and our nation.

And I know from long fought personal experience that the primary arena in which we fight the dark forces of the left is the justice system.

President Trump understands this better than anyone, and as one of his very first orders of business in his new administration was to elevate me to the senior ranks of his Justice Department.

And when he did, he said, Aaron Reitz is a true MAGA attorney and a warrior for the Constitution.

Why?

Because of my battle-tested record leading legal troops into legal combat to deliver legal victories for Texas and for Texans.

Attorney General Paxson has served our state effectively and faithfully for over a decade, but now the time has come to choose a new chief legal officer.

Remember, under the Texas Constitution, this is a legal, law enforcement, executive branch job, not a legislative job.

So while my opponents may spend tonight talking about their legislative record or bills that they've worked on, you'll see a glaring absence of any real legal record.

That might be fine if you're running for re-election to the House or Senate, but it's wholly inadequate to the task of Attorney General.

In contrast, my record, litigating, investigating, suing, defending, and appealing on all the major issues that we Republicans care about throughout the justice system sets me apart.

It's that record that led Attorney General Paxton to endorse me to succeed him, and it's that record that can give Texans the confidence that I'm ready to lead the fight in court.

Republican primaries should be for Republicans, not for liberals, not for Democrats, not for people who are coming into our party business to try and screw around with our elections to choose our best Republicans.

That's our business.

I'm proud of the fact that Attorney General Paxson filed litigation in defense of the Republican Party of Texas and against the Secretary of State in her defense of a facially unconstitutional provision in the Texas election code that these two senators, well, maybe just one senator, because I'll give May some credit here for trying to fix that, but this is a First Amendment freedom of association issue.

This is not just quibbling over the words in a statute.

Our party has the right to freely associate with whomever we want.

It's a First Amendment issue.

And while I did a moment ago give Mays some credit for attempting to pass that law, even if he had got it through, what no one on this stage has ever done is successfully litigate First Amendment appeals or litigation at the district court or up to the U.S.