Texas voters will see something they've rarely seen this century thanks to Attorney General Ken Paxton. When the Republican announced last week that he would run for the U.S. Senate, it set the stage for just the third open-seat battle for the attorney general's office since the year 2000.

Freshman state Rep. Mitch Little, a Lewisville Republican who before being elected to the Texas House was part of Paxton's legal team that helped him beat the charges in the 2023 Texas Senate impeachment trial, told the American-Statesman that he also is considering running for attorney general.

Middleton is the second Republican to join what is expected to be a growing field of candidates angling to succeed Attorney General Ken Paxton as the state’s top legal official.