Texas runoff: SAVE Act author Chip Roy loses AG primary to election denier Mayes Middleton

By Jen Rice

WASHINGTON, DC - SEPTEMBER 10: Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) speaks during a "Only Citizens Vote" bus tour rally on passing the SAVE Act at Upper Senate Park outside the U.S. Capitol on September 10, 2025 in Washington, DC. The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, or SAVE Act, would mandate proof of U.S. citizenship to register for federal elections, a move supporters argue is needed to secure voter rolls while opponents say it risks blocking eligible Americans from casting ballots. (Photo by Kent Nishimura/Getty Images)

Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), the GOP congressman who wrote the extreme voter suppression bill the SAVE America Act, has lost his bid to become the GOP nominee for Texas attorney general to an outright election denier, according to multiple news outlets. 

While President Donald Trump did not officially endorse any candidate in the race, he appeared to favor state Sen. Mayes Middleton (R), who was declared the winner Tuesday night. 

Middleton has signaled that, as attorney general, he would work to overturn results that go against his party — as incumbent Attorney General Ken Paxton did for Trump’s 2020 loss. 

“The 2020 election was stolen from Trump, and Chip fought to certify a stolen election and certify Biden—now he wants to run the election integrity division in the AG’s office. Disqualifying,” Middleton said in a March social media post. “Texas and Paxton did as we should, use every resource and tool to stop the steal.”

Trump’s decision not to endorse Roy was surprising because he has described the SAVE America Act, which the congressman sponsored in the House, as his top legislative priority.

The stridently anti-voting bill would impose strict proof of citizenship requirements and, if Trump gets his way, all but eliminate mail voting. It passed the House, but subsequently failed in the Senate.

Roy entered the primary after incumbent Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) moved to challenge incumbent Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) and ultimately received the president’s endorsement.

No such luck for Roy. With the president making no endorsement, Middleton was able to portray himself as the official MAGA candidate and overtake the Texas congressman at the polls.

Roy’s loss emphasizes Trump’s continued sway over the GOP and his willingness to exact revenge at the voting booth against Republicans who defy him — even when they support him on other priority issues. 

Despite his enthusiasm for voter suppression, Roy appears to have lost Trump’s favor after rejecting the president’s efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election. 

After Trump lost that race, Paxton’s office filed a lawsuit challenging the results in Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. The lawsuit was quickly rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court, but its consequences still linger for Texas Republicans: Paxton faced potential disciplinary action from the State Bar of Texas, which sought sanctions against him. Ultimately, the bar dismissed its lawsuit.

At the time, Roy broke ranks and called Paxton’s suit a “dangerous violation of federalism” that was at odds with the goal of protecting Texas from “the meddling of other states.”

Despite that eventual disagreement, in the days after the 2020 election, Roy was firmly in the MAGA camp, defending Trump’s claims that the election was stolen. He even traveled to Georgia and posted a photo of himself with prominent election denier Cleta Mitchell. 

But by Jan. 3, Roy had put out a statement opposing efforts to overturn the election. And on Jan. 6, as Trump’s supporters attacked the Capitol, he sent text messages to the president’s chief of staff imploring him to call them off: “This is a sh*tshow. Fix this now,” he wrote.

Trump-aligned Republicans refuse to forget that. 

Last week, Trump advisor Alex Bruesewitz called Roy “one of the most anti-Trump congressmen in the country.”

“Remember: Roy stood with Liz Cheney after she voted to impeach Trump, teamed up with Thomas Massie to try and stop Trump in 2024, and has openly attacked MAGA by telling us to ‘kiss his ass’ while calling patriots ‘motherf***ers,’” Bruesewitz wrote in a social media post.

Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R) also joined in, publishing an extended screed against Roy that, notably, focused entirely on the congressman’s relationship to Trump, rather than his record on issues affecting Texans. 

Not everyone abandoned Roy. Cleta Mitchell, a prominent election denier and champion of the SAVE America Act, took to social media Tuesday morning and called on voters to cast their ballots for the congressman.

“For everyone who cares about election integrity, Chip Roy is THE choice for Attorney General,” she wrote.