For the first time in more than a decade, there will be an open seat at one of the top statewide offices: Texas Attorney General. 

Ken Paxton has decided to leave the office at the end of his term in December 2026 and run for U.S. Senate. Seven candidates are running for this seat. They include four Republicans: State Senator Joan Huffman of Houston, State Senator Mayes Middleton of Galveston, Aaron Reitz, the former Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Policy in the U.S. Justice Department during President Trump's second term, and Central Texas Congressman Chip Roy.

There are three candidates running in the Democratic primary for attorney general: Attorney and former FBI agent Tony Box, former Galveston Mayor Joe Jaworski, and State Senator Nathan Johnson of Dallas. We asked them about why they're running and the essence of their campaign. 

Why are the candidates running for attorney general?

"I'm running for attorney general to help people," said Tony Box. "The attorney general is the chief law enforcement officer in the state of Texas and should be laser focused on service. I am focused on service and have been my entire career." 

Tony Box told CBS News Texas about how his life's mission came to be. "Now, I'll tell you a little bit about where that comes from. When I was 16 years old, I was shot while trying to help someone. During that process of healing and recovering in the hospital, I decided that I would live a life of service. I promised God and others that I will live my life to serve others. Since that time, I've done exactly that. I've served as an FBI agent. I've served in the Army for a full career. I've served as a federal prosecutor. I have lived a life of service." 

"The essence of this campaign is communicating that to the citizens of Texas, to the voters, to the people who need service," said Box. "Contrast it with Ken Paxton and others who have who seem to be serving themselves, serving their rich buddies, as well as serving political parties. I'm not that guy. I am here running to serve the people of Texas.. I still carry that bullet with me to this day. It is still in me, in my liver. It is a permanent reminder. It is a North star for me that I have to serve others. 

Joe Jaworski told CBS News Texas, "The mantra, if you will, of my campaign, is going to be that corruption is bad for Texas, and we need public servants who will serve the public, not politicians who serve themselves. So, what I want voters to know is Joe Jaworski is running for Texas Attorney General. I will never lie to you. I can't be bought, and I have your back." 

When asked about his definition of corruption and how he relates it to his campaign, Jaworski said, "It is the attorney general's province, to be the lead lawyer and in a way, counselor for the entire state. It breaks my heart to see that state government has become akin to the Spanish Inquisition: Picking winners and losers while at the same time, it has adopted a pay to play type experience. Donors who have millions of dollars, that would be a rounding error, to their finances, are able to pay capital sums, to legislators and executives in order to achieve access."

Nathan Johnson said, "The framers of the Texas Constitution had something very specific in mind when they created the office of Attorney General, and that mission is not being fulfilled. Those framers mistrusted power in all forms, everywhere. They wanted the attorney general to be and part of the executive branch, independently elected by the voters to act as a check to the concentration of power and the abuse of power, wherever it is in government, in the marketplace and on the streets." 

"For quite a long time now, the office has not been used for that at all," said Johnson. "It has been used as a political tool, and the interests of the public and of the state have been trampled upon in service of a political machine that isn't particularly concerned with either a political machine that sees people as a way to extract wealth, and somebody over whom to exercise power. That's not who should be in the Attorney General's office. They need to be a check on the governor, on the legislature, on corruption, on corporations, on the president of the United States. The attorney general has got to stand for upholding the rule of law so that this state can thrive. We haven't had it. It's time to fix it."

How do candidates expect to defend what they disagree with?

Our next question: How will you defend a state law in court that you disagree with? 

"First things first. I would probably have my own opinion about it," said Jaworski. "As I saw something going down the pike through, what would I think be the 90th legislature, I might have some choice words about whether it was constitutional or wise to pass. So, people will hear from the attorney general as a Democrat for the first time in a long time, who might be saying and speaking from a different script, but also remember as an attorney, I took an oath of office alongside my wife when we graduated University of Texas Law school together 35 years ago. What that oath says is you will protect and defend the Texas Constitution as well as the United States Constitution." 

"Also, as a Texas attorney, the Supreme Court understands I am held to the Texas rules, the disciplinary rules of professional conduct. I'm sure we've talked about this before. Rule 3.01 requires every attorney, when considering a representation, to use his or her own discretion in judgment as to whether the position they're taking is in good faith and or not frivolous. So if there's an unconstitutional law that the legislature has passed because they want to make a statement and appeal to their base, if it's unconstitutional, I won't support it. In fact, I'll work to undo it."

Nathan Johnson said, "This really captures the imagination of the press. Everyone wants to know, what are you going to do when you have to defend these terrible Republican laws? You know, there is a job of attorney general, and it is to defend the laws of the state of Texas. I think it's very important that an attorney general recognize that the legislature makes the laws, and they have the right to make bad laws. They have the right to make stupid laws. They don't have the right to make unconstitutional laws. Well, I guess they have the right to make them, but they don't have the right to see them enforced. I would not enforce unconstitutional laws by the legislature."

When asked his definition of unconstitutional, Johnson said, "It changes by the day with the present Supreme Court. So, it's a case-by-case basis that comes along. But you raise the more difficult question, what if it's not unconstitutional? What if it's just a bad law? Again, I have to defend the right of the legislature to make the law right. I have great discretion in enforcement powers. The attorney general actually isn't the front-line enforcer on many things, but I do have discretion as to how to use the resources. There are priorities and there are lesser priorities. And you can bet that any attorney general, Republican or Democrat, is going to exercise that discretion to see to it that the people of Texas are well served. In the case of a law that I find so repugnant that I just can't in good conscience defend it, we can get outside counsel. It is something that Paxton, that Abbott, that Cornyn, that our last three attorneys general have all done. There are times when your office just can't do it, but you make sure that the state is represented."

Tony Box told CBS News Texas, "So the dividing line is, is do you believe that this law is unconstitutional. I'm not going to defend unconstitutional laws. To the extent I swore in oath to the Constitution over and over again, started when I was 18 years old, and it continues today. I'm not going to defend unconstitutional laws. That is how you divide or determine whether you're going to, defend or not defend the law."

Opinion on Gov. Abbott sending Texas National Guard to Chicago

We also asked about an issue that attracted nationwide controversy: the Governor sending the Texas National Guard to Chicago in October.

Nathan Johnson said, "I think the president's actions are illegal. I think the governor, who is the commander in chief of the Texas State National Guard, has the power to deploy them for state purposes. But simply acquiescing to Trump's ridiculous demands to send Texas reservists, Texans who have families, who have jobs, who have kids, to disturb their lives and send them to Oregon for a stunt by the president of the United States when he's lying to the public about there being an insurrection in Oregon. That's an abuse of his authority. Abbott should have stood up to Trump and our attorney general, Ken Paxton, should have sued to stop it."

Tony Box criticized the decision. "Abhorrent. I do not support that. I'm a soldier. I spent 20 years as a soldier. No soldier wants to be deployed in that manner. We have the most lethal fighting force in the world. We should never use our people, our military, against our own people. That is not the appropriate manner to use the military. So, I'm not supportive of using greatest fighting force in the world against Americans."

Joe Jaworski said, "I think that it is another example of our state leaders selling us out to Donald Trump. And I'll tell you why they're doing it, because they're afraid of being denounced on Trump's Truth social media platform. That's no way to run a state government. So, I'm really disappointed." 

When asked if he would challenge the decision, Jaworski said, "I think I would challenge it. The Oregon attorney general, filed suit against Trump for federalizing the Oregon National Guard. This is a little different because here you have the governor loaning our National Guard. What is it, 400 units, I think, was the last count. Of course, this is after all, that horror down at the border where we heard.. stories about people taking their own lives because they were sent down there and were missing their opportunity to actually work and pay bills for their family. So, this whole idea of just willy nilly sending our men and women who are loyally serving our National Guard and they're wonderful public servants off to remote locations, kind of reminds me of bring our boys and in this case, boys and girls back home. The Attorney General can absolutely do something about that."

The Texas National Guard members who went to Illinois reportedly returned to the Lone Star State before Thanksgiving. There's also a new poll by Texas Southern University released on Thursday about the Democrats running for Attorney General. It shows Jaworski with 21 percent, Johnson with 19 percent, and Box at three percent. Perhaps unsurprisingly, 57 percent of the Democrats surveyed said they are unsure who they will support.

Texas Southern University also surveyed the Democratic primary for Governor. State Representative Gina Hinojosa of Austin has a big lead with 41 percent of the vote, while former Gubernatorial candidates Andrew White, an entrepreneur from Houston, has six percent and former Houston Congressman Chris Bell was at five percent.