Jodey Arrington

As the Texas 2026 Republican primary reaches election day Tuesday, a U.S. Rep. Jodey Arrington is endorsing a fellow congressman for the state's chief legal officer.

Arrington is a Lubbock Republican who is not known to publicly endorse candidates for races — even foregoing endorsing a Republican candidate to replace him as he retires from the U.S. House.

But Arrington has decided to weigh in on a highly watched Texas Attorney General Republican primary — endorsing his fellow Republican colleague, U.S. Rep. Chip Roy, for the job.

"A lot of politicians make great promises, and they all seem to say the right things," Arrington said, "But it is the rare few that live up to those promises, follow through on those commitments and fight for what they said they believed in, and without exception, that is who Chip Roy is."

Roy serves as the representative of Texas' 21st Congressional District — covering South Austin, North San Antonio, and the Texas Hill Country.

But Roy is no stranger to West Texas, nor the job he is vying for.

"My family's deep roots in Texas go back to 1850s. My great, great father was a Texas Ranger and moved out here to Lubbock, buried here at Lubbock," Roy said. "Number of my family is buried out here. And my dad grew up in Sweetwater and went to Texas Tech here."

With deep roots in the Llano Estacado, Arrington said Roy has been not only defending his district values in the U.S. House but also those of West Texans and Texas.

"As someone who's a former federal prosecutor, the former first assistant attorney general, I've run Office of the Attorney General before. I know how it works," Roy said.

For background, Roy served under current Texas AG Ken Paxton in 2014 as the first assistant AG until he resigned in 2015.

Ever since, Roy has been an outspoken critic of his former boss — even calling for his resignation in another scandal that led the Texas House to impeach Paxton, but the Texas Senate acquitted Paxton.

But why does Roy want to step down from the federal government and join Texas politics? Family and duty, he says.

"I have a 16-year-old and 14-year-old. My wife's been carrying the load, and I want to be home in Texas," Roy said. "I feel like I've done a lot in D.C., but I also think, for those of us who talk about term limits, whether we ever enact them or not, put your money where your mouth is. Go up there, do your job and then come back home. It's not supposed to be a permanent ruling class up there."

Roy is the reported frontrunner in a contested Republican primary facing Joan Huffman, Mayes Middleton and Aaron Reitz. Whoever becomes the Republican candidate in the November General Election will face a Democratic candidate challenger.

Paxton has endorsed Reitz to succeed him.

However, if all goes Roy's way, he is ready to assume the role of AG.

"We've got to set our state up to deal with future border chaos and prevent the damage that was done under Joe Biden," Roy said. "We need to deal with the rampant advancement of Sharia law and the Islamification of the State of Texas. We need to deal with judges and das that are putting criminals on the streets too often."

On top of that, Roy said he wants to ensure no companies are running or owning Texas, as "Texans should own Texas."

"I think the stakes are really high for our country, for the state of Texas, and that if we lose Texas, we lose the country," Roy said.

Arrington reiterated that Roy gets things done, being a key driver in getting President Donald Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill passed — and helping craft the sequel bill to it.

"I'm here to tell the folks in West Texas that of all the people I've worked with, I don't think anybody's lived up to that sacred trust as a conservative, principled, proven leader than Chip Roy," Arrington said. "I put my name and reputation to Chip Roy being our next attorney general."