Paxton sides with Texas GOP, against secretary of state in lawsuit seeking to close primaries

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Last month, the Republican Party of Texas sued over a state law that allows anyone to vote in any primary election, regardless of party affiliation.

On Thursday, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton responded, not to defend the state law, but to side with the GOP in asking a federal judge to strike down parts of the election code that allow for open primaries.

“The unconstitutional law stopping the [Republican Party of Texas] from closing its primaries is completely indefensible and a slap in the face to the Republican Party and voters,” Paxton said.

This is the latest in a string of cases where Paxton, as the state’s top lawyer, has not only declined to defend a state law, but actively campaigned for the courts to strike it down.

Earlier this summer, the Department of Justice sued Texas over a law providing in-state tuition for undocumented college students. Paxton agreed to a consent decree striking down the law just six hours after the suit was filed.

Paxton indicated in a press release that he hoped to see a similarly swift resolution in this case, discouraging the Secretary of State’s office from “fighting this lawsuit with expensive out-of-state lawyers.”

Typically, the attorney general’s office defends state laws when they are challenged. But investigations from The Texas Tribune and ProPublica have identified at least 75 times when his office declined to defend state agencies in court; in other cases, Paxton’s office has hired expensive private lawyers to take on Big Tech companies and other high-profile litigation.

Paxton’s office gave Secretary of State Jane Nelson less than an hour’s notice that they would be siding against her agency in the lawsuit, a lawyer for Nelson said in a brief filed Thursday afternoon. She intends to oppose the motion, the brief said.

The GOP argued in its original lawsuit that the state’s open primary system, in which people can vote in either primary, regardless of party affiliation, is a violation of their rights under the First Amendment. They want a closed primary, where voters must register with a party before gaining access to the first, and in many cases, most important, round of voting.

The suit alleges that crossover voting, where people affiliated with one party vote in the other primary, leads to the selection of more moderate candidates and gives non-party members unfair influence.

“In Texas, Republicans, and only Republicans, should select Republican nominees,” Republican Party of Texas Chair Abraham George said in a brief statement posted on social media.

The party adopted new rules in 2024 calling for closed primaries, after two moderate House representatives — former House speaker Dade Phelan, R-Beaumont, and Gary VanDeaver, R-New Boston — won their primary races by less than 800 votes. The state party’s lawsuit suggested they only won because of votes from Democratic and independent-leaning voters.

The lawsuit is filed in federal court in Amarillo, a historically friendly venue for conservative causes. One judge, a former religious liberty lawyer named Matthew Kacsmaryk, hears all cases.

The parties have filed a proposed order that, if Kacsmaryk signs it, would declare the open primary aspects of state election law “unconstitutional to the extent that they interfere with the rights of the Republican Party of Texas.”

Paxton, at least, seems confident that Kacsmaryk will rule in his favor, telling the Secretary of State’s office in a press release to “follow the Constitution by swiftly implementing this consent decree.”

Paxton is running for the U.S. Senate in the 2026 Republican primary, hoping to unseat longtime Sen. John Cornyn. Whether or not closing the primary would benefit Paxton, experts say a change that significant would take years, and require a complete overhaul of the state’s voter registration system.

Texas has more than 18 million registered voters, all of whom would have to re-register with a party affiliation. The state would have to redesign its forms and software to allow for party affiliation.

“Re-registering the entire state's universe of voters would be impossible in a five-month to six months,” said Brandon Rottinghaus, a political science professor at the University of Houston. “There's no way to get around that.”

Disclosure: The University of Houston has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here.

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