The 2022 political season is underway with the candidate filing deadline for the March primary coming at 6 p.m. Monday, Dec. 13.
Republican incumbents Gov. Greg Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, and Attorney General Ken Paxton are all seeking reelection, but there are plenty of people who have announced plans to challenge them in the primary.
Before the governor wins a third term, he'll have to defeat a half dozen challengers in the primary, among the most notable are Allen West and Don Huffines.
On the other side, former El Paso U.S. Rep. Beto O'Rourke hopes to be on the ballot in November 2022 but will first have to get past a number of lesser-known primary candidates.
Get DFW local news, weather forecasts and entertainment stories to your inbox. Sign up for NBC DFW newsletters.
Attorney General Ken Paxton is facing the most competitive field he's seen in his time as the state's attorney general. In the primary, he'll have to defeat current Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush, State Rep. Louie Gohmert, and former Texas Supreme Court Justice Eva Guzman.
"This is a really great field. We have got four candidates in there and Louie Gohmert jumping into the race late. He jumps in as the best campaigner in the race, so I think this has gone from kind of a sleepy primary to something that people will be watching nationally," said Vinny Minchillo, Glass House Strategy.
Democrats are hoping this is the year they change the tide when it comes to statewide office. They haven't won since the 1990s.
Texas News
News from around the state of Texas.
Also hoping to be the state's attorney general are attorney Mike Fields, attorney Rochelle Mercedes Garza, former Galveston mayor, and attorney Joe Jaworski and civil rights attorney Lee Merritt will be on the ballot for the Democrats.
"That will be a competitive primary. I would expect it will probably go to a runoff. I don't know which two of the three make the runoff, but we have three qualified people running for attorney general," said Matt Angle, The Lone Star Project, referring to Merritt, Jaworski, and Garza. "Any of them would be a far better attorney general than Ken Paxton."
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick is seeking another term and has at least one challenger in the Republican primary. On the Democratic side, Texas Rep. Michelle Beckley and businessman Mike Collier are facing off in the primary.
There could be runoffs in both primaries, setting up a showdown before the November election. The primary is Tuesday, March 1. Primary runoffs would be held on Tuesday, May 24. The uniform election is on Tuesday, Nov. 8.
