Democrats flip attorney general offices in five states, including Ohio and Texas
Photo: Texas PoliticsDemocrats flipped attorney general offices in five Republican-leaning states in Tuesday's midterm elections — Texas, Ohio, Georgia, Iowa and Kansas — dealing a significant blow to the conservative legal movement and erecting a new line of legal resistance against President Donald Trump's agenda.
The victories threaten to disrupt years of conservative legal strategy. The incoming Democratic attorneys general, who take office in January, could halt cooperation with federal immigration operations, fortify abortion access and file multistate challenges against the Trump administration's environmental and gun policies.
The biggest prize is Texas, where Democratic State Senator Nathan Johnson, 58, defeated Republican Mayes Middleton by roughly seven points to become the first Democrat to hold the office since 1994. "The Texas AG's office has been operating as the private law firm of the MAGA movement," Johnson said in an interview. "No more."
Johnson said he plans a review of the legal actions launched by his predecessor, Ken Paxton, including cases targeting out-of-state abortion providers, claims linking over-the-counter medications to autism and lawsuits challenging vaccine efficacy. He is also critical of the state's partnership with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and plans to review whether it should continue. "The Texas attorney general office was never conceived to be an extension of federal immigration enforcement," he said. "And to the extent that they were detracting from the proper function of this office, we're going to have a change of plans."
Johnson said he is prepared to join multistate lawsuits against what he called federal abuse of power, and plans to refocus the office on antitrust and consumer protection while rebuilding a staff depleted by high turnover under Paxton.
In Ohio, Attorney General-elect John Kulewicz defeated Republican State Auditor Keith Faber in a close race. Kulewicz campaigned on curbing corporate price gouging. In Georgia, Democrat Tanya Miller defeated Republican Brian Strickland by roughly 11 points; her election could change how the state defends HB 481, the 2019 law banning abortion after six weeks.
In Iowa, Democrat Nate Willems defeated Republican incumbent Brenna Bird, 51% to 49%. Willems has pledged to prosecute corporate polluters and revive the office's consumer protection division, departing from Bird, who drew national attention for halting state reimbursements for abortions for rape victims. In Kansas, Democrat Chris Mann narrowly defeated incumbent Kris Kobach, a leading Republican immigration hardliner, in a rematch of their 2022 race. Mann said he wants to make the office nonpartisan, but he is concerned about ICE raids in parts of the state and plans to review all of his predecessor's lawsuits, including one that challenged access to the abortion pill mifepristone.
The flips could reshape some of the country's most consequential lawsuits. Texas is among the states suing the U.S. Food and Drug Administration over its approval of mifepristone; if Texas withdraws from the case, Florida — where Republican Attorney General James Uthmeier won a new term on Tuesday — would be the remaining plaintiff. If Kansas withdraws from a separate challenge to regulations that expanded access to mifepristone, only Missouri and Idaho would remain as plaintiffs.
With the five flips, Democrats will hold 29 state attorney general offices to Republicans' 22, according to an analysis by the law firm WilmerHale. For a decade, Republican attorneys general used their offices to sue Democratic administrations and block Democratic policies; now the tables have turned.
"The Republican state AG offices are the tip of the spear of the conservative legal movement," said Mike Davis, an influential conservative lawyer. "Losing these offices is a major setback for key conservative causes." With the loss of the key offices, conservative legal leaders are shifting their focus to Florida, according to two former Justice Department officials. "This office has been leading these fights since the day I took office, and we're going to keep leading them," Uthmeier said in a statement. In a Fox News interview, he vowed to be the last line of defense against Democrats. Yet the Florida office is roughly a third the size of Texas' department, which the Republican Attorneys General Association has hailed as the party's premier "armory of legal talent."
The Justice Department did not respond to a request for comment. The White House referred to previous comments from Trump in which he said Republicans lost in the midterms because he wasn't on the ballot.
Sources: Reuters, “Democratic wins in state AG races give Trump a new headache” (Nov. 8, 2026); Reuters, “Factbox — Democratic attorney general wins could reshape US lawsuits on abortion, immigration and more” (Nov. 8, 2026); WilmerHale, “2026 State Attorney General Elections: New Attorneys General, Flipped Seats, and What It Means for Business” (Nov. 5, 2026); USA Today, “Trump drops ballot lawsuit, GOP in retreat after historic midterm losses: Live updates” (Nov. 6, 2026).
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