Texas politics: Here are 5 top-of-ballot candidates' stances on law enforcement

FORT WORTH, Texas — Five candidates vying for three top-of-ballot offices made their appeal to law enforcement officers from over 200 counties on Tuesday at the annual Sheriffs Association of Texas conference in Fort Worth.

While the Republicans leaned on a long-time political loyalty from law enforcement, Democrats pulled out on the stops in an effort to convince attendees to vote for the person, not the party.

Both red and blue candidates for U.S. Senate, Texas Attorney General and Texas Comptroller were programmed to speak Tuesday morning in the Fort Worth Convention Center Ballroom. Each had 15 minutes to speak.

The only one who did not show was Don Huffines, a Republican running for comptroller.

U.S. Senate candidates

Brought out first, Republican candidates Ken Paxton and Mayes Middleton both received standing ovations from the crowd of roughly 750 people spread across the oversized room.

Paxton, attorney general and U.S. Senate hopeful, read off his iPad about his father’s time in the U.S. Air Force and how elected officials must stand firm with law enforcement. He said that’s what his record shows him doing even when it wasn’t the popular option.

According to Paxton, Democrat candidate James Talarico does the opposite, wanting to defund police and make the jobs of sheriffs harder.

In the U.S. Senate, Paxton aims to fully fund President Donald Trump’s security agenda, secure the Texas-Mexico border and fight the cartels bringing drugs into America. He said he would also protect qualified immunity for officers and support detaining and deporting immigrants who lack permanent legal status.

Paxton gave a shortened version of the same speech later at a press conference, but denied three of the four questions allowed from the news outlets because they weren’t about law enforcement.

The group of sheriffs drastically shrunk when the Democrats were brought on stage about 30 minutes after the Republicans wrapped up. Every table in the 28,160-square-foot ballroom had multiple empty seats if it wasn’t completely empty.

Talarico used the first few minutes of his time to describe his World War II veteran grandfather “Poppy,” who he describes in many of his political rally speeches as the epitome of servitude.

He ensured the diminishing crowd that he would garner the tools, resources and respect the county officers deserved so they could focus on their jobs. In the seat, Talarico vowed to support rural sheriffs, get jails out of the mental health business and keep at-risk kids in classrooms and off the streets.

“When it comes to the border, I’ll say what a lot of Democrats aren’t willing to say: President Biden failed on our south border,” Talarico said. “There’s chaos in our border communities. We need to hire more border patrol agents and improve our border security infrastructure so we can stop unauthorized crossings and speed up processing times.”

Talarico said solving the border problem will take a common sense approach. He’s here to listen and learn, Talarico promised.

Texas Attorney General candidates

Middleton, the Republican contender for Texas Attorney General, used his time to highlight the importance of the sheriff in counties. He said they are the front line protectors of the “God-granted freedoms”: life, liberty and property.

The conference logo this year included the 250th anniversary insignia, which Middleton said he was happy to see.

“We are the greatest nation God has ever blessed this earth with,” Middleton said. “And if someone is not proud to be an American, they need to go. They need to leave. We’ve got enough here to deal with.”

The other side of the ticket is trying to defund the police, put bad people back on the streets and make it harder for law enforcement to do their jobs, Middleton said. Democrats are campaigning “on the promise of not following the law, and they were setting policies of not prosecuting,” he told the crowd.

Middleton asked the sheriffs association conference to remember who has had their backs when they vote in November.

“Paxton’s got your back. I’ve got your back. Governor Abbott has got your back. Lieutenant Governor Patrick has got your back,” Middleton said. “And here is my goal: to make sure that Texas is the safest state in America to live and raise a family, and that is a goal that we will accomplish together.”

Nathan Johnson, the Democratic nominee for Texas Attorney General, said the notion of Democrats not backing the blue has been a political narrative for a long time, but he thinks law enforcement has no business being a prop in a political play.

“The people who are pretending to support law enforcement are the ones who are putting your budget on the line, your lives on the line, and respect for your control and expertise out the window,” Johnson said. “I would like to fix all of that.”

Johnson said he understands that the jobs of sheriffs and sheriff's deputies are getting harder as technology advances and that criminals are getting more expensive to fight, requiring costly expertise and tools.

The attorney general’s office has the budget, employees and experts who can support the sheriffs offices who need it, which Johnson said he would.

“I want to make sure that number one, I am deferential to your expertise and your judgment, and secondly, that I am there in a supportive role in the attorney general’s office,” Johnson said. “I will bring in expertise. I will bring in people. I will bring in funding, and we will be working together in partnership to make sure that you can do your job, and do it well.”

In the Texas Legislature, the majority of bills passing are from the far right and far left, Johnson said, because that’s what gets the most attention. Two of those bills that passed were one requiring counties with over 100,000 people to enroll in the 287(g) program assisting ICE and another that penalizes cities for defunding the police.

Johnson voted against both, saying he wanted to give the counties discretion on the 287(g) program and that no city was actually trying to defund the police. If any city was trying to, he wouldn’t support them, Johnson said.

“That bill helped nobody, and I did vote against that bill,” Johnson said. “It took a lot of courage because I knew someday somebody was going to come up here and say ‘Nathan Johnson doesn’t support the police. He voted against the anti-anti-defund the police bill.”

As attorney general, Johnson said he wants to have an open line of communication with sheriffs where they can visit or call him with ideas of how to work together effectively.

Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts candidates

Though both Huffines and Democrat Sarah Eckhardt were slated in the program to speak at the conference, only Eckhardt did. Neither Huffines nor his campaign responded to questions from the Star-Telegram about why he did not attend.

Eckhardt said he didn’t show because he assumed the group was already in his camp.

As comptroller, Eckhardt said she wants to partner with local governments to ensure communities are safe and thriving. Huffines, she said, wants to replace local law enforcement and fire jobs with artificial intelligence to cut down on cost.

“He says he wants to go after corruption, but he is already weaponizing the comptroller’s office to reward his friends and punish his enemies,” Eckhardt said. “You all may think that I have some kind of ideological difference from law enforcement, but this is not an ideological office, and I pledge to you that I will never weaponize it for politics.”

The Texas Comptroller should be someone who acts non-partisanly, Eckhardt contended.

As Travis County Judge, Eckhardt said she managed billions in assets including the courts and jails and still cut taxes three times in five years. As a prosecutor, she held everyone, not just most, above the law, Eckhardt told the crowd.

“When people were crying out for help in a family violence case or knee-deep in floodwaters, I never asked, and nor would you ask, what party they were in,” Eckhardt said. “As a state senator, I have fought hard for Texans, regardless of political party, and that’s exactly what you want in a Texas comptroller.”

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