The following are the complete and unedited responses submitted by the candidate listed below to the Amarillo Pioneer’s Candidate Questionnaire.
Johnson/Photo via campaign
Name: Nathan Johnson
Office Sought: Attorney General
Party Affiliation: Democratic
Age: 57
What is your educational background? Please list any degrees or certificates earned and any institutions attended.
a. Bachelor of Science in Physics, University of Arizona
b. Juris doctor, University of Texas
What is your occupation?
Texas State Senator; Attorney
Please list any civic boards or commissions (non-profit, government, union, religious, political, etc.) on which you have served as a board member or equivalent.
Prior to my election to the Texas Senate, I served as follows
a. Pro Bono Attorney, Human Rights Institute of Dallas
b. 3rd-grade reading tutor with Reading Partners
c. Chair, Dallas County Trails and Preservation Board
d. Bedford Mentor, University of North Texas Law School
e. Youth Soccer Coach, YMCA
f. Volunteer, Family Gateway
g. Member, Flinn Scholar Alumni Advisory Council
h. Participant, Leadership Dallas Program
Have you previously held or do you currently hold any elected office? If so, what office(s)?
Senator for State Senate District 16 (Dallas County)
If your campaign has any online campaign resources where voters can learn more about you, such as social media accounts or a website, please list them below.
a. Website: https://nathanfortexas.com/
b. X: https://x.com/nathanfortexas
c. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NathanforTexas/
d. TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@nathanfortexas
e. Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nathanfortexas/
f. Threads: https://www.threads.com/@nathanfortexas
g. BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/nathanfortexas.bsky.social
Why did you decide to run for this office in 2026?
I served as a juror in the 2023 impeachment trial of Attorney General Ken Paxton, and found him guilty and voted to convict on 14 of the 16 articles of impeachment. Seeing up close how the office had been abused and debased, and watching my Republican colleagues collapse under political pressure to acquit Paxton despite the evidence of corruption and abuse of office beyond reasonable doubt, was painful. Albeit for the wrong reasons, the trial demonstrated to all of us the tremendous power of the office. It struck me then that the OAG can be as powerfully good under the right leadership as it has been powerfully bad under Paxton.
The obligations of the office are not being met, its purposes not being fulfilled. I’m running to make the office work as it should and must. The OAG should and must investigate and prosecute corruption rather than engage in it; it should and must enforce competition laws in the marketplace; and it should and must work with district and county attorneys instead of against them to keep communities safe; it should and must, in concert with Democratic attorneys general across the country, defend the state and individuals against the Trump administration’s destructive lawlessness; and it should and must cease operating in abject service of the right-wing political machine. Under my leadership, it will.
If elected, what will be your top three priorities in office?
One: End the corrupt use of the office for personal and political ends. Key will be re-building an agency (the OAG) by hiring great people.
Two: Elevate consumer protection and enforce market laws (state and federal antitrust and other laws governing business practices). Both have received scant attention over the past several decades, and the Trump administration is all but shutting them down. The result has been distorted markets, stifled innovation, consumer vulnerability and weakened democratic institutions. The AG is charged with protecting consumers from unethical business practices, including predatory pricing mechanisms, fraud, and all kinds of scams. The AG is also charged with enforcing laws against anti-competitive business practices, to make markets work and avoid conditions where consolidated commercial power captures and wields political power for its own ends.
Three: Make government work: (i) protect our rights as people and as a state, which will mean, among other things, suing the Trump administration whenever they break the law or violate the constitution, both of which, alas, occur with frequency; (ii) routinely partner with district attorneys to actually improve public safety while promoting just and effective law enforcement; (iii) work with agencies and the Legislature and with businesses to make certain that everybody has a better understanding of the rules, follows the rules, operates equitably, and gets in trouble if they break the rules.
What is an issue you believe has gone overlooked in your race and how will you address it if elected?
That good AGs make markets work for consumers. The OAG defends consumers and enforces laws against fraud, market consolidation and other actions in violation of antitrust law, collusion, predatory pricing, price-fixing, scams of all kinds, and other predatory business practices. This would not only protect consumers, but lower prices and improve quality of goods and services, and guard democratic institutions from commercial control.
Do you have any notable endorsements you would like to highlight for voters? If this question is not applicable, please write N/A.
Significant endorsements include members of Congress Julie Johnson and Marc Veasey; States Senators Royce West, Sarah Eckhardt, Jose Menendez, Borris Miles, and Cesar Blanco; State Representatives Christian Manuel, Venton Jones, Cass Hernadnez, Donna Howard, Ramon Romero, and Mary Ann Perez, Ana Hernandez; Harris County Commissioner Rodney Ellis; Dallas County Commissioners John Wiley Price, Theresa Daniels and Andy Sommerman; numerous members of city councils and school boards; and civic leaders like reproductive rights advocate Amanda Zurawski. For a complete list, please see https://nathanfortexas.com/endorsements.
In prior election cycles, including a Senate primary election in 2024, I received endorsements from Stonewall Democrats of Dallas, Dallas County Young Democrats, Dallas Morning News, AFL-CIO, Texas Democrats with Disabilities Caucus, Sierra Club, Mexican American Democrats of Texas, Asian American Democrats of Texas Caucus, Texas Freedom Network, Mothers Against Greg Abbott, Texas Medical Association Political Action Committee, and numerous elected leaders with whom I’ve worked.
Why are you the best candidate for voters to support for this position?
We need two qualities in our Democratic nominee for Attorney General: someone who can win a general election against right-wing Republicans and someone who can deliver while in office. I've done both. I won my Senate seat by flipping a 30-year Republican district. In the Senate, I have been a fierce advocate for all major Democratic positions, including voting rights, reproductive rights, equality of opportunity and treatment under the law, respect for local control, healthcare, education, housing, and more; while at the same time passing 135 bills and killing and shaping dozens more. Highlights include getting health insurance for 350,000 uninsured Texans, throttling corporate abuse of property tax breaks, a program to fund water and soil preservation and improvement, the first-ever tax preference for federally designated minority opportunity districts, mental health for young people and major reforms to the electric grid. I plan to bring the same level of tenacity, industriousness, and strategy to the OAG.
I do believe that the skills, knowledge, and insights derived from eight years’ service in state government will be key to successfully bringing the full power of the OAG to bear for the good of all Texans.