When you when you're running right as attorney general, how concerned are you about the top of the ticket and its ability to affect your race for attorney general?

Well, I mean, look, you're seeing Democrat money pour in from all over the country, right? That's the main headwind here is California and New York.

They want to destroy Texas.

It's the reason why the Democrats running for statewide office went to Illinois, right? When they were opposing the redistricting map and hid behind Governor Pritzker, which was not hard to do, by the way.

Yeah.

I mean, these guys and gals, they went to the state that is known for gerrymandering, that is known for drawing out all Republicans from office or nearly all.

I mean, this is the hypocrisy that we're facing here.

But how concerned should we be about Governor Abbott's race to the top of the ticket that you're running on?

What can the OAG, what should the state of Texas be doing to deal with these predatory entities coming in under the guise of prediction markets that are nothing more than just kind of bookies with an app?

Well, so I'll give you a good example.

We've seen this before.

The lottery, right? Remember the courier companies? Right.

They were allowing apps to be created and targeting minors, right? They were targeting children.

And we actually exposed it in committee where they claimed they had age verification.

And one of the committee members signed up with a phony name and I think a phony age and voila you know they're approved there and then they're all of a sudden they're gambling uh with scratch off tickets it was virtual scratch off tickets it wasn't just a traditional lottery but we held them accountable we abolished the lottery and it is against the law in texas and i will make sure that that law is enforced because i mean going back to this we saw it with the racing commission you remember that years ago right right the texas racing commission tried to install Well, we're basically slot machines, right, at horse tracks.

What can the OAG do to confront this rapid rise of Islamification?

And saying, "You're not allowed to be the law enforcement official that is cutting against and breaking the law." Are you gonna do the same thing in S- Texas?

Yeah, exactly.

You know, this has been a cornerstone of my campaign here.

It's why law enforcement lined up behind me, whether that's the Fraternal Order of Police or Texas Municipal Police Association, countless sheriffs.

You know, I am tough on crime.

Because think about this.

You know, I talked about life, liberty, and property earlier.

And what about elected officials, uh, that engage like this? We've been seeing a spate of that with Democrat, uh, elected officials actually committing crimes against federal law enforcement.

Could you speak to that for a minute?

Yeah, so look, protecting Texas kids is one of the most important things you do in this job.

Those that cannot defend themselves.

And I fought to change the law to ban this evil practice of child transgender surgeries, genital mutilation, and these sterilizing drugs that permanently disfigure children.

We got it done in Texas.

It was a Freedom Caucus priority.

It is law.

Where is that coming from and what's your reaction to it?

Uh, why go the attorney general route?

Look, this is a calling for me, not a job, and the most important thing in this office, in the attorney general's office, is this: defeating the left.

It's what matters more than anything else.

That's exactly what I have been doing for the past seven years in office.

You know, I took on the woke left's radical gender ideology and won.

Authored and passed a save women's sports law.

Also the strongest women's privacy law in America, which kicks perverted men out of women's restrooms and locker rooms.

Uh, will you be as aggressive as the, the current attorney general of Texas?

Does that erode a little bit of the backstabbing RINO narrative?

Well, look, so Chip Roy has spent a decade fighting President Trump.

He worked for a huge anti-Trump group that vehemently opposed him in the 2024 election and spent millions of dollars to do it.

And look, he gave a speech on the US House floor saying President Trump committed impeachable conduct, that he sided with Liz Cheney.

And then it came out last week that Liz Cheney later endorsed Chip Roy for a congressional leadership role.

And I'll point out about the mainstream media as well.

I mean, do we think the Fort Worth Star-Telegram is conservative? Do we think that the Houston Chronicle is conservative? Of course not.

Looking at the future, is there anything that you can identify as something you think you would do that Attorney General Chip Roy would not do? I asked him the same thing yesterday.

If you're getting Medicaid or Medicare, if I'm paying for your healthcare, why would I want you to go out and get pizzas and frozen burritos with your food stamps.

Well, look, exactly.

So this is a multi-year fight.

I've been fighting for this for years to get rid of soda and candy in the taxpayer-funded food stamp program.

I mean, we're talking several hundred million dollars in taxpayer dollars are spent a year on taxpayer-funded soda and candy.

And what is that doing? That's making Texans sick, right? The point of the program is nutritious food essential to health and well-being.

Is soda and candy nutritious food essential to health and well-being? I don't think so.

What are your thoughts on your opponent

Uh, and you may not know me too well, and this is the first time you may be hearing my voice, but I'm a fighter." Just walk through the, the issues you think are the most important, and where are you gonna bring the fight?

Look, there's a reason why I'm the only candidate in this race that's been protested at the Texas Capitol during this campaign.

They have these big, ugly, green signs with my face on it, Xs through my eyes, and they call me the bathroom bigot.

Why? 'Cause I don't want men in my little girls' restroom or locker room or shower.

And look, they've threatened me, they've threatened my family.

The two Democrats in this AG's race, Nathan Johnson and Joe Jaworski, can't stop talking about me.

They keep saying, "We gotta stop this MAGA Mayes guy.

I mean, like, they've already said, "Hey, Middleton may have passed this law, and, uh, but, uh, as AG, the first thing we're gonna do is make sure we don't enforce it." Why are they so obsessed by this radical ideology that you can kind of feel a lot of Te- most Texans don't agree with?

Just walk through the issues you think are the most important, and where are you going to bring the fight?

Look, there's a reason why I'm the only candidate in this race that's been protested at the Texas Capitol during this campaign.

They have these big, ugly green signs with my face on it, X's through my eyes, and they call me the bathroom bigot.

Why? Because I don't want men in my little girl's restroom or locker room or shower.

And look, they've threatened me.

They've threatened my family.

The two Democrats in this AG's race, Nathan Johnson and Joe Jaworski, can't stop talking about me.

Why are they so obsessed by this radical ideology that you can kind of feel a lot of – most Texans don't agree with?

What do you think so far?

Well, look, I mean, this is basic common sense.

And what we're doing is we're fighting for all the daughters and future daughters of not just Texas, but this entire country.

And that's why I authored and passed the Save Women's Sports Act.

You know, Riley Gaines was right there alongside me in the trenches fighting in 2023 getting this done because what is really happening and what this is really about is men pretending to be women that are stealing victory, hard-earned spots on teams, and even scholarships.

It's wrong.

We all know this is wrong.

And you came out of there feeling pretty positive?

Um, so what can the legislature, or dare I say law enforcement here, do about this? Because there's- there is some things under Texas law that can be done.

Absolutely.

So number one, arrest warrants have been signed.

So our Department of Public Safety is out looking for those legislators that are within the state.

Uh, also there are penalties associated with this, up to $500 per day.

They can't pay those out of their campaign accounts.

They have to pay that personally.

Th- that's how they assert themselves, I would think, right? I mean, this is, this is the way business should happen.

Let's talk about that and, and I'm going to assume you're getting at least some pushback, uh, about doing this and, um, when you look at focusing on healthy choices for SNAP, uh, a lot of people are going to look at you and say, "You're infringing on my personal choice as to what I can buy and what I can't with, um, my SNAP benefits." What do you say to those folks when they say, "Look, you can't tell me what and what not to buy?"

Well, you can do whatever you want with your own money, but this is taxpayer money, so we need to make sure that food stamps are spent on nutritious food.

And we have seen a lot of opposition from paid influencers.

For example, it was outrageous that the American Heart Association showed up to committee to oppose this bill.

And of course there was a lot of rightful backlash to that after that happened and they've since retracted their position opposing this, but I mean, think about that position where the American Heart Association that's supposed to be there for heart health saying that we need to keep making sure that people are getting taxpayer funded junk food and soda and sweetened beverages.

I mean, obviously that's not common sense, obviously that's wrong.

Uh, we've seen the Coca-Cola lobby also online recently.

Have you seen a lot of or have you been made aware of a lot of backlash or even support that's coming via social media to this bill?

Are you working with the medical profession to sort of give a guideline of, "Okay, this is junk food, however, this is not." W- how will that be determined?

So that'll be determined by the USDA working with our State Health and Human Services Commission.

And the federal government is already doing this.

They have the WIC program, which is the Women, Infant, and Children program, and junk food is already not allowed in that.

You know, in Texas, we have about 800,000 people in the WIC program.

Uh, so really, (laughs) what this bill does is it's something we're already doing with another food assistance program.

And it will be up to our federal partners, uh, to determine the exact rules onto what is eligible and what is not eligible under this bill.

And, um, when you look at focusing on healthy choices for SNAP, uh, a lot of people are going to look at you and say, "You're infringing on my personal choice as to what I can buy and what I can't with, um, my SNAP benefits." What do you say to those folks when they say, "Look, you can't tell me what and what not to buy?"