Rochelle Garza, a former staff attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union, announced this week she is jumping into the race for Texas Attorney General.
The statewide office is already pursued by two other Democratic candidates, civil rights attorney Lee Merritt and former Mayor of Galveston Joe Jaworski.
As an immigration law attorney, Garza successfully battled Ken Paxton and the Trump administration to secure abortion rights for a 17-year-old immigrant.
“Right now our way of life, our rights, our very democracy is under attack by politicians who’ve passed the most radical restrictive laws in the country,” Garza said in an ad announcing her launch.
Garza was originally running for Congress in TX-34, the seat occupied by retiring Rep. Filemon Vela Jr.
Her plans changed after Rep. Vicente Gonzalez from TX-15 decided to run for the open seat instead of his own gerrymandered district.
On the Republican ticket, indicted Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton continues to run far ahead of his next-closest primary opponent, Land Commissioner George P. Bush.
The primary for the race is set for March 1, 2022.
Fernando covers Texas politics and government at the Texas Signal. Before joining the Signal, Fernando spent two years at the Houston Chronicle and previously interned at Houston’s NPR station News 88.7. He is a graduate of the University of Houston, Jack J. Valenti School of Communication, and enjoys reading, highlighting things, and arguing on social media. You can follow him on Twitter at @fernramirez93 or email at fernando@texassignalarchive.com
