FIRST ON FOX: Border Patrol union endorses ex-Trump DOJ official for state AG

FIRST ON FOX: The National Border Patrol Council (NBPC), America’s largest union of border patrol officers, is endorsing former top Trump Department of Justice official Aaron Reitz to be the next attorney general of Texas.

This comes as current Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Republican and Trump ally, has declined to run for re-election, instead choosing to challenge GOP Sen. John Cornyn for the U.S. Senate.

Reitz is a former Marine who has also served on the staffs of Paxton and Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas. 

Fox News Digital broke the news in June that Reitz was resigning his high-ranking position with the Trump DOJ to run for attorney general of Texas, entering what he is calling a "fight for the soul of Texas." 

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Until then, he was serving under U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi as the Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Policy. 

Reitz’s campaign is now gaining new momentum with a key endorsement from the NBPC, a national group that represents nearly 20,000 Border Patrol agents and personnel.

In a statement shared with Fox News Digital, NBPC President Paul Perez called Reitz "a principled fighter with a deep sense of duty and an unwavering commitment to supporting the mission of Border Patrol agents."

Perez said that Reitz "has had our backs time and again" throughout his career and that the NBPC is "confident Aaron will be a fierce and effective ally to defend every inch" of Texas’ over 1,200-mile-long southern border.

"As Border Patrol agents, we take pride in standing on the front lines of America’s security. As a Marine, Aaron understands that commitment," said Perez.

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Perez pointed to Reitz’s role as deputy attorney general for legal strategy under Paxton, saying he "led the legal fight against the Biden administration’s disastrous border policies—quarterbacking dozens of lawsuits challenging the deportation freeze, changes to the public-charge rule, ICE arrest restrictions, the rollback of Remain-in-Mexico, the termination of Title 42, halting border wall construction, the Central American Minors program, asylum, and parole authority."

He said that later, as Cruz’s chief of staff, Reitz "drove key legislative initiatives to secure the border—from resuming border wall construction and criminalizing visa overstays, to defunding NGOs aiding illegal entry and reinforcing ICE and the Border Patrol."

He also said that Reitz was "instrumental" in advancing the Justice for Jocelyn Act, a piece of legislation that would crack down on illegals being released under the Alternatives to Detention program following the killing of 12-year-old Houston girl Jocelyn Nungaray, who was murdered by an illegal released under the program.

"As President Trump’s head of the DOJ’s Office of Legal Policy," Perez said that Reitz "continued his mission-focused work to defend America’s borders and sovereignty" by reversing Biden-era border policies, fighting against sanctuary jurisdictions and supporting operations to crack down on cartel networks.

In response, Reitz said he was "deeply honored" by the endorsement, calling it "a sacred trust from the men and women who put their lives on the line every day to defend our country’s sovereignty."

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He vowed that the NBPC "will have no stronger ally than me in the Texas Attorney General’s Office," which is one of the most powerful positions in Texas politics.

He pledged to "use every tool available under Texas law" to "help secure the border and stand in solidarity with the U.S. Border Patrol."

The Texas Primary Elections will be on March 3, 2026. Reitz is facing off against state Sen. Mayes Middleton, an oil executive and conservative Republican serving in the Texas Senate. Middleton is also running on a pro-Trump, "America first agenda," advancing policies such as suing sanctuary jurisdictions, cracking down on crime and gender ideology and eliminating waste, fraud and abuse in the government.

This comes as the state of Texas is embroiled in a showdown between Republican and Democratic lawmakers over redistricting that has made national headlines. Following Democratic members of the Texas House of Representatives fleeing the state to break quorum to foil the GOP’s redistricting plans, the attorney general has filed legal action to arrest the AWOL lawmakers and return them to Austin to resume voting.