Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is celebrating after the U.S. Department of Justice agreed not to enter polling places in the state just hours after his office filed a lawsuit.
The Justice Department initially said it would send federal employees to eight counties in Texas to monitor Tuesday's election for compliance with voting rights laws.
The state argued that the monitors are blocked by state law from being inside a polling place or anywhere where votes are counted.
"Texans run Texas elections, and we will not be bullied by the Department of Justice. The DOJ knows it has no authority to monitor Texas elections and backed down when Texas stood up for the rule of law. No federal agent will be permitted to interfere with Texas’s free and fair elections," Paxton said.
The Justice Department previously sent election monitors to Texas in 2020 and 2022. They announced plans to send monitors to Atascosa, Bexar, Dallas, Frio, Harris, Hays, Palo Pinto, and Waller counties on Tuesday as part of a nationwide program to send observers to 27 states.
Missouri has also sued the block election monitors. Florida officials have announced that the monitors will not be allowed at polling places in their state.