TEXAS — With Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton challenging Sen. John Cornyn for his U.S. Senate seat, the attorney general’s position will be vacant.

John Bash, previously a U.S. attorney and Elon Musk’s lawyer, withdrew his candidacy for attorney general just three weeks after announcing it on April 9.

Bash said in a social media post, “I’ve made the difficult decision to leave the race for Texas AG. On Friday, our family had a health scare that threw into sharp focus how I should prioritize my time right now, and that is not running for office.”

From 2017 to 2020, Bash served as a federal prosecutor for Texas’ Western District and also as a special assistant and associate counsel to President Donald Trump during his first term.

On his campaign website, Bash described himself as “A fearless prosecutor. A constitutional conservative. And the Left’s worst nightmare.”

Zina Bash, his wife, was the deputy director of policy and communications for Sen. Ted Cruz’s 2016 presidential campaign and also served as senior counsel to the Senate Judiciary Committee under Cornyn. Until 2021, she served as Paxton’s senior counsel.