This report is part of a series of profile stories Nexstar is doing on the Republican and Democratic candidates for Texas Attorney General.

AUSTIN (KXAN) — As Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton looks to fend off challengers in the Republican primary, former Republican and former Harris County criminal court judge Mike Fields is looking to be elected as a Democrat.

“I have the qualifications that I think give me the ability to do the job,” he told KXAN.

Fields said the state’s deadly 2021 freeze was a big motivation for his run in the Democratic primary.

“I don’t think anyone was held accountable,” he said. “I think it’s imperative that we go after the folks who allowed our electrical system to go down.”

Fields said should he win the primary and general election, other priorities in office would include protecting voting rights, women’s reproductive rights and the LGBTQ+ community.

He said he would also roll back Paxton’s lawsuits against the Biden administration and adjust Paxton’s suit against Google.

As KXAN has reported, Paxton has accused Google of tracking users’ locations without consent, something the tech giant has called “inaccurate.”

“I’d start talking with [AG office] lawyers about how we can make that lawsuit better or non-existent by working with [Google’s parent company] Alphabet to ensure consumer privacy,” Fields said.

Texas attorney general Democratic candidate Mike Fields (Photo: Handout)

Fields comes with experience in the Texas AG’s office, having worked as an assistant attorney general in the 1990s before serving on the bench in Harris County for 20 years — as a Republican.

He lost his seat in a Democratic wave in 2018 and switched parties.

“The traditional Republican Party is not what it used to be. It has gone way too far to the right and way too mean spirited,” Fields said. “My ideas have always remained the same, and they still are. I think the party switched.”

Recent polling from the University of Texas/Texas Politics Project shows Mike Fields with the support of about 11% of Democratic primary voters, placing him fourth behind civil rights attorney Lee Merritt (15%), trial lawyer Joe Jaworski (24%) and civil rights attorney Rochelle Garza (41%).

Early voting ends Friday, Feb. 25. Election day is Tuesday, March 1.

KXAN’s Monica Madden contributed to this report.