Texas attorney general Greg Abbott has a famous saying: “What I really do for fun is I go into the office [and] sue the Obama administration.” Abbott’s relentless struggle against an administration that routinely exceeds its authority and tramples on federalism made him the ringleader among the two dozen Republican state AGs. He’s now running for governor.

So it’s not surprising that Dan Branch, running to succeed Abbott as Texas AG, is often asked if he would be as tough as Abbott in confronting the Obama administration. “My response is I’ll have to be tougher,” he says. And he goes on to name the federal agencies guilty of overreaching their constitutional bounds and increasingly encroaching on state power.