Texas AG Ken Paxton is seeking payback — and maybe higher office

Emboldened by his impeachment acquittal this fall, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton — who still faces a whistleblower lawsuit and criminal charges — is thrusting himself back into the national spotlight with right-wing legal activism.

Paxton made major headlines last week for successfully blocking a lawsuit by a Dallas-area woman who sought an abortion out of state after her fetus was diagnosed with a fatal anomaly; she was forced to seek the procedure out of state. His response included sending a letter to Texas hospitals threatening felony prosecution if they allowed the procedure and warning that an initial court ruling in the woman’s favor would not insulate them, doctors “or anyone else from civil and criminal liability” for violating the state’s abortion ban.

“General Paxton is doing what he was elected to do and what’s expected by the voters,” said Jonathan Saenz, president of the conservative nonprofit Texas Values.

Yet political experts and strategists see a shrewd calculation. Paxton’s extraordinary action, they say, was a play to his deep-red base while the Texas Republican Party is at war with itself. It followed litigation he filed last month against the drugmaker Pfizer, alleging that the company misrepresented the efficacy of its coronavirus vaccine and failed to end the pandemic soon enough.

Paxton also announced a fraud investigation of Media Matters for America — a “radical anti-free speech organization,” in his words — after the liberal watchdog group reported neo-Nazi and white nationalist posts on X. Advertisers then began fleeing the platform, which prompted a lawsuit from X owner Elon Musk. On Monday, Media Matters punched back by taking Paxton to court for unlawful retaliation.

“The base loves it,” said Mark Jones, a political science professor at Rice University in Houston, and the aggressive suits, threats and investigations are keeping Paxton’s supporters energized. Given the key primaries coming in March, Paxton wants to maximize “the value of his endorsement” for Republicans running against state House GOP incumbents who led his impeachment, Jones said. “He’s using these cases to remind them why he’s their guy.”

Paxton signaled as much after his acquittal by the Senate on accusations of corruption and bribery. Many of the 60 Republicans who moved his impeachment forward now face primary opponents. With former president Donald Trump urging Paxton on, the three-term attorney general hinted about his aspirations for higher office and vowed to defeat any lawmaker in his party who had voted against him.

That’s what he is doing now.

“Payback, retaliation, revenge. Paxton now believes he’s bulletproof, and his financial backers are pouring money into campaign accounts for candidates challenging Republican state representatives who voted for impeachment,” said Dick DeGuerin, a Houston lawyer who helped prosecute Paxton in the Senate trial in September.

Austin-based GOP consultant Matt Mackowiak agreed, noting that Paxton — among the few state attorneys general with national name recognition — helped to recruit some of those challengers ahead of a filing deadline this week.

“Surviving the impeachment has given him political capital,” Mackowiak said, and Paxton’s using it “to try to punish people who he feels went after him unfairly. He does appear to have the political wind at his back. Impeachment has become a political anvil around the neck of Republicans who voted for it.”

Paxton received a hero’s welcome when he appeared at an October meeting of ultraconservative Collin County Republicans near his home in the Dallas suburb.

“We have a united front,” Paxton said. “We are going to take the Texas House back.”

The GOP club’s former president, Abraham George, is among the individuals Paxton has endorsed. George said the attorney general remains hugely popular in North Texas, where he and his wife, state Sen. Angela Paxton (R), are known to give out their personal cellphone numbers and answer constituents’ calls.

“When I decided I’m going to do this, I reached out to him,” said George, an Indian-American who owns a technology business. The first-time candidate is running for a House district seat, and his campaign announcement echoed many of Paxton’s talking points about “woke politicians,” corporate media and other forces on the left.

During their conversation, George said, he reminded Paxton of his promise to support Republican primary challengers.

“He said, ‘You got it,’ and we have stayed in touch,” George said, with Paxton giving him advice “that essentially comes down to one thing: You’ve got to listen to your people.”

Paxton has capitalized on sharp divisions within the party that have pitted grass-roots activists in places like Collin County against so-called establishment RINOs — the derisive acronym for “Republican in name only.”

“A lot of people get into office and become more aligned with the establishment. Ken and Angela never did,” George said. “That’s a huge thing for people in Collin County; the guy hasn’t changed. The principles he talks about, he carries the water. He’s very popular. He’s much stronger than before, after the impeachment.”

Like many Texans on the far right, George downplays Paxton’s lingering legal troubles: “Some of these things have been hanging over his head for close to 10 years now, and so far, we haven’t seen any results.”

Those troubles include two state felony securities fraud charges and another for allegedly failing to register as an investment adviser. A conviction could mean prison time and tens of thousands of dollars in fines. The case is set for trial in Houston in the spring.

“The state’s case is built on politics, and the legal foundation is flimsy,” defense attorney Philip Hilder said Wednesday.

An FBI investigation in San Antonio also resulted in federal felony charges this year against wealthy Paxton donor Nate Paul. Paul is accused of wire fraud and of providing false information to financial institutions to obtain loans. So far, none of Paul’s indictments have named Paxton.

In addition, Paxton faces a lawsuit by former senior staffers who claim they were fired in 2020 for reporting the suspected bribery to the FBI. Paxton attempted to settle earlier this year for $3.3 million, but the payout had to be approved by House lawmakers. They balked, investigated and voted to impeach him instead, sending the whistleblowers’ case back to court. Paxton has tried unsuccessfully to block it. The next hearing is Wednesday.

“Ken Paxton is trying to delay and avoid testifying, just like he always does,” said T.J. Turner, a lawyer for one of the plaintiffs.

The attorney general’s office did not respond to requests for comment about his personal legal woes or the litigation he has filed recently on behalf of Texas.

It’s not clear what Paxton’s ambitions are for higher office. He has about two more years in his current term and deep pockets, including Defend Texas Liberty PAC, which is funded by two Texas oil barons on the religious right.

In his first post-acquittal interview, he indicated that he might run against Republican Sen. John Cornyn in 2026 because “I can’t think of a single thing he’s accomplished for our state or even for the country.”

“Everything’s on the table for me,” Paxton, 60, told Tucker Carlson.

Paul Chabot leads two Collin County GOP groups, knows the attorney general and his wife, and is a “huge fan.”

“We hope he doesn’t run for Senate,” Chabot said. “We hope he stays attorney general because we need a strong attorney general to challenge the Biden administration.”

Paxton has also been talked about as a potential successor to Gov. Greg Abbott or Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick in 2026, should either Republican choose not to run again. And if Trump is elected to a second presidential term, Chabot and others in the Texas GOP think Paxton might be tapped for a position in Washington.

As long as he survives his legal problems, Mackowiak predicts, “Paxton’s most significant political offices are likely in front of him.”