Ken Paxton weathered a long list of scandals in the years leading up to his decisive victory Tuesday in the Republican primary runoff for Senate in Texas.
Through criminal charges and allegations of infidelity, the Texas attorney general has remained a force in state politics and maintained a close relationship with President Donald Trump, who gave him a crucial endorsement a week before his hard-fought runoff against Sen. John Cornyn.
Paxton has often dismissed the allegations against him as politically motivated, and many of his supporters have been willing to overlook them because they like how aggressively he pushes a conservative agenda as attorney general.
The controversies are set to factor heavily into the general election. The Democratic nominee, James Talarico, responded to Paxton’s emergence as the GOP standard-bearer by labeling him “The Most Corrupt Politician in America.” The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee said in a statement that Paxton is “so corrupt that even his own party tried to remove him from office,” a reference to his 2023 impeachment by the state House.
Meanwhile, Republicans have signaled they hope to keep the focus on Talarico and hound him on culture war issues. In his victory speech, Paxton said Talarico is the “most extreme radical the Democrats have ever nominated.”
