Texas Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton said Monday that undecided voters in his Senate race should focus on each candidate’s record above all else – except his own record includes three felony indictments and being impeached by his own party.
“Don’t listen to the rhetoric, look at the record,” Paxton advised fence-sitters in his Senate race against Democratic state Rep. James Talarico, during an event hosted by the U.S. Hispanic Business Council.
“It’s people’s behavior that you need to look at and say, ‘Are they for real?’” Paxton said.
It was a strange response by the state’s attorney general, whose record is so problematic that he’s turned a reliably safe GOP Senate seat into a potential Democratic pickup in this deep red state.
Paxton was indicted on three felony charges in 2015, and cut a deal to avoid going to trial. He was also impeached by his own party in 2023 on 20 charges, ranging from bribery to corruption to obstruction of justice. Additionally, he lost a $6.6 million legal battle in 2025 brought by former staff who reported him to the FBI for corruption, and who Paxton fired or pushed out of their jobs for doing so.
That Paxton is the GOP nominee for this seat at all is the result of President Donald Trump endorsing him over the incumbent, Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), who had comfortably won reelection for decades. Trump felt Cornyn wasn’t loyal enough to him, so he backed Paxton, even as Senate Republican leaders begged the president not to do so.
Talarico, a Presbyterian seminarian and educator, has been narrowly leading Paxton in the polls for months. The GOP has already had to spend at least $100 million in ads to try to save Paxton – exponentially more than they would have spent on Cornyn – and the nonpartisan Cook Political Report shifted its rating for this race to a “toss-up.”