TEXAS — Three years ago, state Rep. Jeff Leach, R-Plano, was part of the team of lawmakers that prosecuted the case to impeach Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.
Now, he’s warming up crowds for him and urging Texans to elect Paxton to the U.S. Senate.
“I’m voting for Ken Paxton,” he said in front of hundreds at a rally in Allen earlier this week. “Are you voting for Ken Paxton?”
Leach knows that his change of heart is a head-scratcher for many Texans who saw him call Paxton a “sophisticated criminal” two years ago as he defended himself from Paxton’s “revenge tour” following his acquittal by the Texas Senate or those who saw him supporting Sen. John Cornyn in a heated primary against Paxton just a few months ago.
But the Allen Republican said the choice is clear between Paxton, his once political mentor, and his fellow state representative from Austin, Democrat James Talarico, whom he has derided as a “socialist through and through.”
“The choice for Republican voters as we head into November is clear: Do we want to preserve and safeguard the Texas that we know and love and strengthen it?” he told Spectrum News. “Or do we want to hand it over to the people who have ruined great states like California and New York?”
Leach’s comments may be indicative of a tight race that is concerning Texas Republicans, who have dominated the state’s politics for three decades. Three polls in the last week have shown Talarico leading Paxton.
Leach once lobbed heavy attacks against the Republican attorney general. In 2024, as Paxton worked against his reelection campaign, Leach told Spectrum News he had “no regrets” about impeaching him.
“I believed with all my heart in May when I voted for impeachment that General Paxton was corrupt,” he said. “Now, several months later, I believe without question, he’s a sophisticated criminal.”
He now says he wishes he’d said things differently. Despite past disagreements, he said he shares common ground with Paxton on core political beliefs.
“I know how he’s going to vote when he’s our next United States senator. I also know how James Talarico would vote,” Leach said. “This is a binary choice.”
Leach said Talarico is trying to pass himself off as a “moderate” to voters who do not know his politics, but his voting record is more akin to a “progressive radical.”
“I believe very strongly that the Democrat Socialists of America, their golden boy, their rock star, their superhero is not Mayor [Zohran] Mamdani in New York,” he said. “It’s James Talarico here in Texas.”
Leach said there are still Republican voters who, like him, supported Cornyn in the primary and are apprehensive about Paxton. But he said that those voters can’t stay on the sidelines during what he considers a close race in November — which is why he’s backing Paxton.
“I do think it’s going to be a close race and Republicans should not stay home,” he said. “We shouldn’t just expect the state of Texas to save itself. We’ve got to go to the polls.”