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Texas House members listen as the state Senate voted on articles of impeachment Sept. 16, 2023, against Attorney General Ken Paxton. The GOP-led House impeached Paxton over corruption and bribery accusations, and the Senate acquitted him.<\/p>\n
Juan Figueroa\/Staff Photographer<\/p>\n
AUSTIN \u2013 If character is more important than politics, then how should Republicans judge Ken Paxton?\u00a0<\/p>\n
Two Texas House Republicans who supported Ken Paxton\u2019s impeachment<\/a> three years ago over allegations of bribery and abuse of office now find themselves on opposite sides of his bid for the Senate.<\/p>\n One plans to vote for him. The other says he never will.<\/p>\n Rep. Cole Hefner of East Texas and former state Rep. Glenn Rogers of Palo Pinto County watched the same impeachment proceedings against the attorney general, heard the same accusations and saw the state Senate acquit him.\u00a0<\/p>\n They just don\u2019t agree on what should come next for Paxton.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n The divergent takes between Hefner and Rogers center on the question now confronting Republicans in the Senate race: whether Paxton’s conservative record outweighs the legal and ethics controversies that have dogged his political career.<\/p>\n Hefner, despite being targeted by Paxton-backed efforts after he supported impeachment, said he can\u2019t imagine backing the Democratic Senate candidate, James Talarico, a state representative from Austin.<\/p>\n His support for Paxton in November, he said, will be \u201can easy vote.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u201cI don’t think politics are above character,\u201d Hefner said in an interview with The Dallas Morning News. \u201cBut the policy stances of these two people are quite clear, and they’re very different paths for Texas and for the United States.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Far off the west side of Fort Worth in Graford, Rogers agrees with most of Paxton\u2019s conservative policies. But Paxton and Abbott accused him in 2024 of being too cozy with Democrats because of his impeachment vote and opposition to private school vouchers. He lost his GOP primary after two terms.<\/p>\n Former state Rep. Glenn Rogers.<\/p>\n KRISTIN MORALES\/Dallas Morning News<\/p>\n Rogers rejects the idea of sending Paxton to represent Texas in Washington.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cCharacter is more important than party, and if it\u2019s not, then we\u2019re in trouble as a nation,\u201d Rogers said. \u201cI cannot trust Ken Paxton. I\u2019ll never trust Ken Paxton. I\u2019ll never vote for him. I\u2019ll never support him.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n The contrast comes as Republicans gather this week in Houston for a state convention likely to showcase Paxton’s standing with the party’s conservative base.<\/p>\n Paxton has long been a polarizing figure in GOP politics, surviving both a\u00a0federal securities fraud case<\/a> and the impeachment<\/a> effort led by fellow Republicans.<\/p>\n Attorney General Ken Paxton listens to his wife, Sen. Angela Paxton of McKinney, at a 2023 Labor Day picnic hosted by Collin County Republicans at Bob Woodruff Park in Plano.<\/p>\n Juan Figueroa\/Dallas Morning News<\/p>\n Former aides accused Paxton of abusing his office to help thwart an FBI investigation into Austin real estate investor and campaign donor Nate Paul<\/a> in exchange for a home kitchen remodel<\/a> and a job for a woman with whom Paxton allegedly had an affair.<\/p>\n The impeachment proceedings and trial aired allegations about Paxton\u2019s affair and included testimony from former aides and accusations that whistleblowers in his office were fired after raising concerns.<\/p>\n His wife, state Sen. Angela Paxton of McKinney, sat through the trial but could not vote because of a conflict of interest. She has since filed for divorce, accusing him of adultery.<\/p>\n Attorney General Ken Paxton, the Republican nominee for Senate.<\/p>\n Eric Gay\/ASSOCIATED PRESS<\/p>\n Paxton easily defeated four-term Sen. John Cornyn in last month’s GOP runoff, shrugging off attacks on his legal and personal troubles.\u00a0<\/p>\n Paxton’s victory has left many Republicans in an awkward position.<\/p>\n Among the 60 House Republicans who voted for impeachment, some have endorsed him for Senate. None who still hold office have publicly opposed his campaign. Nearly two dozen declined to discuss the race with The News.<\/p>\n For Republicans, the decision is no longer whether he should have been impeached. It’s what to do now.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Support Paxton. Vote for Talarico, who has appealed to Cornyn supporters to join his coalition. Look elsewhere, such as Libertarian Ted Brown. Or stay home in November.\u00a0<\/p>\n Different takes<\/p>\n Hefner said he accepted the Senate’s verdict and moved on.<\/p>\n Rep. Cole Hefner talking at the microphone during debate in 2025 in the Texas House.<\/p>\n Mikala Compton\/American-Statesma\/Austin American-Statesman<\/p>\n \u201cWe followed that process according to the Constitution and the laws, and he was not convicted,\u201d he said. \u201cSo we honor that process, and we move forward with what’s best for our state and our country.\u201d<\/p>\n Hefner, a business owner, was among a group of House Republicans who said they faced\u00a0intense pressure over the impeachment vote and later found themselves targeted by Paxton and his allies in Republican primaries. He held his seat.<\/p>\n Hefner said he holds no grudges now.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t take those things personally,\u201d he said. \u201cI’m going to be a big enough person to do what’s best for my state and my nation.\u201d<\/p>\n In his view, the Democratic alternative is worse. He called Talarico’s policies \u201cdangerous for Texas and for America.\u201d<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u201cPaxton has been a leader on pushing back on the federal government, protecting our kids, protecting the border and fighting for Texas,\u201d Hefner said.<\/p>\n Former state Rep. Glenn Rogers at his ranch west of Fort Worth.\u00a0<\/p>\n Courtesy\/Dallas Morning News<\/p>\n Rogers sees it differently. He said he doesn’t understand how some impeachment Republicans now stand with Paxton.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t respect changing from basically going after him to now supporting him,\u201d he said. \u201cThat makes no sense to me. That\u2019s their decision. It won\u2019t be mine.\u201d<\/p>\n The rancher and veterinarian, who in a recent column in The News advocated greater ballot access for independent candidates, called the Senate trial a \u201csham.\u201d<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n That\u2019s because Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, the presiding officer over the proceedings, accepted $3 million in campaign support from a pro-Paxton political group while the Senate was preparing for the case. Patrick has said that had no bearing on his role.<\/p>\n Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick conferring with defense and prosecution attorneys Sept. 14, 2023, during Attorney General Ken Paxton’s impeachment trial in the Senate chamber.<\/p>\n Juan Figueroa\/Staff Photographer<\/p>\n Rogers said he believes the allegations never got a fair airing in the Senate. But he said he saw enough evidence to show Paxton had betrayed the public\u2019s trust.\u00a0<\/p>\n Rogers, who has no plans to run for office again, said conservatives opposed to Paxton face a difficult choice.<\/p>\n But party loyalty won’t decide his vote.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not going to make my decision based on which one\u2019s the party guy,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m going to make my decision based on which one I believe has the most character and the most ability to lead our state and nation.\u201d<\/p>\n Rogers declined to say how he will vote in November, but said he is more interested in issues such as education, water and the cost of living than culture-war outrage.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s where I’m ultimately going to put my vote,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Staff writer Aar\u00f3n Torres contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Texas House members listen as the state Senate voted on articles of impeachment Sept. 16, 2023, against Attorney…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":333492,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[27,29,28],"class_list":["post-333491","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/333491","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=333491"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/333491\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/333492"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=333491"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=333491"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=333491"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/p>\n
Aaron E. Martinez\/Austin American-Statesman<\/p>\n
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